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Genesis 6:1-9:17
The Message
Genesis 6:1-9:17
The Message
Giants in the Land
6 1-2 When the human race began to increase, with more and more daughters being born, the sons of God noticed that the daughters of men were beautiful. They looked them over and picked out wives for themselves.
3 Then God said, “I’m not going to breathe life into men and women endlessly. Eventually they’re going to die; from now on they can expect a life span of 120 years.”
4 This was back in the days (and also later) when there were giants in the land. The giants came from the union of the sons of God and the daughters of men. These were the mighty men of ancient lore, the famous ones.
Noah and His Sons
5-7 God saw that human evil was out of control. People thought evil, imagined evil—evil, evil, evil from morning to night. God was sorry that he had made the human race in the first place; it broke his heart. God said, “I’ll get rid of my ruined creation, make a clean sweep: people, animals, snakes and bugs, birds—the works. I’m sorry I made them.”
8 But Noah was different. God liked what he saw in Noah.
9-10 This is the story of Noah: Noah was a good man, a man of integrity in his community. Noah walked with God. Noah had three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
11-12 As far as God was concerned, the Earth had become a sewer; there was violence everywhere. God took one look and saw how bad it was, everyone corrupt and corrupting—life itself corrupt to the core.
13 God said to Noah, “It’s all over. It’s the end of the human race. The violence is everywhere; I’m making a clean sweep.
14-16 “Build yourself a ship from teakwood. Make rooms in it. Coat it with pitch inside and out. Make it 450 feet long, seventy-five feet wide, and forty-five feet high. Build a roof for it and put in a window eighteen inches from the top; put in a door on the side of the ship; and make three decks, lower, middle, and upper.
17 “I’m going to bring a flood on the Earth that will destroy everything alive under Heaven. Total destruction.
18-21 “But I’m going to establish a covenant with you: You’ll board the ship, and your sons, your wife and your sons’ wives will come on board with you. You are also to take two of each living creature, a male and a female, on board the ship, to preserve their lives with you: two of every species of bird, mammal, and reptile—two of everything so as to preserve their lives along with yours. Also get all the food you’ll need and store it up for you and them.”
22 Noah did everything God commanded him to do.
7 Next God said to Noah, “Now board the ship, you and all your family—out of everyone in this generation, you’re the righteous one.
2-4 “Take on board with you seven pairs of every clean animal, a male and a female; one pair of every unclean animal, a male and a female; and seven pairs of every kind of bird, a male and a female, to insure their survival on Earth. In just seven days I will pour rain on Earth for forty days and forty nights. I’ll make a clean sweep of everything that I’ve made.”
5 Noah did everything God commanded him.
6-10 Noah was 600 years old when the floodwaters covered the Earth. Noah and his wife and sons and their wives boarded the ship to escape the flood. Clean and unclean animals, birds, and all the crawling creatures came in pairs to Noah and to the ship, male and female, just as God had commanded Noah. In seven days the floodwaters came.
11-12 It was the six-hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month that it happened: all the underground springs erupted and all the windows of Heaven were thrown open. Rain poured for forty days and forty nights.
13-16 That’s the day Noah and his sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth, accompanied by his wife and his sons’ wives, boarded the ship. And with them every kind of wild and domestic animal, right down to all the kinds of creatures that crawl and all kinds of birds and anything that flies. They came to Noah and to the ship in pairs—everything and anything that had the breath of life in it, male and female of every creature came just as God had commanded Noah. Then God shut the door behind him.
17-23 The flood continued forty days and the waters rose and lifted the ship high over the Earth. The waters kept rising, the flood deepened on the Earth, the ship floated on the surface. The flood got worse until all the highest mountains were covered—the high-water mark reached twenty feet above the crest of the mountains. Everything died. Anything that moved—dead. Birds, farm animals, wild animals, the entire teeming exuberance of life—dead. And all people—dead. Every living, breathing creature that lived on dry land died; he wiped out the whole works—people and animals, crawling creatures and flying birds, every last one of them, gone. Only Noah and his company on the ship lived.
24 The floodwaters took over for 150 days.
8 1-3 Then God turned his attention to Noah and all the wild animals and farm animals with him on the ship. God caused the wind to blow and the floodwaters began to go down. The underground springs were shut off, the windows of Heaven closed and the rain quit. Inch by inch the water lowered. After 150 days the worst was over.
