Beginning

8 But God remembered Noah and all of the wild and domesticated animals with him in the ark. When it was time, God sent the wind to blow over all of the earth, and the waters began to subside. ² The subterranean waters from the depths of the earth and the casements of the heavens were again closed. The drenching rains that once fell from above finally stopped. ³ All of the waters gradually receded from the land. At last, after 150 days, the waters abated; ⁴ and on the 17th day of the 7th month, the ark at last came to rest on the mountains of Ararat. ⁵ The waters continued to recede until the 10th month. On the 1st day of the 10th month, the tops of the mountains began to appear.

⁶ After 40 more days, Noah opened a window he had built into the ark, ⁷ and he sent one of the ravens out into the sky. The raven flew back and forth until all of the waters had dried up on the land. ⁸ He then sent out a dove to see if the waters had subsided from the surface of the land. ⁹ But the dove found no place to land safely, and it returned to the ark. The waters were still covering the surface of the whole earth. So Noah put out his hand and brought the dove back into the ark. ¹⁰ Noah waited another seven days, and then he sent the dove out again from the ark. ¹¹ This time the dove came back to him in the evening, and there, in its beak, was a freshly plucked olive leaf. So Noah knew then that the waters had begun to retreat from the land. ¹² For good measure, Noah waited another seven days. Once more, he sent out the dove. This time, it didn’t return.

¹³ On the 1st day of the 1st month in Noah’s 601st year, the waters had dried up from the land. Noah removed the covering of the ark, looked out, and saw that the land was nearly dry. ¹⁴ By the 27th day of the 2nd month, the earth was completely dry. ¹⁵ God came to Noah with a message.

¹⁸ So Noah left the ark with his sons, his wife, and his sons’ wives. ¹⁹ And every animal, every small creeping thing, and every bird—everything that moves on the earth—left the ark with him as new families—a new generation.

²⁰ Once he was back on dry land, Noah built an altar—a special offering table—for the Eternal One. He took some of every ritually acceptable animal and of every acceptable bird, and he gave them to God on the altar as a burnt offering. ²¹ When the Eternal smelled the delicious aroma of the sacrifice, He was moved.

9 God spoke a blessing over Noah and his sons.

⁸ But God was not finished. He had more to say both to Noah and his sons.

¹⁸ Now Noah’s sons who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. (Ham, by the way, was the father of Canaan.) ¹⁹ Yes, these three, Noah’s sons, went on to populate the entire earth.

²⁰ Now Noah became a farmer and decided to plant a vineyard. ²¹ One day he drank too much of the wine he had made and fell into a deep, drunken sleep in his tent. As he lay there stark naked, ²² Ham (the father of Canaan) peeked in and saw his father’s exposed body. After leaving the tent, he told his two brothers what he had seen. ²³ So Shem and Japheth took a large cloak and laid it across their shoulders, and they walked backward into the tent. They never looked behind, as they covered their father’s nakedness. Out of respect, they purposely kept their faces turned away, so they wouldn’t see their father lying there naked. ²⁴ When Noah regained consciousness and realized what his youngest son had done, ²⁵ he uttered this curse:

²⁸ From the time the flood was over, Noah lived another 350 years. ²⁹ In all, Noah lived 950 years, and then he died.

10 Here is the account of the descendants of Noah’s three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, who fathered many children after the flood.

² The descendants of Japheth were Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras. ³ Now the descendants of Gomer were Ashkenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah. ⁴ The descendants of Javan were Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim. ⁵ The descendants of Japheth became the peoples who settled the coastal and island regions. They developed their own languages, their own families and cultures, and they would eventually become separate peoples.

⁶ The descendants of Ham were Cush, Mizraim, Put, and Canaan. ⁷ Cush’s descendants were Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, and Sabteca. The descendants of Raamah were Sheba and Dedan. ⁸ Cush also fathered Nimrod, who was the first man on earth to be known as a powerful warrior. ⁹ He was also a skillful hunter before the Eternal One. That’s why you often hear people say, “So-and-so is like Nimrod, a skillful hunter before the Eternal.” ¹⁰ The center of his kingdom was in Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh; all are located in the land of Shinar. ¹¹ From there, he traveled into Assyria and established the cities of Nineveh, Rehoboth-Ir, Calah, ¹² and Resen, which lies between Nineveh and Calah—and that is one magnificent city! ¹³ Now Mizraim fathered Ludim, Anamim, Lehabim, Naphtuhim, ¹⁴ Pathrusim, Casluhim (the ancestor of the people known as the Philistines), and Caphtorim.

