Beginning

The First Children: Cain and Abel

4 The man was intimate with Eve, his wife. She conceived and gave birth to Cain. She said, “I have gotten a man with the Lord.”^{[a] 2} She also gave birth to Cain’s brother Abel.

Abel tended sheep, but Cain worked the ground. ³ As time passed, one day Cain brought an offering to the Lord from the fruit of the soil. ⁴ Abel also brought some of the firstborn of his flock and their fat portions. The Lord looked favorably on Abel and his offering, ⁵ but he did not look favorably on Cain and his offering. Cain was very angry, and his face showed it.

⁶ The Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why do you have that angry look on your face?^{[b] 7} If you do good, will you not be lifted up? If you do not do good, sin is crouching at the door. It has a strong desire for you, but you must rule over it.”

⁸ Cain said to Abel, his brother, “Let’s go into the field.”^[c] When they were in the field, Cain attacked Abel, his brother, and killed him.

⁹ The Lord said to Cain, “Where is Abel, your brother?”

He said, “I don’t know. Am I my brother’s keeper?”

¹⁰ The Lord said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to me from the soil. ¹¹ Now you are cursed and sent away from the soil^[d] which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. ¹² When you work the soil, it will no longer give its strength to you. You shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth.”

¹³ Cain said to the Lord, “My punishment is too great for me to bear. ¹⁴ Look, today you have driven me away from the soil. I will be hidden from your face, and I will be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth. And whoever finds me will kill me.”

¹⁵ The Lord said to him, “No!^[e] If anyone kills Cain, he will face sevenfold revenge.” And the Lord appointed a sign for^[f] Cain, so that anyone who found him would not strike him down.

The Descendants of Cain

¹⁶ Cain went out from the Lord’s presence and lived in the land of Nod,^[g] east of Eden.

¹⁷ Cain was intimate with his wife. She conceived and gave birth to Enoch. Cain built a city and named the city after his son Enoch. ¹⁸ To Enoch, Irad was born. Irad became the father of Mehujael. Mehujael became the father of Methushael. Methushael became the father of Lamech.

¹⁹ Lamech took two wives. The name of one was Adah, and the name of the other was Zillah. ²⁰ Adah gave birth to Jabal, who was the predecessor^[h] of those who dwell in tents and have livestock. ²¹ His brother’s name was Jubal, who was the predecessor of all who play the lyre and flute. ²² Zillah also gave birth to Tubal Cain, who made all kinds of tools and weapons from bronze and iron. Tubal Cain’s sister was Na’amah.

The Family Line of Seth

²⁵ Adam was intimate with his wife again. She gave birth to a son and named him Seth,^[i] because she said, “God has set another child in place of Abel for me, since Cain killed him.” ²⁶ Later a son was born to Seth, and he named him Enosh. This is when people began to proclaim^[j] the name of the Lord.

5 This is the account about the development of Adam’s family:

In the day that God created man, he made him in the likeness of God. ² He created them male and female and blessed them, and on the day they were created, he named them “mankind.”^[k]

³ Adam lived 130 years, and he became the father of a son in his own likeness, according to his own image, and he named him Seth. ⁴ The days of Adam after he became the father of Seth were 800 years, and he became the father of sons and daughters. ⁵ All the days that Adam lived were 930 years. Then he died.

⁶ Seth lived 105 years, and he became the father of Enosh. ⁷ Seth lived 807 years after he became the father of Enosh, and he became the father of sons and daughters. ⁸ All the days of Seth were 912 years. Then he died.

⁹ Enosh lived 90 years, and he became the father of Kenan. ¹⁰ Enosh lived 815 years after he became the father of Kenan, and he became the father of sons and daughters. ¹¹ All the days of Enosh were 905 years. Then he died.

¹² Kenan lived 70 years, and he became the father of Mahalalel. ¹³ Kenan lived 840 years after he became the father of Mahalalel, and he became the father of sons and daughters. ¹⁴ All the days of Kenan were 910 years. Then he died.

¹⁵ Mahalalel lived 65 years, and he became the father of Jared. ¹⁶ Mahalalel lived 830 years after he became the father of Jared, and he became the father of sons and daughters. ¹⁷ All the days of Mahalalel were 895 years. Then he died.

¹⁸ Jared lived 162 years, and he became the father of Enoch. ¹⁹ Jared lived 800 years after he became the father of Enoch, and he became the father of sons and daughters. ²⁰ All the days of Jared were 962 years. Then he died.

²¹ Enoch lived 65 years, and he became the father of Methuselah. ²² After he became the father of Methuselah, Enoch walked with God 300 years, and he became the father of sons and daughters. ²³ All the days of Enoch were 365 years. ²⁴ Enoch walked with God. Then, he was not there, for God took him.

²⁵ Methuselah lived 187 years, and he became the father of Lamech. ²⁶ After he became the father of Lamech, Methuselah lived 782 years, and he became the father of sons and daughters. ²⁷ All the days of Methuselah were 969 years. Then he died.

²⁸ Lamech lived 182 years and became the father of a son. ²⁹ He named him Noah^[l] and said, “This one will bring us comfort during our work and the hard labor that we must perform with our hands because the Lord has cursed the soil.” ³⁰ Lamech lived 595 years after he became father of Noah, and he became the father of sons and daughters. ³¹ All the days of Lamech were 777 years. Then he died.

