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Genesis 6-9
Living Bible

6 1-2 Now a population explosion took place upon the earth. It was at this time that beings from the spirit world[a] looked upon the beautiful earth women and took any they desired to be their wives. 3 Then Jehovah said, “My Spirit must not forever be disgraced in man, wholly evil as he is. I will give him 120 years to mend his ways.”

4 In those days, and even afterwards, when the evil beings from the spirit world were sexually involved with human women, their children became giants, of whom so many legends are told. 5 When the Lord God saw the extent of human wickedness, and that the trend and direction of men’s lives were only towards evil, 6 he was sorry he had made them. It broke his heart.

7 And he said, “I will blot out from the face of the earth all mankind that I created. Yes, and the animals too, and the reptiles and the birds. For I am sorry I made them.”

8 But Noah was a pleasure to the Lord. Here is the story of Noah: 9-10 He was the only truly righteous man living on the earth at that time. He tried always to conduct his affairs according to God’s will. And he had three sons—Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

11 Meanwhile, the crime rate was rising rapidly across the earth, and, as seen by God, the world was rotten to the core.

12-13 As God observed how bad it was, and saw that all mankind was vicious and depraved, he said to Noah, “I have decided to destroy all mankind; for the earth is filled with crime because of man. Yes, I will destroy mankind from the earth. 14 Make a boat from resinous wood, sealing it with tar; and construct decks and stalls throughout the ship. 15 Make it 450 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet high. 16 Construct a skylight all the way around the ship, eighteen inches below the roof; and make three decks inside the boat—a bottom, middle, and upper deck—and put a door in the side.

17 “Look! I am going to cover the earth with a flood and destroy every living being—everything in which there is the breath of life. All will die. 18 But I promise to keep you safe in the ship, with your wife and your sons and their wives. 19-20 Bring a pair of every animal—a male and a female—into the boat with you, to keep them alive through the flood. Bring in a pair of each kind of bird and animal and reptile. 21 Store away in the boat all the food that they and you will need.” 22 And Noah did everything as God commanded him.

7 Finally the day came when the Lord said to Noah, “Go into the boat with all your family, for among all the people of the earth, I consider you alone to be righteous. 2 Bring in the animals, too—a pair of each, except those kinds I have chosen for eating and for sacrifice: take seven pairs of each of them, 3 and seven pairs[b] of every kind of bird. Thus there will be every kind of life reproducing again after the flood has ended. 4 One week from today I will begin forty days and nights of rain; and all the animals and birds and reptiles I have made will die.”

5 So Noah did everything the Lord commanded him. 6 He was 600 years old when the flood came. 7 He boarded the boat with his wife and sons and their wives, to escape the flood. 8-9 With him were all the various kinds of animals—those for eating and sacrifice, and those that were not, and the birds and reptiles. They came into the boat in pairs, male and female, just as God commanded Noah.

10-12 One week later, when Noah was 600 years, two months, and seventeen days old, the rain came down in mighty torrents from the sky, and the subterranean waters burst forth upon the earth for forty days and nights. 13 But Noah had gone into the boat that very day with his wife and his sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and their wives. 14-15 With them in the boat were pairs of every kind of animal—domestic and wild—and reptiles and birds of every sort. 16 Two by two they came, male and female, just as God had commanded. Then the Lord God[c] closed the door and shut them in.

17 For forty days the roaring floods prevailed, covering the ground and lifting the boat high above the earth. 18 As the water rose higher and higher above the ground, the boat floated safely upon it; 19 until finally the water covered all the high mountains under the whole heaven, 20 standing twenty-two feet and more above the highest peaks. 21 And all living things upon the earth perished—birds, domestic and wild animals, and reptiles and all mankind— 22 everything that breathed and lived upon dry land. 23 All existence on the earth was blotted out—man and animals alike, and reptiles and birds. God destroyed them all, leaving only Noah alive, and those with him in the boat. 24 And the water covered the earth 150 days.

8 God didn’t forget about Noah and all the animals in the boat! He sent a wind to blow across the waters, and the floods began to disappear, 2 for the subterranean water sources ceased their gushing, and the torrential rains subsided. 3-4 So the flood gradually receded until, 150 days after it began, the boat came to rest upon the mountains of Ararat. 5 Three months later,[d] as the waters continued to go down, other mountain peaks appeared.

6 After another forty days, Noah opened a porthole 7 and released a raven that flew back and forth[e] until the earth was dry. 8 Meanwhile he sent out a dove to see if it could find dry ground, 9 but the dove found no place to light, and returned to Noah, for the water was still too high. So Noah held out his hand and drew the dove back into the boat.

10 Seven days later Noah released the dove again, 11 and this time, toward evening, the bird returned to him with an olive leaf in her beak. So Noah knew that the water was almost gone. 12 A week later he released the dove again, and this time she didn’t come back.

13 Twenty-nine days after that,[f] Noah opened the door to look, and the water was gone. 14 Eight more weeks went by. Then at last the earth was dry. 15-16 Then God told Noah, “You may all go out. 17 Release all the animals, birds, and reptiles, so that they will breed abundantly and reproduce in great numbers.” 18-19 So the boat was soon empty. Noah, his wife, and his sons and their wives all disembarked, along with all the animals, reptiles, and birds—all left the ark in pairs and groups.

20 Then Noah built an altar and sacrificed on it some of the animals and birds God had designated[g] for that purpose. 21 And Jehovah was pleased with the sacrifice[h] and said to himself, “I will never do it again—I will never again curse the earth, destroying all living things, even though man’s bent is always toward evil from his earliest youth, and even though he does such wicked things. 22 As long as the earth remains, there will be springtime and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, day and night.”