4-6 On the seventeenth day of the seventh month, the ship landed on the Ararat mountain range. The water kept going down until the tenth month. On the first day of the tenth month the tops of the mountains came into view. After forty days Noah opened the window that he had built into the ship.
7-9 He sent out a raven; it flew back and forth waiting for the floodwaters to dry up. Then he sent a dove to check on the flood conditions, but it couldn’t even find a place to perch—water still covered the Earth. Noah reached out and caught it, brought it back into the ship.
10-11 He waited seven more days and sent out the dove again. It came back in the evening with a freshly picked olive leaf in its beak. Noah knew that the flood was about finished.
12 He waited another seven days and sent the dove out a third time. This time it didn’t come back.
13-14 In the six-hundred-first year of Noah’s life, on the first day of the first month, the flood had dried up. Noah opened the hatch of the ship and saw dry ground. By the twenty-seventh day of the second month, the Earth was completely dry.
15-17 God spoke to Noah: “Leave the ship, you and your wife and your sons and your sons’ wives. And take all the animals with you, the whole menagerie of birds and mammals and crawling creatures, all that swarming extravagance of life, so they can reproduce and flourish on the Earth.”
18-19 Noah disembarked with his sons and wife and his sons’ wives. Then all the animals, crawling creatures, birds—every creature on the face of the Earth—left the ship family by family.
20-21 Noah built an altar to God. He selected clean animals and birds from every species and offered them as burnt offerings on the altar. God smelled the sweet fragrance and thought to himself, “I’ll never again curse the ground because of people. I know they have this bent toward evil from an early age, but I’ll never again kill off everything living as I’ve just done.
22 For as long as Earth lasts,
planting and harvest, cold and heat,
Summer and winter, day and night
will never stop.”
9 1-4 God blessed Noah and his sons: He said, “Prosper! Reproduce! Fill the Earth! Every living creature—birds, animals, fish—will fall under your spell and be afraid of you. You’re responsible for them. All living creatures are yours for food; just as I gave you the plants, now I give you everything else. Except for meat with its lifeblood still in it—don’t eat that.
5 “But your own lifeblood I will avenge; I will avenge it against both animals and other humans.
6-7 Whoever sheds human blood,
by humans let his blood be shed,
Because God made humans in his image
reflecting God’s very nature.
You’re here to bear fruit, reproduce,
lavish life on the Earth, live bountifully!”
8-11 Then God spoke to Noah and his sons: “I’m setting up my covenant with you including your children who will come after you, along with everything alive around you—birds, farm animals, wild animals—that came out of the ship with you. I’m setting up my covenant with you that never again will everything living be destroyed by floodwaters; no, never again will a flood destroy the Earth.”
12-16 God continued, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and everything living around you and everyone living after you. I’m putting my rainbow in the clouds, a sign of the covenant between me and the Earth. From now on, when I form a cloud over the Earth and the rainbow appears in the cloud, I’ll remember my covenant between me and you and everything living, that never again will floodwaters destroy all life. When the rainbow appears in the cloud, I’ll see it and remember the eternal covenant between God and everything living, every last living creature on Earth.”
17 And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant that I’ve set up between me and everything living on the Earth.”
Genesis 6:1-9:17
New International Version
Genesis 6:1-9:17
New International Version
Wickedness in the World
6 When human beings began to increase in number on the earth(A) and daughters were born to them, 2 the sons of God(B) saw that the daughters(C) of humans were beautiful,(D) and they married(E) any of them they chose. 3 Then the Lord said, “My Spirit(F) will not contend with[a] humans forever,(G) for they are mortal[b];(H) their days will be a hundred and twenty years.”
