Genesis 8
New English Translation
8 But God remembered[a] Noah and all the wild animals and domestic animals that were with him in the ark. God caused a wind to blow over[b] the earth and the waters receded. 2 The fountains of the deep and the floodgates of heaven were closed,[c] and the rain stopped falling from the sky. 3 The waters kept receding steadily[d] from the earth, so that they[e] had gone down[f] by the end of the 150 days. 4 On the seventeenth day of the seventh month, the ark came to rest on one of the mountains of Ararat.[g] 5 The waters kept on receding[h] until the tenth month. On the first day of the tenth month, the tops of the mountains became visible.[i]
6 At the end of forty days,[j] Noah opened the window he had made in the ark[k] 7 and sent out a raven; it kept flying back and forth[l] until the waters had dried up on the earth.
8 Then Noah[m] sent out a dove[n] to see if the waters had receded[o] from the surface of the ground. 9 The dove could not find a resting place for its feet because water still covered[p] the surface of the entire earth, and so it returned to Noah[q] in the ark. He stretched out his hand, took the dove,[r] and brought it back into the ark.[s] 10 He waited seven more days and then sent out the dove again from the ark. 11 When[t] the dove returned to him in the evening, there was[u] a freshly plucked olive leaf in its beak! Noah knew that the waters had receded from the earth. 12 He waited another seven days and sent the dove out again,[v] but it did not return to him this time.[w]
13 In Noah’s six hundred and first year,[x] in the first day of the first month, the waters had dried up from the earth, and Noah removed the covering from the ark and saw that[y] the surface of the ground was dry. 14 And by the twenty-seventh day of the second month the earth[z] was dry.
15 Then God spoke to Noah and said, 16 “Come out of the ark, you, your wife, your sons, and your sons’ wives with you. 17 Bring out with you all the living creatures that are with you. Bring out[aa] every living thing, including the birds, animals, and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. Let them increase[ab] and be fruitful and multiply on the earth!”[ac]
18 Noah went out along with his sons, his wife, and his sons’ wives. 19 Every living creature, every creeping thing, every bird, and everything that moves on the earth went out of the ark in their groups.
20 Noah built an altar to the Lord. He then took some of every kind of clean animal and clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar.[ad] 21 And the Lord smelled the soothing aroma[ae] and said[af] to himself,[ag] “I will never again curse[ah] the ground because of humankind, even though[ai] the inclination of their minds[aj] is evil from childhood on.[ak] I will never again destroy everything that lives, as I have just done.
22 “While the earth continues to exist,[al]
planting time[am] and harvest,
cold and heat,
summer and winter,
and day and night will not cease.”
Footnotes
- Genesis 8:1 tn The Hebrew word translated “remembered” often carries the sense of acting in accordance with what is remembered, i.e., fulfilling covenant promises (see B. S. Childs, Memory and Tradition in Israel [SBT], especially p. 34).
- Genesis 8:1 tn Heb “to pass over.”
- Genesis 8:2 tn Some (e.g., NIV) translate the preterite verb forms in this verse as past perfects (e.g., “had been closed”), for it seems likely that the sources of the water would have stopped before the waters receded.
- Genesis 8:3 tn The construction combines a Qal preterite from שׁוּב (shuv) with its infinitive absolute to indicate continuous action. The infinitive absolute from הָלָךְ (halakh) is included for emphasis: “the waters returned…going and returning.”
- Genesis 8:3 tn Heb “the waters.” The pronoun (“they”) has been employed in the translation for stylistic reasons.
- Genesis 8:3 tn The vav (ו) consecutive with the preterite here describes the consequence of the preceding action.
