Genesis 8
Het Boek
Het water zakt
8 Maar God had Noach en de dieren in de ark niet vergeten. Hij stuurde de wind over het water en langzaam begon het water te zakken. 2 De ondergrondse wateren keerden weer terug naar hun normale loop en het hield op met regenen. 3 Het water zakte na honderdvijftig dagen weg en 4 op de zeventiende dag van de zevende maand liep de ark op de toppen van het Araratgebergte vast. 5 Drie maanden later kwamen ook de andere bergtoppen boven het zakkende water uit.
6 Na nog eens veertig dagen opende Noach het venster dat hij in de ark had gemaakt, 7 en liet een raaf los. Deze vloog heen en weer, net zolang tot de aarde weer droog was. 8 Daarna liet Noach een duif los om te kijken of de aarde al droog was, 9 maar de duif vond nergens een plek om neer te strijken en vloog terug naar de ark. Het water stond nog te hoog. Noach stak zijn hand uit en zette de duif weer terug in de ark.
10 Een week later probeerde Noach het nog eens. 11 De duif vloog weg om tegen de avond terug te keren met een olijfblad in haar snavel. Zo wist Noach dat het water bijna weg was. 12 Na een week liet hij de duif nog een keer los en nu kwam zij niet meer terug.
13 Op de eerste dag van de eerste maand in het jaar dat Noach zeshonderdeen werd, opende Noach de deur van de ark en zag dat het water zich had teruggetrokken. 14 Er gingen nog eens acht weken voorbij voordat de aarde helemaal droog was. 15 Toen zei God tegen Noach: 16 ‘U mag de ark verlaten, met uw vrouw, zonen en schoondochters. 17 Laat alle dieren, de vogels, het vee en alle kruipende dieren los, dan kunnen zij zich weer voortplanten en de aarde vullen.’ 18 Noach, alle andere mensen en alle grote en kleine dieren en de vogels gingen van boord. 19 In paren en groepen kwamen de dieren uit de ark.
20 Toen bouwde Noach een altaar en offerde een aantal dieren en vogels die de Here had aangewezen als offerdieren. 21 De Here was blij met Noachs offer en zei bij Zichzelf: ‘Ik zal nooit meer zoiets doen. Nooit zal Ik de aarde meer zo zwaar vervloeken en alle levende wezens vernietigen. Ook al is de mens vanaf zijn vroegste jeugd geneigd het slechte te doen en zondigt hij nog zoveel. 22 Zolang de aarde blijft bestaan, zullen zaaitijd en oogsttijd, koude en warmte, winter en zomer, dag en nacht niet ophouden.’
Genesis 8
Amplified Bible, Classic Edition
8 And God [earnestly] remembered 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 sank down and abated.
2 Also the fountains of the deep and the windows of the heavens were closed, the gushing rain from the sky was checked,
3 And the waters receded from the land continually. At the end of 150 days the waters had diminished.
4 On the seventeenth day of the seventh month the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat [in Armenia].
5 And the waters continued to diminish until the tenth month; on the first day of the tenth month the tops of the high hills were seen.
6 At the end of [another] forty days Noah opened a window of the ark which he had made
7 And sent forth a raven, which kept going to and fro until the waters were dried up from the land.
8 Then he sent forth a dove to see if the waters had decreased from the surface of the ground.
9 But the dove found no resting-place on which to roost, and she returned to him to the ark, for the waters were [yet] on the face of the whole land. So he put forth his hand and drew her to him into the ark.
10 He waited another seven days and again sent forth the dove out of the ark.
11 And the dove came back to him in the evening, and behold, in her mouth was a newly sprouted and freshly plucked olive leaf! So Noah knew that the waters had subsided from the land.
12 Then he waited another seven days and sent forth the dove, but she did not return to him any more.
13 In the year 601 [of Noah’s life], on the first day of the first month, the waters were drying up from the land. And Noah [a]removed the covering of the ark and looked, and behold, the surface of the ground was drying.
14 And on the twenty-seventh day of the second month the land was entirely dry.
15 And God spoke to Noah, saying,
16 Go forth from the ark, you and your wife and your sons and their wives with you.
17 Bring forth every living thing that is with you of all flesh—birds and beasts and every creeping thing that creeps on the ground—that they may breed abundantly on the land and be fruitful and multiply upon the earth.
18 And Noah went forth, and his wife and his sons and their wives with him [after being in the ark one year and ten days].
19 Every beast, every creeping thing, every bird—and whatever moves on the land—went forth by families out of the ark.
20 And Noah built an altar to the Lord and took of every clean [four-footed] animal and of every clean fowl or bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar.
21 When the Lord smelled the pleasing odor [a scent of satisfaction to His heart], the Lord said to Himself, I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the imagination (the strong desire) of man’s heart is evil and wicked from his youth; neither will I ever again smite and destroy every living thing, as I have done.
22 While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.
Footnotes
- Genesis 8:13 Possibly overhanging eaves which prevented the rain from coming through the perforated window space had also prevented Noah from seeing the mountaintops. It is well to remember that the Architect of Noah’s ark was the omniscient Scientist Whose “ways are past finding out,” though men have learned much from them through the centuries. Nothing was lacking in Noah’s ark to keep it from being suited for all that was required of it. The comfortable, light, well-ventilated, watertight, perfectly planned boat, large enough to accommodate all the original land animals intelligently and to permit the four human couples to live separately and in peace, needs no apology today. “In 1609 at Hoorn, in Holland, the Netherlandish Mennonite, P. Jansen, produced a vessel after the pattern of the ark, only smaller, whereby he proved it was well adapted for floating, and would carry a cargo greater by one-third than any other form of like cubical content” (J.P. Lange, A Commentary). It revolutionized shipbuilding. By 1900 every large vessel on the high seas was definitely inclined toward the proportions of Noah’s ark (as verified by “Lloyd’s Register of Shipping,” The World Almanac). Later, ships were built longer for speed, a matter of no concern to Noah.
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