4 The Nephilim(I) were on the earth in those days—and also afterward—when the sons of God went to the daughters of humans(J) and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown.(K)
5 The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth,(L) and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time.(M) 6 The Lord regretted(N) that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled. 7 So the Lord said, “I will wipe from the face of the earth(O) the human race I have created—and with them the animals, the birds and the creatures that move along the ground—for I regret that I have made them.(P)” 8 But Noah(Q) found favor in the eyes of the Lord.(R)
Noah and the Flood
9 This is the account(S) of Noah and his family.
Noah was a righteous man, blameless(T) among the people of his time,(U) and he walked faithfully with God.(V) 10 Noah had three sons: Shem,(W) Ham and Japheth.(X)
11 Now the earth was corrupt(Y) in God’s sight and was full of violence.(Z) 12 God saw how corrupt(AA) the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways.(AB) 13 So God said to Noah, “I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy(AC) both them and the earth.(AD) 14 So make yourself an ark of cypress[c] wood;(AE) make rooms in it and coat it with pitch(AF) inside and out. 15 This is how you are to build it: The ark is to be three hundred cubits long, fifty cubits wide and thirty cubits high.[d] 16 Make a roof for it, leaving below the roof an opening one cubit[e] high all around.[f] Put a door in the side of the ark and make lower, middle and upper decks. 17 I am going to bring floodwaters(AG) on the earth to destroy all life under the heavens, every creature that has the breath of life in it. Everything on earth will perish.(AH) 18 But I will establish my covenant with you,(AI) and you will enter the ark(AJ)—you and your sons and your wife and your sons’ wives with you. 19 You are to bring into the ark two of all living creatures, male and female, to keep them alive with you.(AK) 20 Two(AL) of every kind of bird, of every kind of animal and of every kind(AM) of creature that moves along the ground will come to you to be kept alive.(AN) 21 You are to take every kind of food that is to be eaten and store it away as food for you and for them.”
22 Noah did everything just as God commanded him.(AO)
7 The Lord then said to Noah, “Go into the ark, you and your whole family,(AP) because I have found you righteous(AQ) in this generation. 2 Take with you seven pairs of every kind of clean(AR) animal, a male and its mate, and one pair of every kind of unclean animal, a male and its mate, 3 and also seven pairs of every kind of bird, male and female, to keep their various kinds alive(AS) throughout the earth. 4 Seven days from now I will send rain(AT) on the earth(AU) for forty days(AV) and forty nights,(AW) and I will wipe from the face of the earth every living creature I have made.(AX)”
5 And Noah did all that the Lord commanded him.(AY)
6 Noah was six hundred years old(AZ) when the floodwaters came on the earth. 7 And Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives entered the ark(BA) to escape the waters of the flood. 8 Pairs of clean and unclean(BB) animals, of birds and of all creatures that move along the ground, 9 male and female, came to Noah and entered the ark, as God had commanded Noah.(BC) 10 And after the seven days(BD) the floodwaters came on the earth.
11 In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life,(BE) on the seventeenth day of the second month(BF)—on that day all the springs of the great deep(BG) burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens(BH) were opened. 12 And rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights.(BI)
13 On that very day Noah and his sons,(BJ) Shem, Ham and Japheth, together with his wife and the wives of his three sons, entered the ark.(BK) 14 They had with them every wild animal according to its kind, all livestock according to their kinds, every creature that moves along the ground according to its kind and every bird according to its kind,(BL) everything with wings. 15 Pairs of all creatures that have the breath of life in them came to Noah and entered the ark.(BM) 16 The animals going in were male and female of every living thing, as God had commanded Noah.(BN) Then the Lord shut him in.
17 For forty days(BO) the flood kept coming on the earth, and as the waters increased they lifted the ark high above the earth. 18 The waters rose and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the water. 19 They rose greatly on the earth, and all the high mountains under the entire heavens were covered.(BP) 20 The waters rose and covered the mountains to a depth of more than fifteen cubits.[g][h] (BQ) 21 Every living thing that moved on land perished—birds, livestock, wild animals, all the creatures that swarm over the earth, and all mankind.(BR) 22 Everything on dry land that had the breath of life(BS) in its nostrils died. 23 Every living thing on the face of the earth was wiped out; people and animals and the creatures that move along the ground and the birds were wiped from the earth.(BT) Only Noah was left, and those with him in the ark.(BU)
24 The waters flooded the earth for a hundred and fifty days.(BV)
8 But God remembered(BW) Noah and all the wild animals and the livestock that were with him in the ark, and he sent a wind over the earth,(BX) and the waters receded. 2 Now the springs of the deep and the floodgates of the heavens(BY) had been closed, and the rain(BZ) had stopped falling from the sky. 3 The water receded steadily from the earth. At the end of the hundred and fifty days(CA) the water had gone down, 4 and on the seventeenth day of the seventh month(CB) the ark came to rest on the mountains(CC) of Ararat.(CD) 5 The waters continued to recede until the tenth month, and on the first day of the tenth month the tops of the mountains became visible.
