The Flood Abates

8 And God remembered and thought kindly of Noah and every living thing and all the animals that were with him in the ark; and God made a wind blow over the land, and the waters receded. ² Also the fountains of the deep [subterranean waters] and the windows of the heavens were closed, the [pouring] rain from the sky was restrained, ³ and the waters receded steadily from the earth. At the end of a hundred and fifty days the waters had diminished. ⁴ On the seventeenth day of the seventh month [five months after the rain began], the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat [in ^[a]Turkey]. ⁵ The waters continued to decrease until the tenth month; on the first day of the tenth month the tops of the mountains were seen.

⁶ At the end of [another] forty days Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made; ⁷ and he sent out a raven, which flew here and there until the waters were dried up from the earth. ⁸ Then Noah sent out a dove to see if the water level had fallen below the surface of the land. ⁹ But the dove found no place on which to rest the sole of her foot, and she returned to him to the ark, for the waters were [still] on the face of the entire earth. So he reached out his hand and took the dove, and brought her into the ark. ¹⁰ He waited another seven days and again sent the dove out from the ark. ¹¹ The dove came back to him in the evening, and there, in her beak, was a fresh olive leaf. So Noah knew that the water level had subsided from the earth. ¹² Then he waited another seven days and sent out the dove, but she did not return to him again.

¹³ Now in the six hundred and first year [of Noah’s life], on the first day of the first month, the waters were drying up from the earth. Then Noah removed the covering of the ark and looked, and the surface of the ground was drying. ¹⁴ On the twenty-seventh day of the second month the land was [entirely] dry. ¹⁵ And God spoke to Noah, saying, ¹⁶ “Go out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons and their wives with you. ¹⁷ Bring out with you every living thing from all flesh—birds and animals and every crawling thing that crawls on the earth—that they may breed abundantly on the earth, and be fruitful and multiply on the earth.” ¹⁸ So Noah went out, and his wife and his sons and their wives with him [after being in the ark one year and ten days]. ¹⁹ Every animal, every crawling thing, every bird—and whatever moves on the land—went out by families (types, groupings) from the ark.

²⁰ And Noah built an altar to the Lord, and took of every [ceremonially] clean animal and of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar. ²¹ The Lord smelled the pleasing aroma [a soothing, satisfying scent] and the Lord said to Himself, “I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intent (strong inclination, desire) of man’s heart is wicked from his youth; and I will never again destroy every living thing, as I have done.

Covenant of the Rainbow

9 And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth. ² The fear and the terror of you shall be [instinctive] in every animal of the land and in every bird of the air; and together with everything that moves on the ground, and with all the fish of the sea; they are given into your hand. ³ Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you; I give you everything, as I gave you the green plants and vegetables. ⁴ But you shall not eat meat along with its life, that is, its blood.^{(A) 5} For your lifeblood I will most certainly require an accounting; from every animal [that kills a person] I will require it. And from man, from every man’s brother [that is, anyone who murders] I will require the life of man.^(B)

⁸ Then God spoke to Noah and to his sons with him, saying, ⁹ “Now behold, I am establishing My covenant (binding agreement, solemn promise) with you and with your descendants after you ¹⁰ and with every living creature that is with you—the birds, the livestock, and the wild animals of the earth along with you, of everything that comes out of the ark—every living creature of the earth. ¹¹ I will establish My covenant with you: Never again shall all flesh be cut off by the water of a flood, nor shall there ever again be a flood to destroy and ruin the earth.” ¹² And God said, “This is the token (visible symbol, memorial) of the [solemn] covenant which I am making between Me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations; ¹³ I set My rainbow in the clouds, and it shall be a sign of a covenant between Me and the earth. ¹⁴ It shall come about, when I bring clouds over the earth, that the rainbow shall be seen in the clouds, ¹⁵ and I will [compassionately] remember My covenant, which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and never again will the water become a flood to destroy all flesh. ¹⁶ When the rainbow is in the clouds and I look at it, I will [solemnly] remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” ¹⁷ And God said to Noah, “This [rainbow] is the sign of the covenant (solemn pledge, binding agreement) which I have established between Me and all living things on the earth.”