¹⁵ Canaan fathered Sidon (his firstborn), Heth, ¹⁶ the Jebusites, the Amorites, the Girgashites, ¹⁷ the Hivites, the Arkites, the Sinites, ¹⁸ the Arvadites, the Zemarites, and the Hamathites. Soon all of the families of Canaan’s descendants would spread abroad. ¹⁹ As a result, the territory of the Canaanites extended from Sidon in the direction of Gerar all the way to Gaza; and in the direction of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim all the way to Lasha. ²⁰ All of these are descendants of Ham, who grew from a few initial families into a great people with their own languages, lands, and nations.

²¹ Now Shem (Japheth’s older brother) fathered a great number of children as well. He was the patriarch of all of the people of Eber. ²² His descendants include Elam, Asshur, Arpachshad, Lud, and Aram. ²³ Aram’s descendants were Uz, Hul, Gether, and Mash. ²⁴ Now Arpachshad fathered Shelah, and Shelah fathered Eber. ²⁵ Eber had two sons: one was named Peleg, which means “division,” because in his days, the earth was divided into many languages, and his brother’s name was Joktan. ²⁶ Joktan fathered Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah, ²⁷ Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah, ²⁸ Obal, Abimael, Sheba, ²⁹ Ophir, Havilah, and Jobab. All of these peoples were descended from Joktan. ³⁰ They lived in the territory that extended from Mesha in the direction of Sephar to the eastern hill country. ³¹ Shem’s descendants also grew from a few initial families to become a great people with their own languages, lands, and nations.

³² So these are the families descended from Noah’s sons according to their known genealogies. These cultures would soon spread farther and farther across the earth after the flood.

11 There was a time when everyone on the earth spoke the very same language. ² As many of these people began moving from the eastern regions into the western part of Mesopotamia, they settled down on a plain in the land of Shinar. ³ Since stone was not readily available, they discovered how to make bricks and use tar for mortar to build their structures.

⁵ The Eternal One came down and took a look at the city and the tower the children of Adam were building. He was not pleased.

⁸ This is how the Eternal scattered people from Shinar all across the surface of the earth. Since they were unable to communicate, they stopped working on the city and went their separate ways. ⁹ So this is why the city was called Babel:^[a] because it was there that the Eternal confused the language of all the peoples and scattered them across the surface of the earth.

¹⁰ Here is the account of the descendants of Shem, Noah’s son. When Shem was 100 years old, he fathered Arpachshad. (This was about two years after the flood.) ¹¹ After Arpachshad was born, Shem lived another 500 years, and he had other sons and daughters.

¹² When Arpachshad had lived 35 years, he fathered Shelah. ¹³ After Shelah was born, Arpachshad lived 403 more years, and he had other sons and daughters.

¹⁴ When Shelah had lived 30 years, he fathered Eber. ¹⁵ After Eber was born, Shelah lived 403 more years, and he had other sons and daughters.

¹⁶ When Eber had lived 34 years, he fathered Peleg. ¹⁷ After Peleg was born, Eber lived 430 more years, and he also had other sons and daughters.

¹⁸ When Peleg had lived 30 years, he fathered Reu. ¹⁹ After Reu was born, Peleg lived 209 more years, and he had other sons and daughters as well.

²⁰ When Reu had lived 32 years, he fathered Serug. ²¹ After Serug was born, Reu lived 207 more years, and he had other sons and daughters.

²² When Serug had lived 30 years, he fathered Nahor. ²³ After Nahor was born, Serug lived 200 more years, and he had other sons and daughters as well.

²⁴ When Nahor had lived 29 years, he fathered Terah. ²⁵ After Terah was born, Nahor lived 119 more years, and he had other sons and daughters.

²⁶ When Terah had lived 70 years, he had fathered Abram, Nahor, and Haran.

²⁷ Here is the account of Terah’s descendants. Terah, as said, had fathered Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran fathered Lot. ²⁸ While Terah was still alive, Haran died in the same land in which he was born—in Ur, the land of the Chaldeans. ²⁹ However, Abram and Nahor lived on and married. Abram’s wife was named Sarai, and Nahor’s wife was named Milcah. Now Milcah was the daughter of Haran, who fathered both Milcah and Iscah. ³⁰ But Sarai couldn’t conceive and didn’t have a child.

³¹ Terah took his son Abram and grandson Lot (Haran’s son) and his daughter-in-law Sarai (Abram’s wife). They left Ur of the Chaldeans together and traveled in the direction of the land of Canaan. When they arrived in Haran, they settled there. ³² Terah was 205 years old at that time, and he ended up dying in Haran.