6 After forty days(CE) Noah opened a window he had made in the ark 7 and sent out a raven,(CF) and it kept flying back and forth until the water had dried up from the earth.(CG) 8 Then he sent out a dove(CH) to see if the water had receded from the surface of the ground. 9 But the dove could find nowhere to perch because there was water over all the surface of the earth; so it returned to Noah in the ark. He reached out his hand and took the dove and brought it back to himself in the ark. 10 He waited seven more days and again sent out the dove from the ark. 11 When the dove returned to him in the evening, there in its beak was a freshly plucked olive leaf! Then Noah knew that the water had receded from the earth.(CI) 12 He waited seven more days and sent the dove out again, but this time it did not return to him.
13 By the first day of the first month of Noah’s six hundred and first year,(CJ) the water had dried up from the earth. Noah then removed the covering from the ark and saw that the surface of the ground was dry. 14 By the twenty-seventh day of the second month(CK) the earth was completely dry.
15 Then God said to Noah, 16 “Come out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons and their wives.(CL) 17 Bring out every kind of living creature that is with you—the birds, the animals, and all the creatures that move along the ground—so they can multiply on the earth and be fruitful and increase in number on it.”(CM)
18 So Noah came out, together with his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives.(CN) 19 All the animals and all the creatures that move along the ground and all the birds—everything that moves on land—came out of the ark, one kind after another.
20 Then Noah built an altar to the Lord(CO) and, taking some of all the clean animals and clean(CP) birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings(CQ) on it. 21 The Lord smelled the pleasing aroma(CR) and said in his heart: “Never again will I curse the ground(CS) because of humans, even though[i] every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood.(CT) And never again will I destroy(CU) all living creatures,(CV) as I have done.
22 “As long as the earth endures,
seedtime and harvest,(CW)
cold and heat,
summer and winter,(CX)
day and night
will never cease.”(CY)
God’s Covenant With Noah
9 Then God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth.(CZ) 2 The fear and dread of you will fall on all the beasts of the earth, and on all the birds in the sky, on every creature that moves along the ground, and on all the fish in the sea; they are given into your hands.(DA) 3 Everything that lives and moves about will be food for you.(DB) Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything.(DC)
4 “But you must not eat meat that has its lifeblood still in it.(DD) 5 And for your lifeblood I will surely demand an accounting.(DE) I will demand an accounting from every animal.(DF) And from each human being, too, I will demand an accounting for the life of another human being.(DG)
6 “Whoever sheds human blood,
by humans shall their blood be shed;(DH)
for in the image of God(DI)
has God made mankind.
7 As for you, be fruitful and increase in number; multiply on the earth and increase upon it.”(DJ)
8 Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him: 9 “I now establish my covenant with you(DK) and with your descendants after you 10 and with every living creature that was with you—the birds, the livestock and all the wild animals, all those that came out of the ark with you—every living creature on earth. 11 I establish my covenant(DL) with you:(DM) Never again will all life be destroyed by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.(DN)”
12 And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant(DO) I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come:(DP) 13 I have set my rainbow(DQ) in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. 14 Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow(DR) appears in the clouds, 15 I will remember my covenant(DS) between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life.(DT) 16 Whenever the rainbow(DU) appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant(DV) between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.”
17 So God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant(DW) I have established between me and all life on the earth.”
Footnotes
- Genesis 6:3 Or My spirit will not remain in
- Genesis 6:3 Or corrupt
- Genesis 6:14 The meaning of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain.
- Genesis 6:15 That is, about 450 feet long, 75 feet wide and 45 feet high or about 135 meters long, 23 meters wide and 14 meters high
- Genesis 6:16 That is, about 18 inches or about 45 centimeters
- Genesis 6:16 The meaning of the Hebrew for this clause is uncertain.
- Genesis 7:20 That is, about 23 feet or about 6.8 meters
- Genesis 7:20 Or rose more than fifteen cubits, and the mountains were covered
- Genesis 8:21 Or humans, for
The Message (MSG)
Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson
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