Genesis 8
New Catholic Bible
Chapter 8
The New Creation.[a] 1 God remembered Noah and all the wild and farm animals that were with him in the ark. God made a wind blow upon the earth, and the waters began to recede. 2 The springs of the abyss and the windows of the heavens were closed, and the rains from the heavens ceased. 3 The waters slowly receded from the earth. At the end of one hundred and fifty days they had greatly diminished. 4 In the seventh month, the seventeenth day of the month, the ark came to rest on Mount Ararat.[b] 5 The waters continued to recede until the tenth month. In the tenth month, the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains came into view.
6 After forty days had gone by, Noah opened the window that he had made in the ark 7 and released a raven to see if the waters had completely dried up. It flew back and forth until the waters upon the earth dried up. 8 Noah then released a dove, to see if the waters had drained from the surface of the earth, 9 but the dove, not finding any place to land, returned to the ark (for the waters still covered the surface of the earth). He reached out and caught the dove and brought it back into the ark.
10 After waiting another seven days, he once again released the dove from the ark. 11 It returned to him toward the evening. In its beak it had a sprig from an olive tree. Noah understood that the waters had receded from the earth. 12 He waited another seven days and then released the dove. It did not return to him.
13 In the six hundred and first year of Noah’s life, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters dried up upon the earth. Noah removed the covering from the ark and, behold, the surface of the earth was dry. 14 In the second month, the twenty-seventh day of the month, the entire surface of the earth was dry.
15 God commanded Noah, 16 “Leave the ark, you and your wife, your sons and their wives. 17 Take all the animals of every species with you, birds, cattle, all the reptiles that crawl upon the earth, take them all with you. Let them spread out upon the earth. May they be fruitful and multiply upon the earth.”
18 Noah left the ark with his sons, his wife, and his sons’ wives.
19 All the living creatures and all the wild animals, all the birds and all the reptiles that crawl upon the earth, each according to its kind, all left the ark.
20 Noah built an altar to the Lord, took every kind of clean animal and some of every kind of clean bird, and he offered them as burnt offerings upon the altar.
21 The Lord smelled the pleasant odor and said to himself, “I will never again curse the land because of humankind, for the instinct of every human heart is evil from its youth. I will never again destroy every living creature.
22 “As long as the earth endures,
seedtime and harvest,
cold and heat,
summer and winter,
day and night
shall not cease.”
Footnotes
- Genesis 8:1 The first five verses, on the withdrawal of the waters, are from the Priestly tradition with a short Yahwist insert, while the section on the raven and the dove is Yahwist. The sending of a bird to find solid land was a custom of ancient mariners and also occurs in Mesopotamian stories of the flood. The following section, on the departure from the ark, is again Priestly and is in continuity with chapter 9, which is from the same source, whereas 8:21-22 on sacrifice and the divine decision are Yahwist.
God does not allow evil to conquer him but defeats it by preparing a new world. With Noah, the second father of humankind, everything begins again: nature takes up its laws again and human beings rediscover their rights. However, sin had destroyed the harmony that existed in the beginning. Human beings enter into conflict with the animals and with one another. The prohibition of shedding blood and the punishment for murderers are intended to remind all that life belongs to God alone. The Lord concludes a new covenant with human beings but engages only himself; he has decided to be patient and allow freedom to go to its very limits. This ancient story of the covenant defines God’s attitude toward all humankind. The universal covenant that Jesus will seal with his blood bears witness to the astounding greatness of God’s love for human beings (see Jn 3:16). - Genesis 8:4 Ararat (cuneiform texts have Urartu) has been variously identified: the northeast region of Lake Van; the mountains of Kurdistan; the Lubar mountains, near Zagros, close to the Nisir of the Gilgamesh myth.
Genesis 8
King James Version
8 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;
2 The fountains also of the deep and the windows of heaven were stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained;
3 And the waters returned from off the earth continually: and after the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters were abated.
4 And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat.
5 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.
6 And it came to pass at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made:
7 And he sent forth a raven, which went forth to and fro, until the waters were dried up from off the earth.
8 Also he sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters were abated from off the face of the ground;
9 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.
