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Genesis 6-9
Good News Translation
Genesis 6-9
Good News Translation
Human Wickedness
6 (A)When people had spread all over the world, and daughters were being born, 2 some of the heavenly beings[a] saw that these young women were beautiful, so they took the ones they liked. 3 Then the Lord said, “I will not allow people to live forever; they are mortal. From now on they will live no longer than 120 years.” 4 (B)In those days, and even later, there were giants on the earth who were descendants of human women and the heavenly beings. They were the great heroes and famous men of long ago.
5 (C)When the Lord saw how wicked everyone on earth was and how evil their thoughts were all the time, 6 he was sorry that he had ever made them and put them on the earth. He was so filled with regret 7 that he said, “I will wipe out these people I have created, and also the animals and the birds, because I am sorry that I made any of them.” 8 But the Lord was pleased with Noah.
Noah
9-10 (D)This is the story of Noah. He had three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Noah had no faults and was the only good man of his time. He lived in fellowship with God, 11 but everyone else was evil in God's sight, and violence had spread everywhere. 12 God looked at the world and saw that it was evil, for the people were all living evil lives.
13 God said to Noah, “I have decided to put an end to all people. I will destroy them completely, because the world is full of their violent deeds. 14 Build a boat for yourself out of good timber; make rooms in it and cover it with tar inside and out. 15 Make it 450 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet high. 16 Make a roof[b] for the boat and leave a space of 18 inches between the roof[c] and the sides. Build it with three decks and put a door in the side. 17 I am going to send a flood on the earth to destroy every living being. Everything on the earth will die, 18 but I will make a covenant with you. Go into the boat with your wife, your sons, and their wives. 19-20 Take into the boat with you a male and a female of every kind of animal and of every kind of bird, in order to keep them alive. 21 Take along all kinds of food for you and for them.” 22 (E)Noah did everything that God commanded.
The Flood
7 The Lord said to Noah, “Go into the boat with your whole family; I have found that you are the only one in all the world who does what is right. 2 Take with you seven pairs of each kind of ritually clean animal, but only one pair of each kind of unclean animal. 3 Take also seven pairs of each kind of bird. Do this so that every kind of animal and bird will be kept alive to reproduce again on the earth. 4 Seven days from now I am going to send rain that will fall for forty days and nights, in order to destroy all the living beings that I have made.” 5 And Noah did everything that the Lord commanded.
6 Noah was six hundred years old when the flood came on the earth. 7 (F)He and his wife, and his sons and their wives, went into the boat to escape the flood. 8 A male and a female of every kind of animal and bird, whether ritually clean or unclean, 9 went into the boat with Noah, as God had commanded. 10 Seven days later the flood came.
11 (G)When Noah was six hundred years old, on the seventeenth day of the second month all the outlets of the vast body of water beneath the earth burst open, all the floodgates of the sky were opened, 12 and rain fell on the earth for forty days and nights. 13 On that same day Noah and his wife went into the boat with their three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and their wives. 14 With them went every kind of animal, domestic and wild, large and small, and every kind of bird. 15 A male and a female of each kind of living being went into the boat with Noah, 16 as God had commanded. Then the Lord shut the door behind Noah.
17 The flood continued for forty days, and the water became deep enough for the boat to float. 18 The water became deeper, and the boat drifted on the surface. 19 It became so deep that it covered the highest mountains; 20 it went on rising until it was about twenty-five feet above the tops of the mountains. 21 Every living being on the earth died—every bird, every animal, and every person. 22 Everything on earth that breathed died. 23 The Lord destroyed all living beings on the earth—human beings, animals, and birds. The only ones left were Noah and those who were with him in the boat. 24 The water did not start going down for a hundred and fifty days.
The End of the Flood
8 God had not forgotten Noah and all the animals with him in the boat; he caused a wind to blow, and the water started going down. 2 The outlets of the water beneath the earth and the floodgates of the sky were closed. The rain stopped, 3 and the water gradually went down for 150 days. 4 On the seventeenth day of the seventh month the boat came to rest on a mountain in the Ararat range. 5 The water kept going down, and on the first day of the tenth month the tops of the mountains appeared.
6 After forty days Noah opened a window 7 and sent out a raven. It did not come back, but kept flying around until the water was completely gone. 8 Meanwhile, Noah sent out a dove to see if the water had gone down, 9 but since the water still covered all the land, the dove did not find a place to light. It flew back to the boat, and Noah reached out and took it in. 10 He waited another seven days and sent out the dove again. 11 It returned to him in the evening with a fresh olive leaf in its beak. So Noah knew that the water had gone down. 12 Then he waited another seven days and sent out the dove once more; this time it did not come back.
