Genesis 8-11 (Contemporary English Version)

Genesis 8

The Water Goes Down

 ¹God did not forget about Noah and the animals with him in the boat. So God made a wind blow, and the water started going down. ²God stopped up the places where the water had been gushing out from under the earth. He also closed up the sky, and the rain stopped. ³For one hundred fifty days the water slowly went down. ⁴Then on the seventeenth day of the seventh month of the year, the boat came to rest somewhere in the Ararat mountains. ⁵The water kept going down, and the mountain tops could be seen on the first day of the tenth month.

    ^6-7Forty days later Noah opened a window to send out a raven, but it kept flying around until the water had dried up. ⁸Noah wanted to find out if the water had gone down, and he sent out a dove. ⁹Deep water was still everywhere, and the dove could not find a place to land. So it flew back to the boat. Noah held out his hand and helped it back in.

    ¹⁰Seven days later Noah sent the dove out again. ¹¹It returned in the evening, holding in its beak a green leaf from an olive tree. Noah knew that the water was finally going down. ¹²He waited seven more days before sending the dove out again, and this time it did not return.

    ¹³Noah was now six hundred one years old. And by the first day of that year, almost all the water had gone away. Noah made an opening in the roof of the boat ^[a] and saw that the ground was getting dry. ¹⁴By the twenty-seventh day of the second month, the earth was completely dry. ¹⁵God said to Noah, ¹⁶"You, your wife, your sons, and your daughters-in-law may now leave the boat. ¹⁷Let out the birds, animals, and reptiles, so they can mate and live all over the earth." ¹⁸After Noah and his family had gone out of the boat, ¹⁹the living creatures left in groups of their own kind.

   

The LORD's Promise for the Earth

 ²⁰Noah built an altar where he could offer sacrifices to the LORD. Then he offered on the altar one of each kind of animal and bird that could be used for a sacrifice. ^{[b] 21}The smell of the burning offering pleased God, and he said: Never again will I punish the earth for the sinful things its people do. All of them have evil thoughts from the time they are young, but I will never destroy everything that breathes, as I did this time.

    ²²As long as the earth remains,

   there will be planting

   and harvest,

   cold and heat;

   winter and summer,

   day and night.

   

Genesis 9

God's Promise to Noah

 ¹God said to Noah and his sons:

   I am giving you my blessing. Have a lot of children and grandchildren, so people will live everywhere on this earth. ²All animals, birds, reptiles, and fish will be afraid of you. I have placed them under your control, ³and I have given them to you for food. From now on, you may eat them, as well as the green plants that you have always eaten. ⁴But life is in the blood, and you must not eat any meat that still has blood in it. ^5-6I created humans to be like me, and I will punish any animal or person that takes a human life. If an animal kills someone, that animal must die. And if a person takes the life of another, that person must be put to death.

    ⁷I want you and your descendants to have many children, so people will live everywhere on earth.

    ⁸Again, God said to Noah and his sons:

    ⁹I am going to make a solemn promise to you and to everyone who will live after you. ¹⁰This includes the birds and the animals that came out of the boat. ¹¹I promise every living creature that the earth and those living on it will never again be destroyed by a flood.

    ^12-13The rainbow that I have put in the sky will be my sign to you and to every living creature on earth. It will remind you that I will keep this promise forever. ¹⁴When I send clouds over the earth, and a rainbow appears in the sky, ¹⁵I will remember my promise to you and to all other living creatures. Never again will I let floodwaters destroy all life. ¹⁶When I see the rainbow in the sky, I will always remember the promise that I have made to every living creature. ¹⁷The rainbow will be the sign of that solemn promise.

   

Noah and His Family

 ¹⁸Noah and his sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, came out of the boat. Ham later had a son named Canaan. ¹⁹All people on earth are descendants of Noah's three sons.

    ²⁰Noah farmed the land and was the first to plant a vineyard. ²¹One day he got drunk and was lying naked in his tent. ²²Ham entered the tent and saw him naked, then went back outside and told his brothers. ²³Shem and Japheth put a robe over their shoulders and walked backwards into the tent. Without looking at their father, they placed it over his body.

    ²⁴When Noah woke up and learned what his youngest son had done, ²⁵he said,

   "I now put a curse on Canaan!

   He will be the lowest slave

   of his brothers.

    ²⁶I ask the LORD my God

   to bless Shem

   and make Canaan his slave.

    ²⁷I pray that the LORD

   will give Japheth

   more and more ^[c] land and let him take over

   the territory of Shem.

   May Canaan be his slave."

    ²⁸Noah lived three hundred fifty years after the flood ²⁹and died at the age of nine hundred fifty.

   

Genesis 10

The Descendants of Noah

 ¹After the flood Shem, Ham, and Japheth had many descendants.

   

The Descendants of Japheth

 ^2-5Japheth's descendants had their own languages, tribes, and land. They were Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras.

