Genesis 3-11

Contemporary English Version

The First Sin

3 ^(A) The snake was sneakier than any of the other wild animals that the Lord God had made. One day it came to the woman and asked, “Did God tell you not to eat fruit from any tree in the garden?”

² The woman answered, “God said we could eat fruit from any tree in the garden, ³ except the one in the middle. He told us not to eat fruit from that tree or even to touch it. If we do, we will die.”

⁴ “No, you won't!” the snake replied. ⁵ “God understands what will happen on the day you eat fruit from that tree. You will see what you have done, and you will know the difference between right and wrong, just as God does.”

⁶ The woman stared at the fruit. It looked beautiful and tasty. She wanted the wisdom that it would give her, and she ate some of the fruit. Her husband was there with her, so she gave some to him, and he ate it too. ⁷ At once they saw what they had done, and they realized they were naked. Then they sewed fig leaves together to cover themselves.

⁸ Late in the afternoon, when the breeze began to blow, the man and woman heard the Lord God walking in the garden. So they hid behind some trees.

Sin Brings a Curse

⁹ The Lord God called out to the man and asked, “Where are you?”

¹⁰ The man answered, “I was naked, and when I heard you walking through the garden, I was frightened and hid!”

¹¹ “How did you know you were naked?” God asked. “Did you eat any fruit from that tree in the middle of the garden?”

¹² “It was the woman you put here with me,” the man said. “She gave me some of the fruit, and I ate it.”

^13 (B) The Lord God then asked the woman, “What have you done?”

“The snake tricked me,” she answered, “and I ate some of that fruit.”

¹⁴ So the Lord God said to the snake:

¹⁶ Then the Lord God said to the woman,

^17 (D) The Lord said to the man,

²⁰ The man Adam^[a] named his wife Eve^[b] because she would become the mother of all who live.

²¹ Then the Lord God made clothes out of animal skins for the man and his wife.

^22 (E) The Lord said, “They now know the difference between right and wrong, just as we do. But they must not be allowed to eat fruit from the tree that lets them live forever.” ²³ So the Lord God sent them out of the Garden of Eden, where they would have to work the ground from which the man had been made. ²⁴ Then God put winged creatures at the entrance to the garden and a flaming, flashing sword to guard the way to the life-giving tree.

Cain Murders Abel

4 Adam^[c] and Eve had a son. Then Eve said, “I'll name him Cain because I got^[d] him with the help of the Lord.” ² Later she had another son and named him Abel.

Abel became a sheep farmer, but Cain farmed the land. ³ One day, Cain gave part of his harvest to the Lord, ^4 (F) and Abel also gave an offering to the Lord. He killed the first-born lamb from one of his sheep and gave the Lord the best parts of it. The Lord was pleased with Abel and his offering, ⁵ but not with Cain and his offering. This made Cain so angry that he could not hide his feelings.

⁶ The Lord said to Cain:

What's wrong with you? Why do you look so angry? ⁷ If you had done the right thing, you would be smiling.^[e] But you did the wrong thing, and now sin is waiting to attack you like a lion. Sin wants to destroy you, but don't let it!

^8 (G) Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let's go for a walk.”^[f] And when they were out in a field, Cain attacked and killed him.

⁹ Afterwards the Lord asked Cain, “Where is Abel?”

“How should I know?” he answered. “Am I supposed to look after my brother?”

^10 (H) Then the Lord said:

Why have you done this terrible thing? You killed your own brother, and his blood flowed onto the ground. Now his blood is calling out for me to punish you. ¹¹ And so, I'll put you under a curse. Because you killed Abel and made his blood run out on the ground, you will never be able to farm it again. ¹² When you try to farm the land, it won't produce anything for you. From now on, you'll be without a home, and you'll spend the rest of your life wandering from place to place.

¹³ “This punishment is too hard!” Cain said. ¹⁴ “You're making me leave my home and live far from you.^[g] I will have to wander about without a home, and just anyone could kill me.”

¹⁵ “No!”^[h] the Lord answered. “Anyone who kills you will be punished seven times worse than I am punishing you.” So the Lord put a mark on Cain to warn everyone not to kill him. ¹⁶ But Cain had to go far from the Lord and live in the Land of Wandering,^[i] which is east of Eden.

More and More People

¹⁷ Later, Cain and his wife had a son named Enoch. At the time Cain was building a town, and so he named it Enoch after his son. ¹⁸ Then Enoch had a son named Irad, who had a son named Mehujael, who had a son named Methushael, who had a son named Lamech.

¹⁹ Lamech married Adah, then Zillah. ^20-21 Lamech and Adah had two sons, Jabal and Jubal. Their son Jabal was the first to live in tents and raise sheep and goats. Jubal was the first to play harps and flutes.