- Genesis 8:4 tn Heb “on the mountains of Ararat.” Obviously a boat (even one as large as the ark) cannot rest on multiple mountains. Perhaps (1) the preposition should be translated “among,” or (2) the plural “mountains” should be understood in the sense of “mountain range” (see E. A. Speiser, Genesis [AB], 53). A more probable option (3) is that the plural indicates an indefinite singular, translated “one of the mountains” (see GKC 400 §124.o).sn Ararat is the Hebrew name for Urartu, the name of a mountainous region located north of Mesopotamia in modern day eastern Turkey. See E. M. Yamauchi, Foes from the Northern Frontier (SBA), 29-32; G. J. Wenham, Genesis (WBC), 1:184-85; C. Westermann, Genesis, 1:443-44.
- Genesis 8:5 tn Heb “the waters were going and lessening.” The perfect verb form הָיָה (hayah) is used as an auxiliary verb with the infinitive absolute חָסוֹר (khasor, “lessening”), while the infinitive absolute הָלוֹךְ (halokh) indicates continuous action.
- Genesis 8:5 tn Or “could be seen.”
- Genesis 8:6 tn The introductory verbal form וַיְהִי (vayehi), traditionally rendered “and it came to pass,” serves as a temporal indicator and has not been translated here.
- Genesis 8:6 tn Heb “opened the window in the ark which he had made.” The perfect tense (“had made”) refers to action preceding the opening of the window, and is therefore rendered as a past perfect. Since in English “had made” could refer to either the ark or the window, the order of the phrases was reversed in the translation to clarify that the window is the referent.
- Genesis 8:7 tn Heb “and it went out, going out and returning.” The Hebrew verb יָצָא (yatsaʾ), translated here “flying,” is modified by two infinitives absolute indicating that the raven went back and forth.
- Genesis 8:8 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Noah) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
- Genesis 8:8 tn The Hebrew text adds “from him.” This has not been translated for stylistic reasons, because it is redundant in English.
- Genesis 8:8 tn The Hebrew verb קָלָל (qalal) normally means “to be light, to be slight”; it refers here to the waters receding.
- Genesis 8:9 tn The words “still covered” is supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
- Genesis 8:9 tn Heb “him”; the referent (Noah) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
- Genesis 8:9 tn Heb “it”; the referent (the dove) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
- Genesis 8:9 tn Heb “and he brought it to himself to the ark.”
- Genesis 8:11 tn The clause introduced by vav (ו) consecutive is translated as a temporal clause subordinated to the following clause.
- Genesis 8:11 tn The deictic particle הִנֵּה (hinneh) draws attention to the olive leaf. It invites readers to enter into the story, as it were, and look at the olive leaf with their own eyes.
- Genesis 8:12 tn The word “again” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
- Genesis 8:12 tn Heb “it did not again return to him still.” For a study of this section of the flood narrative, see W. O. E. Oesterley, “The Dove with the Olive Leaf (Gen VIII 8-11),” ExpTim 18 (1906/07): 377-78.
- Genesis 8:13 tn Heb In the six hundred and first year.” Since this refers to the six hundred and first year of Noah’s life, the word “Noah’s” has been supplied in the translation for clarity.
- Genesis 8:13 tn Heb “and saw and look.” As in v. 11, the deictic particle הִנֵּה (hinneh) invites readers to enter into the story, as it were, and look at the dry ground with their own eyes.
- Genesis 8:14 tn In v. 13 the ground (הָאֲדָמָה, haʾadamah) is dry; now the earth (הָאָרֶץ, haʾarets) is dry.
- Genesis 8:17 tn The words “bring out” are not in the Hebrew text, but are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
- Genesis 8:17 tn Following the Hiphil imperative, “bring out,” the three perfect verb forms with vav (ו) consecutive carry an imperatival nuance. For a discussion of the Hebrew construction here and the difficulty of translating it into English, see S. R. Driver, A Treatise on the Use of the Tenses in Hebrew, 124-25.
- Genesis 8:17 tn Heb “and let them swarm in the earth and be fruitful and multiply on the earth.”
- Genesis 8:20 sn Offered burnt offerings on the altar. F. D. Maurice includes a chapter on the sacrifice of Noah in The Doctrine of Sacrifice. The whole burnt offering, according to Leviticus 1, represented the worshiper’s complete surrender and dedication to the Lord. After the flood Noah could see that God was not only a God of wrath, but a God of redemption and restoration. The one who escaped the catastrophe could best express his gratitude and submission through sacrificial worship, acknowledging God as the sovereign of the universe.
