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De aarde wordt weer droog

Maar God was Noach en alle dieren bij hem in de boot niet vergeten. Hij zorgde ervoor dat de wind het water wegblies, zodat het water zakte. Hij sloot de bronnen in de aarde waaruit het water naar boven kolkte. Ook liet Hij het ophouden met regenen. Langzaam maar zeker stroomde het water van de aarde weg. Zo begon na 150 dagen (5 maanden) het water te zakken. Op de 17e dag van de zevende maand bleef de boot vastzitten op één van de bergtoppen van de Ararat. Het water bleef langzaam zakken. Op de eerste dag van de tiende maand waren de toppen van de bergen weer te zien.

Toen er 40 dagen voorbij waren, deed Noach het raam van de boot open. Hij liet een raaf wegvliegen. De raaf bleef heen en weer vliegen totdat de aarde weer droog was. Daarna liet hij een duif wegvliegen, om te zien of het water al helemaal was verdwenen. Maar de duif vond nog nergens een plekje om te gaan zitten en vloog naar Noach terug. Want de hele aarde stond nog onder water. Noach stak zijn hand uit en nam de duif weer terug in de boot. 10 Hij wachtte nog zeven dagen en liet de duif toen weer wegvliegen. 11 's Avonds kwam de duif terug met een vers olijfblad in de snavel. Daardoor wist Noach dat het water op aarde was gezakt. 12 Hij wachtte nóg zeven dagen en liet toen de duif weer los. De duif kwam niet meer bij hem terug. 13 In het jaar dat Noach 601 jaar werd, op de eerste dag van de eerste maand, was de aarde opgedroogd. Noach schoof het luik in het dak van de boot open, keek naar buiten en zag dat de aarde bijna was opgedroogd. 14 Op de 27e dag van de tweede maand was de aarde droog.

15 Toen zei God tegen Noach: 16 "Ga met je vrouw, je zonen en de vrouwen van je zonen van boord. 17 Neem alle vogels en dieren mee naar buiten. Dan kunnen ze weer op de aarde leven en jongen krijgen. Dan komen er weer veel dieren op de aarde." 18 Toen ging Noach naar buiten met zijn zonen, zijn vrouw en de vrouwen van zijn zonen. 19 Ook alle dieren en vogels kwamen naar buiten, alle soorten die op aarde leven.

Gods belofte

20 En Noach bouwde een altaar voor de Heer. Hij koos van alle reine dieren en van alle reine vogels een aantal uit en offerde die als brand-offer op het altaar. 21 De Heer was blij met het offer en zei bij Zichzelf: "De mensen zijn slecht en bedenken van jongs af alleen maar slechte dingen. Toch zal Ik nooit meer op zo'n manier de aarde straffen. Ik zal nooit meer alles wat leeft doden. 22 Zolang de aarde bestaat, zullen voortaan zaaitijd en oogsttijd, kou en hitte, zomer en winter, en dag en nacht blijven bestaan."

God didn’t forget about Noah and all the animals in the boat! He sent a wind to blow across the waters, and the floods began to disappear, for the subterranean water sources ceased their gushing, and the torrential rains subsided. 3-4 So the flood gradually receded until, 150 days after it began, the boat came to rest upon the mountains of Ararat. Three months later,[a] as the waters continued to go down, other mountain peaks appeared.

After another forty days, Noah opened a porthole and released a raven that flew back and forth[b] until the earth was dry. Meanwhile he sent out a dove to see if it could find dry ground, but the dove found no place to light, and returned to Noah, for the water was still too high. So Noah held out his hand and drew the dove back into the boat.

10 Seven days later Noah released the dove again, 11 and this time, toward evening, the bird returned to him with an olive leaf in her beak. So Noah knew that the water was almost gone. 12 A week later he released the dove again, and this time she didn’t come back.

13 Twenty-nine days after that,[c] Noah opened the door to look, and the water was gone. 14 Eight more weeks went by. Then at last the earth was dry. 15-16 Then God told Noah, “You may all go out. 17 Release all the animals, birds, and reptiles, so that they will breed abundantly and reproduce in great numbers.” 18-19 So the boat was soon empty. Noah, his wife, and his sons and their wives all disembarked, along with all the animals, reptiles, and birds—all left the ark in pairs and groups.

20 Then Noah built an altar and sacrificed on it some of the animals and birds God had designated[d] for that purpose. 21 And Jehovah was pleased with the sacrifice[e] and said to himself, “I will never do it again—I will never again curse the earth, destroying all living things, even though man’s bent is always toward evil from his earliest youth, and even though he does such wicked things. 22 As long as the earth remains, there will be springtime and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, day and night.”

Footnotes

  1. Genesis 8:5 Three months later, literally, “On the first day of the tenth month.”
  2. Genesis 8:7 a raven that flew back and forth. Apparently lighting from time to time upon carcasses of dead animals floating on the water. The dove that Noah next dispatched would not alight on such floating carrion and was thus a good indication of the water level.
  3. Genesis 8:13 Twenty-nine days after that, literally, “In the 601st year, in the first month, the first day of the month.”
  4. Genesis 8:20 some of the animals and birds God had designated, literally, “clean,” i.e., ritually approved by God.
  5. Genesis 8:21 And Jehovah was pleased with the sacrifice, literally, “And Jehovah smelled the delicious odor.”

But God remembered(A) Noah and all the wild animals and the livestock that were with him in the ark, and he sent a wind over the earth,(B) and the waters receded. Now the springs of the deep and the floodgates of the heavens(C) had been closed, and the rain(D) had stopped falling from the sky. The water receded steadily from the earth. At the end of the hundred and fifty days(E) the water had gone down, and on the seventeenth day of the seventh month(F) the ark came to rest on the mountains(G) of Ararat.(H) 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.

After forty days(I) Noah opened a window he had made in the ark and sent out a raven,(J) and it kept flying back and forth until the water had dried up from the earth.(K) Then he sent out a dove(L) to see if the water had receded from the surface of the ground. 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.(M) 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,(N) 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(O) 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.(P) 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.”(Q)

18 So Noah came out, together with his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives.(R) 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(S) and, taking some of all the clean animals and clean(T) birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings(U) on it. 21 The Lord smelled the pleasing aroma(V) and said in his heart: “Never again will I curse the ground(W) because of humans, even though[a] every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood.(X) And never again will I destroy(Y) all living creatures,(Z) as I have done.

22 “As long as the earth endures,
seedtime and harvest,(AA)
cold and heat,
summer and winter,(AB)
day and night
will never cease.”(AC)

Footnotes

  1. Genesis 8:21 Or humans, for