9 God blessed Noah and his sons and told them to have many children and to repopulate the earth.

2-3 “All wild animals and birds and fish will be afraid of you,” God told him; “for I have placed them in your power, and they are yours to use for food, in addition to grain and vegetables. 4 But never eat animals unless their life-blood has been drained off. 5-6 And murder is forbidden. Man-killing animals must die, and any man who murders shall be killed; for to kill a man is to kill one made like God. 7 Yes, have many children and repopulate the earth and subdue it.”

8 Then God told Noah and his sons, 9-11 “I solemnly promise you and your children[i] and the animals you brought with you—all these birds and cattle and wild animals—that I will never again send another flood to destroy the earth. 12 And I seal this promise with this sign: 13 I have placed my rainbow in the clouds as a sign of my promise until the end of time, to you and to all the earth. 14 When I send clouds over the earth, the rainbow will be seen in the clouds, 15 and I will remember my promise to you and to every being, that never again will the floods come and destroy all life. 16-17 For I will see the rainbow in the cloud and remember my eternal promise to every living being on the earth.”

18 The names of Noah’s three sons were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. (Ham is the ancestor of the Canaanites.)[j] 19 From these three sons of Noah came all the nations of the earth.

20-21 Noah became a farmer and planted a vineyard, and he made wine. One day as he was drunk and lay naked in his tent, 22 Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father’s nakedness and went outside and told his two brothers. 23 Then Shem and Japheth took a robe and held it over their shoulders and, walking backwards into the tent, let it fall across their father to cover his nakedness as they looked the other way. 24-25 When Noah awoke from his drunken stupor, and learned what had happened and what Ham, his younger son, had done, he cursed Ham’s descendants:[k]

“A curse upon the Canaanites,” he swore.

“May they be the lowest of slaves

To the descendants of Shem and Japheth.”

26-27 Then he said,

“God bless Shem,

And may Canaan be his slave.[l]

God bless Japheth,

And let him share the prosperity of Shem,

And let Canaan be his slave.”

28 Noah lived another 350 years after the flood 29 and was 950 years old at his death.

Footnotes

  1. Genesis 6:1 beings from the spirit world, literally, “sons of God,” used here in the sense of his created, supernatural beings, but no longer godly in character (v. 3). Some commentators believe that the expression “sons of God” refers to the “godly line” of Seth, and “daughters of men” to women from the line of Cain.
  2. Genesis 7:3 seven pairs, literally, “the male and female.”
  3. Genesis 7:16 the Lord God, literally, “Jehovah.”
  4. Genesis 8:5 Three months later, literally, “On the first day of the tenth month.”
  5. Genesis 8:7 a raven that flew back and forth. Apparently lighting from time to time upon carcasses of dead animals floating on the water. The dove that Noah next dispatched would not alight on such floating carrion and was thus a good indication of the water level.
  6. Genesis 8:13 Twenty-nine days after that, literally, “In the 601st year, in the first month, the first day of the month.”
  7. Genesis 8:20 some of the animals and birds God had designated, literally, “clean,” i.e., ritually approved by God.
  8. Genesis 8:21 And Jehovah was pleased with the sacrifice, literally, “And Jehovah smelled the delicious odor.”
  9. Genesis 9:9 you and your children, literally, “your seed.”
  10. Genesis 9:18 Ham is the ancestor of the Canaanites. Ham was not the ancestor of the Negro, as was once erroneously supposed.
  11. Genesis 9:24 he cursed Ham’s descendants, literally, “cursed be Canaan.” The Canaanites were Ham’s descendants.
  12. Genesis 9:26 God bless Shem, and may Canaan be his slave, or “Blessed be Jehovah, the God of Shem, and may the Canaanites be Shem’s slaves.”
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Genesis 6-9
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.”

The Sons of Noah

18 The sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham and Japheth.(DX) (Ham was the father of Canaan.)(DY) 19 These were the three sons of Noah,(DZ) and from them came the people who were scattered over the whole earth.(EA)

20 Noah, a man of the soil, proceeded[j] to plant a vineyard. 21 When he drank some of its wine,(EB) he became drunk and lay uncovered inside his tent. 22 Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father naked(EC) and told his two brothers outside. 23 But Shem and Japheth took a garment and laid it across their shoulders; then they walked in backward and covered their father’s naked body. Their faces were turned the other way so that they would not see their father naked.

24 When Noah awoke from his wine and found out what his youngest son had done to him, 25 he said,

“Cursed(ED) be Canaan!(EE)
    The lowest of slaves
    will he be to his brothers.(EF)”

26 He also said,

“Praise be to the Lord, the God of Shem!(EG)
    May Canaan be the slave(EH) of Shem.
27 May God extend Japheth’s[k] territory;(EI)
    may Japheth live in the tents of Shem,(EJ)
    and may Canaan be the slave of Japheth.”

28 After the flood Noah lived 350 years. 29 Noah lived a total of 950 years, and then he died.(EK)

Footnotes

  1. Genesis 6:3 Or My spirit will not remain in
  2. Genesis 6:3 Or corrupt
  3. Genesis 6:14 The meaning of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain.
  4. 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
  5. Genesis 6:16 That is, about 18 inches or about 45 centimeters
  6. Genesis 6:16 The meaning of the Hebrew for this clause is uncertain.
  7. Genesis 7:20 That is, about 23 feet or about 6.8 meters
  8. Genesis 7:20 Or rose more than fifteen cubits, and the mountains were covered
  9. Genesis 8:21 Or humans, for
  10. Genesis 9:20 Or soil, was the first
  11. Genesis 9:27 Japheth sounds like the Hebrew for extend.
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