¹⁸ The sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem and Ham and Japheth. Ham would become the father of Canaan. ¹⁹ These are the three sons of Noah, and from these [men] the whole earth was populated and scattered with inhabitants.

²⁰ And Noah began to farm and cultivate the ground and he planted a vineyard. ²¹ He drank some of the wine and became drunk, and he was uncovered and lay exposed inside his tent. ²² Ham, the father of Canaan, saw [by accident] the nakedness of his father, and [to his father’s shame] told his two brothers outside. ²³ So Shem and Japheth took a robe and put it on both their shoulders, and walked backwards and covered the nakedness of their father; their faces were turned away so that they did not see their father’s nakedness. ²⁴ When Noah awoke from his wine [induced stupor], he knew what his younger son [Ham] had done to him. ²⁵ So he said,

²⁶ He also said,

²⁸ Noah lived three hundred and fifty years after the flood. ²⁹ So all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years, and he died.

Descendants of Noah

10 These are the records of the generations (descendants) of Shem, Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah; and the sons born to them after the flood:

² the sons of Japheth: Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras; ³ the sons of Gomer: Ashkenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah; ⁴ the sons of Javan: Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim. ⁵ From these, [the people of] the coastlands of the nations were separated and spread into their lands, every one ^[f]according to his own language, according to their constituent groups (families), and into their nations:

⁶ the sons of Ham: Cush, Mizraim [from whom descended the Egyptians], Put, and Canaan; ⁷ the sons of Cush: Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, and Sabteca; and the sons of Raamah; Sheba and Dedan. ⁸ Cush became the father of Nimrod; he became a mighty one on the earth. ⁹ He was a mighty hunter before the Lord; therefore it is said, “Like Nimrod a mighty hunter before the Lord.” ¹⁰ The beginning of his kingdom was ^[g]Babel and Erech and Accad and Calneh, in the land of Shinar [in Babylonia]. ¹¹ From that land Nimrod went to Assyria, and built Nineveh, and Rehoboth-Ir, and Calah, ¹² and [Nimrod built] Resen, which is between Nineveh and Calah; all these [combined to form] the great city [Nineveh].^{(E) 13} Mizraim [the ancestor of the Egyptians] became the father of Ludim, Anamim, Lehabim, Naphtuhim ¹⁴ and Pathrusim and Casluhim—from whom came the Philistines—and Caphtorim.

¹⁵ Canaan became the father of Sidon, his firstborn, and Heth ¹⁶ and the Jebusite and the Amorite and the Girgashite ¹⁷ and the Hivite and the Arkite and the Sinite ¹⁸ and the Arvadite and the Zemarite and the Hamathite. Afterward the families of the Canaanite were spread abroad. ¹⁹ The territory of the Canaanite extended from Sidon as one goes to Gerar, as far as Gaza; and as one goes to ^[h]Sodom and Gomorrah and Admah and Zeboiim, as far as Lasha. ²⁰ These are the descendants of Ham according to their constituent groups, according to their languages, by their lands, and by their nations.

²¹ Also to Shem, the father of all the children of Eber [including the Hebrews], the ^[i]older brother of Japheth, children were born. ²² The sons of Shem: Elam, Asshur, Arpachshad, Lud and Aram; ²³ the sons of Aram [ancestor of the Syrians]: Uz, Hul, Gether and ^[j]Mash. ²⁴ Arpachshad became the father of Shelah; and Shelah became the father of Eber. ²⁵ Two sons were born to Eber; the name of one was Peleg (division), for [the inhabitants of] the earth were divided in his days; and his brother’s name was Joktan. ²⁶ Joktan became the father of Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah, ²⁷ and Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah, ²⁸ and ^[k]Obal, Abimael, Sheba, ²⁹ and Ophir, Havilah, and Jobab; all these were the sons of Joktan. ³⁰ Now their territory extended from Mesha as one goes toward Sephar, to the hill country of the east. ³¹ These are Shem’s descendants according to their constituent groups (families), according to their languages, by their lands, according to their nations.