- Genesis 8:21 tn The Lord “smelled” (וַיָּרַח, vayyarakh) a “soothing smell” (רֵיחַ הַנִּיחֹחַ, reakh hannikhoakh). The object forms a cognate accusative with the verb. The language is anthropomorphic. The offering had a sweet aroma that pleased or soothed. The expression in Lev 1 signifies that God accepts the offering with pleasure, and in accepting the offering he accepts the worshiper.
- Genesis 8:21 tn Heb “and the Lord said.”
- Genesis 8:21 tn Heb “in his heart.”
- Genesis 8:21 tn Here the Hebrew word translated “curse” is קָלָל (qalal), used in the Piel verbal stem.
- Genesis 8:21 tn The Hebrew particle כִּי (ki) can be used in a concessive sense (see BDB 473 s.v. כִּי), which makes good sense in this context. Its normal causal sense (“for”) does not fit the context here very well.
- Genesis 8:21 tn Heb “the inclination of the heart of humankind.”
- Genesis 8:21 tn Heb “from his youth.”
- Genesis 8:22 tn Heb “yet all the days of the earth.” The idea is “[while there are] yet all the days of the earth,” meaning, “as long as the earth exists.”
- Genesis 8:22 tn Heb “seed,” which stands here by metonymy for the time when seed is planted.
创世记 8
Chinese New Version (Simplified)
洪水消退
8 神顾念挪亚和所有与他一同在方舟里的走兽和牲畜； 神使风吹过大地，水就渐渐退了。 2 深渊的泉源和天上的窗户，都关闭起来；天降的大雨也止住了。 3 水从地上不断退去，过了一百五十天，水就消退了。 4 七月十七日，方舟停在亚拉腊山上。 5 水继续消退，直到十月；到了十月初一，山顶都露出来了。
6 过了四十天，挪亚开了他所做的方舟的窗户， 7 放了一只乌鸦出去。地上的水还没有干，那乌鸦就一直飞来飞去。 8 他又放了一只鸽子出去，要看看水从地上退了没有。 9 因为遍地都是水，那鸽子找不着歇脚的地方，就回到挪亚的方舟那里；于是，挪亚伸出手去，把鸽子接进方舟里来。 10 他再等了七天，又把鸽子从方舟里放出去。 11 到了黄昏的时候，鸽子回到挪亚那里，嘴里叼着一块新摘下来的橄榄树叶，挪亚就知道地上的水已经退了。 12 挪亚再等了七天，又把鸽子放出去，鸽子就再没有回到他那里。
13 到挪亚六百零一岁的时候，就在正月初一，地上的水都干了；挪亚移开方舟的盖看看，见地面已经干了。 14 到了二月二十七日，大地就都干了。
挪亚出方舟
15 神告诉挪亚说： 16 “你要从方舟出来，你和你的妻子、儿子，以及儿媳都要和你一同出来。 17 所有和你在一起有生命的活物：飞鸟、牲畜和一切在地上爬行的动物，你都要带出来，使牠们可以在地上滋生、繁殖，也可以在地上增多。” 18 于是，挪亚出来了，他的儿子、妻子和儿媳都与他一同出来了； 19 各样走兽、牲畜、飞禽和各样在地上爬行的动物，各从自己的族类，都出了方舟。
挪亚献祭
20 挪亚给耶和华筑了一座祭坛，拿各样洁净的牲畜和飞禽，献在祭坛上作为燔祭。 21 耶和华闻了那馨香的气味，就心里说：“我必不再因人的缘故咒诅这地（因为人从小时开始心中所想的都是邪恶的）；我也必不再照着我作过的，击杀各样的活物。
22 大地尚存之日，
播种、收割，
寒暑、
冬夏、
白昼和黑夜
必然循环不息。”
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