⁵ The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth,^(A) and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time.^{(B) 6} The Lord regretted^(C) 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^(D) 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.^(E)” ⁸ But Noah^(F) found favor in the eyes of the Lord.^(G)

Noah and the Flood

⁹ This is the account^(H) of Noah and his family.

Noah was a righteous man, blameless^(I) among the people of his time,^(J) and he walked faithfully with God.^{(K) 10} Noah had three sons: Shem,^(L) Ham and Japheth.^(M)

¹¹ Now the earth was corrupt^(N) in God’s sight and was full of violence.^{(O) 12} God saw how corrupt^(P) the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways.^{(Q) 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^(R) both them and the earth.^{(S) 14} So make yourself an ark of cypress^[a] wood;^(T) make rooms in it and coat it with pitch^(U) 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.^{[b] 16} Make a roof for it, leaving below the roof an opening one cubit^[c] high all around.^[d] Put a door in the side of the ark and make lower, middle and upper decks. ¹⁷ I am going to bring floodwaters^(V) 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.^{(W) 18} But I will establish my covenant with you,^(X) and you will enter the ark^(Y)—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.^{(Z) 20} Two^(AA) of every kind of bird, of every kind of animal and of every kind^(AB) of creature that moves along the ground will come to you to be kept alive.^{(AC) 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.^(AD)

⁶ After forty days^(A) Noah opened a window he had made in the ark ⁷ and sent out a raven,^(B) and it kept flying back and forth until the water had dried up from the earth.^{(C) 8} Then he sent out a dove^(D) 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.^{(E) 12} He waited seven more days and sent the dove out again, but this time it did not return to him.

⁸ Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him: ⁹ “I now establish my covenant with you^(A) 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^(B) with you:^(C) Never again will all life be destroyed by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.^(D)”

¹² And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant^(E) I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come:^{(F) 13} I have set my rainbow^(G) 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^(H) appears in the clouds, ¹⁵ I will remember my covenant^(I) between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life.^{(J) 16} Whenever the rainbow^(K) appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant^(L) 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^(M) I have established between me and all life on the earth.”