洪水消退

上帝眷顧挪亞及方舟裡的野獸和牲畜,使風吹在大地上,水便開始消退。 深淵的泉源和天上的水閘都關閉了,大雨也停了。 地上的洪水慢慢消退,過了一百五十天,水退下去了。 七月十七日,方舟停在亞拉臘山上。 水繼續消退,到十月一日,山頂都露出來了。

又過了四十天,挪亞打開方舟的窗戶, 放出一隻烏鴉。牠一直在空中飛來飛去,直到地上的水都乾了。 後來,挪亞放出一隻鴿子,以便瞭解地面的水是否已經消退。 但遍地都是水,鴿子找不到歇腳的地方,就飛回了方舟,挪亞伸手把鴿子接進方舟裡。 10 過了七天,挪亞再把鴿子放出去。 11 到了黃昏,鴿子飛回來,嘴裡啣著一片新擰下來的橄欖葉,挪亞便知道地上的水已經退了。 12 等了七天,他又放出鴿子,這一次,鴿子沒有回來。

13 挪亞六百零一歲那年的一月一日,地上的水乾了。挪亞打開方舟的蓋觀望,看見地面都乾了。 14 到了二月二十七日,大地完全乾了。 15 上帝對挪亞說: 16 「你與妻子、兒子和兒媳可以出方舟了。 17 你要把方舟裡的飛禽走獸及爬蟲等所有動物都帶出來,讓牠們在地上多多繁殖。」 18 於是,挪亞與妻子、兒子和兒媳都出了方舟。 19 方舟裡的飛禽走獸和爬蟲等所有地上的動物,都按種類出了方舟。

挪亞獻祭

20 挪亞為耶和華築了一座壇,在上面焚燒各種潔淨的牲畜和飛鳥作為燔祭。 21 耶和華聞到這燔祭的馨香,心想:「雖然人從小就心存惡念,但我再不會因為人的緣故而咒詛大地,再不會毀滅一切生靈。 22 只要大地尚存,播種收割、夏熱冬寒、白晝黑夜必永不停息。」

Chapter 8

God remembered Noah and all the animals, wild and tame, that were with him in the ark. So God made a wind sweep over the earth, and the waters began to subside. The fountains of the abyss and the floodgates of the sky were closed, and the downpour from the sky was held back. Gradually the waters receded from the earth. At the end of one hundred and fifty days, the waters had so diminished that, in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat.[a] The waters continued to diminish until the tenth month, and on the first day of the tenth month the tops of the mountains appeared.

At the end of forty days Noah opened the hatch of the ark that he had made, [b]and he released a raven. It flew back and forth until the waters dried off from the earth. Then he released a dove, to see if the waters had lessened on the earth. But the dove could find no place to perch, and it returned to him in the ark, for there was water over all the earth. Putting out his hand, he caught the dove and drew it back to him inside the ark. 10 He waited yet seven days more and again released the dove from the ark. 11 In the evening the dove came back to him, and there in its bill was a plucked-off olive leaf! So Noah knew that the waters had diminished on the earth. 12 He waited yet another seven days and then released the dove; but this time it did not come back.

13 [c]In the six hundred and first year, in the first month, on the first day of the month, the water began to dry up on the earth. Noah then removed the covering of the ark and saw that the surface of the ground had dried. 14 In the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dry.

15 Then God said to Noah: 16 Go out of the ark, together with your wife and your sons and your sons’ wives. 17 Bring out with you every living thing that is with you—all creatures, be they birds or animals or crawling things that crawl on the earth—and let them abound on the earth, and be fertile and multiply on it.(A) 18 So Noah came out, together with his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives; 19 and all the animals, all the birds, and all the crawling creatures that crawl on the earth went out of the ark by families.

20 Then Noah built an altar to the Lord, and choosing from every clean animal and every clean bird, he offered burnt offerings on the altar. 21 When the Lord smelled the sweet odor, the Lord said to himself: Never again will I curse the ground because of human beings, since the desires of the human heart are evil from youth; nor will I ever again strike down every living being, as I have done.(B)

22 All the days of the earth,
    seedtime and harvest,
    cold and heat,
Summer and winter,
    and day and night
    shall not cease.(C)

Footnotes

  1. 8:4 The mountains of Ararat: the mountain country of ancient Arartu in northwest Iraq, which was the highest part of the world to the biblical writer. There is no Mount Ararat in the Bible.
  2. 8:7–12 In the eleventh tablet of the Gilgamesh Epic, Utnapishtim (the equivalent of Noah) released in succession a dove, a swallow, and a raven. When the raven did not return, Utnapishtim knew it was safe to leave the ark. The first century A.D. Roman author Pliny tells of Indian sailors who release birds in order to follow them toward land.
  3. 8:13–14 On the first day of the first month, the world was in the state it had been on the day of creation in chap. 1. Noah had to wait another month until the earth was properly dry as in 1:9.

And God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the cattle that was with him in the ark: and God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters assuaged;

The fountains also of the deep and the windows of heaven were stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained;

And the waters returned from off the earth continually: and after the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters were abated.

And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat.

And the waters decreased continually until the tenth month: in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, were the tops of the mountains seen.

And it came to pass at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made:

And he sent forth a raven, which went forth to and fro, until the waters were dried up from off the earth.

Also he sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters were abated from off the face of the ground;

But the dove found no rest for the sole of her foot, and she returned unto him into the ark, for the waters were on the face of the whole earth: then he put forth his hand, and took her, and pulled her in unto him into the ark.

10 And he stayed yet other seven days; and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark;

11 And the dove came in to him in the evening; and, lo, in her mouth was an olive leaf pluckt off: so Noah knew that the waters were abated from off the earth.

12 And he stayed yet other seven days; and sent forth the dove; which returned not again unto him any more.

13 And it came to pass in the six hundredth and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried up from off the earth: and Noah removed the covering of the ark, and looked, and, behold, the face of the ground was dry.

14 And in the second month, on the seven and twentieth day of the month, was the earth dried.

15 And God spake unto Noah, saying,

16 Go forth of the ark, thou, and thy wife, and thy sons, and thy sons' wives with thee.

17 Bring forth with thee every living thing that is with thee, of all flesh, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth; that they may breed abundantly in the earth, and be fruitful, and multiply upon the earth.

18 And Noah went forth, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives with him:

19 Every beast, every creeping thing, and every fowl, and whatsoever creepeth upon the earth, after their kinds, went forth out of the ark.

20 And Noah builded an altar unto the Lord; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar.

21 And the Lord smelled a sweet savour; and the Lord said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake; for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done.

22 While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.