   Gomer was the ancestor of Ashkenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah.

   Javan was the ancestor of Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim, ^[d] who settled along the coast.

The Descendants of Ham

 ^6-20Ham's descendants had their own languages, tribes, and land. They were Ethiopia, ^[e] Egypt, Put, and Canaan. Cush ^[f] was the ancestor of Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, and Sabteca. Raamah was the ancestor of Sheba and Dedan.

   Cush was also the ancestor of Nimrod, a mighty warrior whose strength came from the LORD. Nimrod is the reason for the saying, "You hunt like Nimrod with the strength of the LORD!" Nimrod first ruled in Babylon, Erech, and Accad, all of ^[g] which were in Babylonia. ^[h] From there Nimrod went to Assyria and built the great city of Nineveh. He also built Rehoboth-Ir and Calah, as well as Resen, which is between Nineveh and Calah. Egypt was the ancestor of Ludim, Anamim, Lehabim, Naphtuhim, Pathrusim, Casluhim, and Caphtorim, the ancestor of the Philistines. ^[i] Canaan's sons were Sidon and Heth. He was also the ancestor of the Jebusites, the Amorites, the Girgashites, the Hivites, the Arkites, the Sinites, the Arvadites, the Zemarites, and the Hamathites.

   Later the Canaanites spread from the territory of Sidon and went as far as Gaza in the direction of Gerar. They also went as far as Lasha in the direction of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim.

   

The Descendants of Shem

 ^21-31Shem's descendants had their own languages, tribes, and land. He was the older brother of Japheth and the ancestor of the tribes of Eber.

   Shem was the ancestor of Elam, Asshur, Arpachshad, Lud, and Aram.

   Aram was the ancestor of Uz, Hul, Gether, and Mash.

   Arpachshad was the father of Shelah and the grandfather of Eber, whose first son was named Peleg, ^[j] because it was during his time that tribes divided up the earth. Eber's second son was Joktan. Joktan was the ancestor of Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah, Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah, Obal, Abimael, Sheba, Ophir, Havilah, and Jobab. Their land reached from Mesha in the direction of Sephar, the hill country in the east.

    ³²This completes the list of Noah's descendants. After the flood their descendants became nations and spread all over the world.

   

Genesis 11

The Tower of Babel

 ¹At first everyone spoke the same language, ²but after some of them moved from the east ^[k] and settled in Babylonia, ^{[l] 3-4}they said: Let's build a city with a tower that reaches to the sky! We'll use hard bricks and tar instead of stone and mortar. We'll become famous, and we won't be scattered all over the world.

    ⁵But when the LORD came down to look at the city and the tower, ⁶he said:

   These people are working together because they all speak the same language. This is just the beginning. Soon they will be able to do anything they want. ⁷Come on! Let's go down and confuse them by making them speak different languages--then they won't be able to understand each other.

    ^8-9So the people had to stop building the city, because the LORD confused their language and scattered them all over the earth. That's how the city of Babel ^[m] got its name.

The Descendants of Shem

 ^10-11Two years after the flood, when Shem was one hundred, he had a son named Arpachshad. He had more children and died at the age of six hundred. This is a list of his descendants:

    ¹²When Arpachshad was thirty-five, he had a son named Shelah. ¹³Arpachshad had more children and died at the age of four hundred thirty-eight.

    ¹⁴When Shelah was thirty, he had a son named Eber. ¹⁵Shelah had more children and died at the age of four hundred thirty-three.

    ¹⁶When Eber was thirty-four, he had a son named Peleg. ¹⁷Eber had more children and died at the age of four hundred sixty-four.

    ¹⁸When Peleg was thirty, he had a son named Reu. ¹⁹Peleg had more children and died at the age of two hundred thirty-nine.

    ²⁰When Reu was thirty-two he had a son named Serug. ²¹Reu had more children and died at the age of two hundred thirty-nine.

    ²²When Serug was thirty, he had a son named Nahor. ²³Serug had more children and died at the age of two hundred thirty.

    ²⁴When Nahor was twenty-nine, he had a son named Terah. ²⁵Nahor had more children and died at the age of one hundred forty-eight.

   

The Descendants of Terah

 ^26-28After Terah was seventy years old, he had three sons: Abram, Nahor, and Haran, who became the father of Lot. Terah's sons were born in the city of Ur in Chaldea, ^[n] and Haran died there before the death of his father. The following is the story of Terah's descendants. ^29-30Abram married Sarai, but she was not able to have any children. And Nahor married Milcah, who was the daughter of Haran and the sister of Iscah.

    ³¹Terah decided to move from Ur to the land of Canaan. He took along Abram and Sarai and his grandson Lot, the son of Haran. But when they came to the city of Haran, ^[o] they decided to settle there instead. ³²Terah lived to be two hundred five years old and died in Haran.