³² These are the families of the sons of Noah, according to their descendants, by their nations; and from these [people] the nations were separated and spread abroad on the earth after the flood.^(F)

Universal Language, Babel, Confusion

11 Now the whole earth ^[l]spoke one language and used the same words (vocabulary). ² And as people journeyed eastward, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and they settled there.^{(G) 3} They said one to another, “Come, let us make bricks and fire them thoroughly [in a kiln, to harden and strengthen them].” So they used brick for stone [as building material], and they used tar (bitumen, asphalt) for mortar. ⁴ They said, “Come, let us build a city for ourselves, and a tower whose top will reach into the heavens, and let us make a [famous] name for ourselves, so that we will not be scattered [into separate groups] and be dispersed over the surface of the entire earth [as the Lord instructed].”^{(H) 5} Now the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. ⁶ And the Lord said, “Behold, they are one [unified] people, and they all have the same language. This is only the beginning of what they will do [in rebellion against Me], and now no evil thing they imagine they can do will be impossible for them. ⁷ Come, let Us (Father, Son, Holy Spirit) go down and there confuse and mix up their language, so that they will not understand one another’s speech.” ⁸ So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the surface of the entire earth; and they stopped building the city. ⁹ Therefore the name of the city was ^[m]Babel—because there the Lord confused the language of the entire earth; and from that place the Lord scattered and dispersed them over the surface of all the earth.

Descendants of Shem

¹⁰ These are the records of the generations of Shem [from whom Abraham descended]. Shem was a hundred years old when he became the father of Arpachshad, two years after the flood. ¹¹ And Shem lived five hundred years after Arpachshad was born, and he had other sons and daughters.

¹² When Arpachshad had lived thirty-five years, he became the father of Shelah. ¹³ Arpachshad lived four hundred and three years after Shelah was born, and he had other sons and daughters.

¹⁴ When Shelah had lived thirty years, he became the father of Eber. ¹⁵ Shelah lived four hundred and three years after Eber was born, and he had other sons and daughters.

¹⁶ When Eber had lived thirty-four years, he became the father of Peleg. ¹⁷ And Eber lived four hundred and thirty years after Peleg was born, and he had other sons and daughters.

¹⁸ When Peleg had lived thirty years, he became the father of Reu. ¹⁹ And Peleg lived two hundred and nine years after Reu was born, and he had other sons and daughters.

²⁰ When Reu had lived thirty-two years, he became the father of Serug. ²¹ And Reu lived two hundred and seven years after Serug was born, and he had other sons and daughters.

²² When Serug had lived thirty years, he became the father of Nahor. ²³ And Serug lived two hundred years after Nahor was born, and he had other sons and daughters.

²⁴ When Nahor had lived twenty-nine years, he became the father of Terah. ²⁵ And Nahor lived a hundred and nineteen years after Terah was born, and he had other sons and daughters.

²⁶ After Terah had lived seventy years, he became the father of ^[n]Abram and Nahor and Haran [his firstborn].

²⁷ Now these are the records of the descendants of Terah. Terah was the father of Abram (Abraham), Nahor, and Haran; and Haran was the father of Lot. ²⁸ Haran died before his father Terah in the land of his birth, in ^[o]Ur of the Chaldeans. ²⁹ Abram and Nahor took wives for themselves. The name of Abram’s wife was Sarai (later called Sarah), and the name of Nahor’s wife was Milcah, the daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah and Iscah. ³⁰ But Sarai was barren; she did not have a child.

³¹ Terah took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran, his grandson, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram’s wife; and they went out together to go from Ur of the Chaldeans into the land of Canaan; but when they came to Haran [about five hundred and fifty miles northwest of Ur], they settled there. ³² Terah lived two hundred and five years; and Terah died in Haran.