²² Lamech and Zillah had a son named Tubal Cain who made tools out of bronze and iron. They also had a daughter, whose name was Naamah.

²³ One day, Lamech said to his two wives, “A young man wounded me, and I killed him. ²⁴ Anyone who tries to get even with me will be punished ten times more than anyone who tries to get even with Cain.”

²⁵ Adam and his wife had another son. They named him Seth, because they said, “God has given^[j] us a son to take the place of Abel, who was killed by his brother Cain.” ²⁶ Later, Seth had a son and named him Enosh.

About this time people started worshiping the Lord.^[k]

Descendants of Adam

5 ^1-2 (I) God created men and women to be like himself. He gave them his blessing and called them human beings. The following is a list of the descendants of Adam, the first man:

^3-4 When Adam was 130, he had a son who was just like him, and he named him Seth. Adam had more children ⁵ and died at the age of 930.

⁶ When Seth was 105, he had a son named Enosh. ⁷ Seth had more children ⁸ and died at the age of 912.

⁹ When Enosh was 90, he had a son named Kenan. ¹⁰ Enosh had more children ¹¹ and died at the age of 905.

¹² When Kenan was 70, he had a son named Mahalalel. ¹³ Kenan had more children ¹⁴ and died at the age of 910.

¹⁵ When Mahalalel was 65, he had a son named Jared. ¹⁶ Mahalalel had more children ¹⁷ and died at the age of 895.

¹⁸ When Jared was 162, he had a son named Enoch. ¹⁹ Jared had more children ²⁰ and died at the age of 962.

²¹ When Enoch was 65, he had a son named Methuselah, ²² and during the next 300 years he had more children. Enoch truly loved God, ^23-24 (J) and God took him away at the age of 365.

²⁵ When Methuselah was 187, he had a son named Lamech. ²⁶ Methuselah had more children ²⁷ and died at the age of 969.

²⁸ When Lamech was one 182, he had a son. ²⁹ Lamech said, “I'll name him Noah because he will give us comfort,^[l] as we struggle hard to make a living on this land that the Lord has put under a curse.” ³⁰ Lamech had more children ³¹ and died at the age of 777.

³² After Noah was 500 years old, he had three sons and named them Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

The Lord Will Send a Flood

6 ^1-2 (K) More and more people were born, until finally they spread all over the earth. Some of their daughters were so beautiful that supernatural beings^[m] came down and married the ones they wanted. ³ Then the Lord said, “I won't let my life-giving breath remain in anyone forever.^[n] No one will live for more than 120 years.”^[o]

^4 (L)(M) The children of the supernatural beings who had married these women became famous heroes and warriors. They were called Nephilim and lived on the earth at that time and even later.

^5 (N) The Lord saw how bad the people on earth were and that everything they thought and planned was evil. ⁶ He was sorry that he had made them, ⁷ and he said, “I'm going to destroy every person on earth! I'll even wipe out animals, birds, and reptiles. I'm sorry I ever made them.”

⁸ But the Lord was pleased with Noah, ^9 (O) and this is the story about him. Noah was the only person who lived right and obeyed God. ¹⁰ He had three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

^11-12 God knew that everyone was terribly cruel and violent. ¹³ So he told Noah:

Cruelty and violence have spread everywhere. Now I'm going to destroy the whole earth and all its people. ¹⁴ Get some good lumber and build a boat. Put rooms in it and cover it with tar inside and out. ¹⁵ Make it 133 meters long, 22 meters wide, and 13 meters high. ¹⁶ Build a roof^[p] on the boat and leave a space of about 44 centimeters between the roof and the sides.^[q] Make the boat three stories high and put a door on one side.

¹⁷ I'm going to send a flood that will destroy everything that breathes! Nothing will be left alive. ¹⁸ But I solemnly promise that you, your wife, your sons, and your daughters-in-law will be kept safe in the boat.^[r]

^19-20 Take into the boat with you a male and a female of every kind of animal and bird, as well as a male and a female of every reptile. I don't want them to be destroyed. ²¹ Store up enough food both for yourself and for them.

^22 (P) Noah did everything God told him to do.

The Flood

7 The Lord told Noah:

Take your whole family with you into the boat, because you are the only one on this earth who pleases me. ² Take seven pairs of every kind of animal that can be used for sacrifice^[s] and one pair of all others. ³ Also take seven pairs of every kind of bird with you. Do this so there will always be animals and birds on the earth. ⁴ Seven days from now I will send rain that will last for 40 days and nights, and I will destroy all other living creatures I have made.

^5-7 (Q) Noah was 600 years old when he went into the boat to escape the flood, and he did everything the Lord had told him to do. His wife, his sons, and his daughters-in-law all went inside with him. ^8-9 He obeyed God and took a male and a female of each kind of animal and bird into the boat with him. ¹⁰ Seven days later a flood began to cover the earth.