³² Noah was 500 years old, and Noah became the father of Shem, Ham, and Japheth.^[m]

The World Descends Into Evil

6 This is what happened when mankind^[n] began to multiply on the face of the earth.^[o]

When daughters were born to people, ² the sons of God^[p] saw that the daughters of men were beautiful, and they took as wives for themselves any of them they chose. ³ The Lord said, “My Spirit will not struggle^[q] with man forever, because he is only flesh.^[r] His days will be 120 years.” ⁴ The Nephilim^[s] were on the earth in those days. After that, the sons of God went to the daughters of men, who bore children for them. Those became the powerful, famous men of ancient times.

⁵ The Lord saw that the wickedness of mankind was great on the earth, and that all the thoughts and plans they formed in their hearts were only evil every day. ⁶ The Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with sorrow.^{[t] 7} The Lord said, “I will wipe out mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth, along with the animals, the creeping things, and the birds of the sky, because I regret that I have made them.” ⁸ But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.

Noah and the Ark

⁹ This is the account about the development of Noah’s family.

Noah was a righteous man, a man of integrity in that generation. Noah walked with God. ¹⁰ Noah became the father of three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. ¹¹ In the sight of God the earth was morally corrupt, and the earth was filled with violence. ¹² God looked at the earth and saw that it was corrupt, for all flesh was corrupt in all their ways on the earth.

¹³ So God said to Noah, “I have decreed the end of all flesh, because the earth is filled with violence because of them. Now I am going to destroy them along with the earth.

¹⁴ “Make an ark^[u] of gopher wood.^[v] Make rooms in the ark. Seal it inside and outside with pitch. ¹⁵ This is how you are to make it: The length of the ark is to be 450 feet, its width 75 feet, and its height 45 feet. ¹⁶ Make a roof for the ark, and leave an eighteen-inch opening just under the roof. Place a door on the side of the ark. Make it with lower, second, and third decks.

¹⁷ “I myself am about to bring a flood of waters on the earth, in order to destroy all flesh under the sky that has the breath of life. Everything that is on the earth will die, ¹⁸ but I will establish my covenant^[w] with you. You shall come into the ark—you, your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives with you. ¹⁹ You shall bring a pair (male and female) of every kind of living flesh into the ark with you to keep them alive. ²⁰ Include the birds according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, every creeping thing on the ground according to their kinds. Two of every sort shall come to you, so you can keep them alive. ²¹ Take with you every type of food that is eaten, and store it for yourself, so it can be used as food for you and for them.”

²² So that is what Noah did. He did everything that God commanded him, just as he had been told.

7 The Lord said to Noah, “Come into the ark, you and your entire household, for I have seen that you are righteous before me in this generation. ² From every clean animal take with you seven pairs,^[x] a male and his female. From the animals that are not clean, take two, a male and his female. ³ Also from the ⎣clean⎦ birds of the sky take seven and seven, male and female, ⎣and of all the unclean birds, one pair, a male and a female⎦^[y] to keep their offspring alive on the face of the whole earth. ⁴ In seven days I will cause it to rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights. Every living thing that I have made, I will wipe off the face of the earth.”

⁵ Noah did everything that the Lord commanded him.

The Flood

⁶ Noah was six hundred years old when the flood^[z] came, and water covered the earth.

⁷ Noah went into the ark with his sons, his wife, and his sons’ wives, because of the waters of the flood. ⁸ Clean animals, animals that are not clean, birds, and everything that creeps on the ground ⁹ went into the ark with Noah two by two (male and female), just as God had commanded Noah.

¹⁰ After seven days, the waters of the flood came on the earth. ¹¹ In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on that very day, all the fountains of the great deep burst open, and the floodgates^[aa] of the sky were opened. ¹² The rain came down on the earth for forty days and forty nights.

¹³ On that same day Noah, Noah’s sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth, Noah’s wife, and the three wives of his sons along with them entered the ark. ¹⁴ They went in with every animal according to its kind, all the livestock according to their kinds, every creeping thing that creeps on the earth according to its kind, and everything that flies according to its kind, flying birds of every sort. ¹⁵ Pairs of all the animals^[ab] that have the breath of life in them went to Noah in the ark. ¹⁶ A male and female of each animal that breathes went in, just as God had commanded Noah. Then the Lord shut Noah in.

¹⁷ The flood kept coming on the earth for forty days. The waters became deeper and lifted up the ark until it floated high above the earth. ¹⁸ The water kept increasing and overwhelmed the earth, and the ark was carried along on the surface of the water. ¹⁹ The water overwhelmed the earth. All the high mountains that were under the entire sky were covered. ²⁰ The waters rose more than twenty feet above the mountains and covered them. ²¹ All living creatures^[ac] that moved on the earth perished, including birds, livestock, wild animals, every creeping thing that crawls on the earth, and all mankind. ²² Everything that breathed the breath of life through its nostrils, that is, everything that was on the dry land, died. ²³ Every living thing that was on the face of the earth was wiped out, including mankind, livestock, creeping things, and birds of the sky. They all were wiped off the earth. Only Noah was left, as well as those who were with him in the ark. ²⁴ The waters overwhelmed the earth for one hundred fifty days.