13 When Noah was 601 years old, on the first day of the first month, the water was gone. Noah removed the covering of the boat, looked around, and saw that the ground was getting dry. 14 By the twenty-seventh day of the second month the earth was completely dry.
15 God said to Noah, 16 “Go out of the boat with your wife, your sons, and their wives. 17 Take all the birds and animals out with you, so that they may reproduce and spread over all the earth.” 18 So Noah went out of the boat with his wife, his sons, and their wives. 19 All the animals and birds went out of the boat in groups of their own kind.
Noah Offers a Sacrifice
20 Noah built an altar to the Lord; he took one of each kind of ritually clean animal and bird, and burned them whole as a sacrifice on the altar. 21 The odor of the sacrifice pleased the Lord, and he said to himself, “Never again will I put the earth under a curse because of what people do; I know that from the time they are young their thoughts are evil. Never again will I destroy all living beings, as I have done this time. 22 As long as the world exists, there will be a time for planting and a time for harvest. There will always be cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night.”
God's Covenant with Noah
9 (H)God blessed Noah and his sons and said, “Have many children, so that your descendants will live all over the earth. 2 All the animals, birds, and fish will live in fear of you. They are all placed under your power. 3 Now you can eat them, as well as green plants; I give them all to you for food. 4 (I)The one thing you must not eat is meat with blood still in it; I forbid this because the life is in the blood. 5 If anyone takes human life, he will be punished. I will punish with death any animal that takes a human life. 6 (J)Human beings were made like God, so whoever murders one of them will be killed by someone else.
7 (K)“You must have many children, so that your descendants will live all over the earth.”
8 God said to Noah and his sons, 9 “I am now making my covenant with you and with your descendants, 10 and with all living beings—all birds and all animals—everything that came out of the boat with you. 11 With these words I make my covenant with you: I promise that never again will all living beings be destroyed by a flood; never again will a flood destroy the earth. 12 As a sign of this everlasting covenant which I am making with you and with all living beings, 13 I am putting my bow in the clouds. It will be the sign of my covenant with the world. 14 Whenever I cover the sky with clouds and the rainbow appears, 15 I will remember my promise to you and to all the animals that a flood will never again destroy all living beings. 16 When the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between me and all living beings on earth. 17 That is the sign of the promise which I am making to all living beings.”
Noah and His Sons
18 The sons of Noah who went out of the boat were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. (Ham was the father of Canaan.) 19 These three sons of Noah were the ancestors of all the people on earth.
20 Noah, who was a farmer, was the first man to plant a vineyard. 21 After he drank some of the wine, he became drunk, took off his clothes, and lay naked in his tent. 22 When Ham, the father of Canaan, saw that his father was naked, he went out and told his two brothers. 23 Then Shem and Japheth took a robe and held it behind them on their shoulders. They walked backward into the tent and covered their father, keeping their faces turned away so as not to see him naked. 24 When Noah sobered up and learned what his youngest son had done to him, 25 he said,
“A curse on Canaan!
He will be a slave to his brothers.
26 Give praise to the Lord, the God of Shem!
Canaan will be the slave of Shem.
27 May God cause Japheth[d] to increase!
May his descendants live with the people of Shem!
Canaan will be the slave of Japheth.”
28 After the flood Noah lived 350 years 29 and died at the age of 950.
Footnotes
- Genesis 6:2 heavenly beings; or sons of the gods; or sons of God.
- Genesis 6:16 roof; or window.
- Genesis 6:16 roof; or window.
- Genesis 9:27 This name sounds like the Hebrew for “increase.”
Genesis 6-9
New International Version
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,
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
- Genesis 6:3 Or My spirit will not remain in
- Genesis 6:3 Or corrupt
- Genesis 6:14 The meaning of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain.
- 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
- Genesis 6:16 That is, about 18 inches or about 45 centimeters
- Genesis 6:16 The meaning of the Hebrew for this clause is uncertain.
- Genesis 7:20 That is, about 23 feet or about 6.8 meters
- Genesis 7:20 Or rose more than fifteen cubits, and the mountains were covered
- Genesis 8:21 Or humans, for
- Genesis 9:20 Or soil, was the first
- Genesis 9:27 Japheth sounds like the Hebrew for extend.
Good News Translation (GNT) 
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New International Version (NIV) 
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