^11-12 (R) The water under the earth started gushing out everywhere, the sky opened like windows, and rain poured down for 40 days and nights. All this began on the seventeenth day of the second month of the year. ¹³ On that day Noah and his wife went into the boat with their three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and their wives. ¹⁴ They took along every kind of animal, tame and wild, including the birds. ¹⁵ Noah took a male and a female of every living creature with him, ¹⁶ just as God had told him to do. And when they were all in the boat, the Lord closed the door.

^17-18 For 40 days the rain poured down without stopping. And the water became deeper and deeper, until the boat started floating high above the ground. ^19-20 Finally, the mighty flood was so deep that even the highest mountain peaks were about seven meters below the surface of the water. ²¹ Not a bird, animal, reptile, or human was left alive anywhere on earth. ^22-23 (S) The Lord destroyed everything that breathed. Nothing was left alive except Noah and the others in the boat. ²⁴ A hundred fifty days later, the water started going down.

The Water Goes Down

8 God did not forget about Noah and the animals with him in the boat. So God made a wind blow, and the water started going down. ² God stopped up the places where the water had been gushing out from under the earth. He also closed up the sky, and the rain stopped. ³ For 150 days the water slowly went down. ⁴ Then on the seventeenth day of the seventh month of the year, the boat came to rest somewhere in the Ararat mountains. ⁵ The water kept going down, and the mountain tops could be seen on the first day of the tenth month.

^6-7 Forty days later Noah opened a window to send out a raven, but it kept flying around until the water had dried up. ⁸ Noah wanted to find out if the water had gone down, so he sent out a dove. ⁹ Deep water was still everywhere, and when the dove could not find a place to land, it flew back to the boat. Then Noah held out his hand and helped it back in.

¹⁰ Seven days later Noah sent the dove out again. ¹¹ It returned in the evening, holding in its beak a green leaf from an olive tree. Noah knew the water was finally going down. ¹² He waited seven more days before sending the dove out again, and this time it did not return.

¹³ Noah was now 601 years old. And by the first day of that year, almost all the water had gone away. Noah made an opening in the roof of the boat^[t] 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 “You, your wife, your sons, and your daughters-in-law may now leave the boat. ¹⁷ Let out the birds, animals, and reptiles, so they can mate and live all over the earth.” ¹⁸ After Noah and his family had left the boat, ¹⁹ the living creatures left in groups of their own kind.

The Lord's Promise for the Earth

²⁰ Noah built an altar where he could offer sacrifices to the Lord. Then he offered on the altar one of each kind of animal and bird that could be used for a sacrifice.^{[u] 21} The smell of the burning offering pleased the Lord, and he said:

Never again will I punish the earth for the sinful things its people do. All of them have evil thoughts from the time they are young, but I will never destroy everything that breathes, as I did this time.

God's Promise to Noah

9 ^(T) God said to Noah and his sons:

I am giving you my blessing. Have a lot of children and grandchildren, so people will live everywhere on this earth. ² All animals, birds, reptiles, and fish will be afraid of you. I have placed them under your control, ³ and I have given them to you for food. From now on, you may eat them, as well as the green plants that you have always eaten. ^4 (U) But life is in the blood, and you must not eat any meat that still has blood in it. ^5-6 (V) I created humans to be like me, and I will punish any animal or person that takes a human life. If an animal kills someone, that animal must die. And if a person takes the life of another, that person must be put to death.

^7 (W) I want you and your descendants to have many children, so people will live everywhere on earth.

⁸ Again, God said to Noah and his sons:

⁹ I am going to make a solemn promise to you and to everyone who will live after you. ¹⁰ This includes the birds and the animals that came out of the boat. ¹¹ I promise every living creature that the earth and those living on it will never again be destroyed by a flood.

^12-13 The rainbow that I have put in the sky will be my sign to you and to every living creature on earth. It will remind you that I will keep this promise forever. ¹⁴ When I send clouds over the earth, and a rainbow appears in the sky, ¹⁵ I will remember my promise to you and to all other living creatures. Never again will I let floodwaters destroy all life. ¹⁶ When I see the rainbow in the sky, I will always remember the promise that I have made to every living creature. ¹⁷ The rainbow will be the sign of that solemn promise.

Noah and His Family

¹⁸ Noah and his sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, left the boat. Ham later had a son named Canaan. ¹⁹ All people on earth are descendants of Noah's three sons.

²⁰ Noah farmed the land and was the first to plant a vineyard. ²¹ One day he got drunk and was lying naked in his tent. ²² Ham entered the tent and saw him naked, then went back outside and told his brothers. ²³ Shem and Japheth put a robe over their shoulders and walked backwards into the tent. Without looking at their father, they placed it over his body.

²⁴ When Noah sobered up and learned what his youngest son had done, ²⁵ he said,

²⁸ Noah lived 350 years after the flood ²⁹ and died at the age of 950.

The Descendants of Noah

10 After the flood Shem, Ham, and Japheth had many descendants.

The Descendants of Japheth

^2-5 Japheth's descendants had their own languages, tribes, and land. They were Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras.

Gomer was the ancestor of Ashkenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah.

Javan was the ancestor of Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim,^[w] who settled along the coast.

The Descendants of Ham

^6-20 Ham's descendants had their own languages, tribes, and land. They were Ethiopia,^[x] Egypt, Put, and Canaan.

Cush^[y] was the ancestor of Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, and Sabteca.

Raamah was the ancestor of Sheba and Dedan.

Cush was also the ancestor of Nimrod, a mighty warrior whose strength came from the Lord. This is why people say: “You hunt like Nimrod with the strength of the Lord!” Nimrod first ruled in Babylon, Erech, and Accad, all of^[z] which were in Babylonia.^[aa] From there Nimrod went to Assyria and built the great city of Nineveh. He also built Rehoboth-Ir and Calah, as well as Resen, which is between Nineveh and Calah.

Egypt was the ancestor of Ludim, Anamim, Lehabim, Naphtuhim, Pathrusim, Casluhim, and Caphtorim, the ancestor of the Philistines.^[ab]

Canaan's sons were Sidon and Heth. Canaan was also the ancestor of the Jebusites, the Amorites, the Girgashites, the Hivites, the Arkites, the Sinites, the Arvadites, the Zemarites, and the Hamathites.

Later the Canaanites spread from the territory of Sidon and settled as far away as Gaza in the direction of Gerar. They also went as far as Lasha in the direction of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim.

The Descendants of Shem

^21-31 Shem's descendants had their own languages, tribes, and land. He was the older brother of Japheth and the ancestor of the tribes of Eber.

Shem was the ancestor of Elam, Asshur, Arpachshad, Lud, and Aram.

Aram was the ancestor of Uz, Hul, Gether, and Mash.

Arpachshad was the father of Shelah and the grandfather of Eber, whose first son was named Peleg,^[ac] because it was during his time that tribes divided up the earth. Eber's second son was Joktan.

Joktan was the ancestor of Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah, Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah, Obal, Abimael, Sheba, Ophir, Havilah, and Jobab. Their land reached from Mesha in the direction of Sephar, the hill country in the east.

³² This completes the list of Noah's descendants. After the flood their descendants became nations and spread all over the world.

The Tower of Babel

11 At first everyone spoke the same language, ² but after some of them moved from the east^[ad] and settled in Babylonia,^{[ae] 3-4} they said:

Let's build a city with a tower that reaches to the sky! We'll use hard bricks and tar instead of stone and mortar. We'll become famous, and we won't be scattered all over the world.

⁵ But when the Lord came down to look at the city and the tower, ⁶ he said:

These people are working together because they all speak the same language. This is just the beginning. Soon they will be able to do anything they want. ⁷ Let's go down and confuse them! We'll make them speak different languages, and they won't be able to understand each other.

^8-9 So the people had to stop building the city, because the Lord confused their language and scattered them all over the earth. That's how the city of Babel^[af] got its name.

The Descendants of Shem

^10-11 Two years after the flood, when Shem was 100, he had a son named Arpachshad. He had more children and died at the age of 600. This is a list of his descendants:

¹² When Arpachshad was 35, he had a son named Shelah. ¹³ Arpachshad had more children and died at the age of 438.

¹⁴ When Shelah was 30, he had a son named Eber. ¹⁵ Shelah had more children and died at the age of 433.

¹⁶ When Eber was 34, he had a son named Peleg. ¹⁷ Eber had more children and died at the age of 464.

¹⁸ When Peleg was 30, he had a son named Reu. ¹⁹ Peleg had more children and died at the age of 239.

²⁰ When Reu was 32 he had a son named Serug. ²¹ Reu had more children and died at the age of 239.

²² When Serug was 30, he had a son named Nahor. ²³ Serug had more children and died at the age of 230.

²⁴ When Nahor was 29, he had a son named Terah. ²⁵ Nahor had more children and died at the age of 148.

The Descendants of Terah

^26-28 After Terah was 70 years old, he had three sons: Abram, Nahor, and Haran, who became the father of Lot. Terah's sons were born in the city of Ur in Chaldea,^[ag] and Haran died there before the death of his father. The following is the story of Terah's descendants.

^29-30 Abram married Sarai, but she was not able to have children. And Nahor married Milcah, who was the daughter of Haran and the sister of Iscah.

³¹ Terah decided to move from Ur to the land of Canaan. He took along Abram and Sarai and his grandson Lot, the son of Haran. But when they came to the city of Haran,^[ah] they settled there instead. ³² Terah lived to be 205 years old and died in Haran.