Chronological

8 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, ² 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. ⁵ Three months later,^[a] as the waters continued to go down, other mountain peaks appeared.

⁶ After another forty days, Noah opened a porthole ⁷ and released a raven that flew back and forth^[b] until the earth was dry. ⁸ Meanwhile he sent out a dove to see if it could find dry ground, ⁹ 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.”

9 God blessed Noah and his sons and told them to have many children and to repopulate the earth.

^2-3 “All wild animals and birds and fish will be afraid of you,” God told him; “for I have placed them in your power, and they are yours to use for food, in addition to grain and vegetables. ⁴ But never eat animals unless their life-blood has been drained off. ^5-6 And murder is forbidden. Man-killing animals must die, and any man who murders shall be killed; for to kill a man is to kill one made like God. ⁷ Yes, have many children and repopulate the earth and subdue it.”

⁸ Then God told Noah and his sons, ^9-11 “I solemnly promise you and your children^[f] and the animals you brought with you—all these birds and cattle and wild animals—that I will never again send another flood to destroy the earth. ¹² And I seal this promise with this sign: ¹³ I have placed my rainbow in the clouds as a sign of my promise until the end of time, to you and to all the earth. ¹⁴ When I send clouds over the earth, the rainbow will be seen in the clouds, ¹⁵ and I will remember my promise to you and to every being, that never again will the floods come and destroy all life. ^16-17 For I will see the rainbow in the cloud and remember my eternal promise to every living being on the earth.”

¹⁸ The names of Noah’s three sons were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. (Ham is the ancestor of the Canaanites.)^{[g] 19} From these three sons of Noah came all the nations of the earth.

^20-21 Noah became a farmer and planted a vineyard, and he made wine. One day as he was drunk and lay naked in his tent, ²² Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father’s nakedness and went outside and told his two brothers. ²³ Then Shem and Japheth took a robe and held it over their shoulders and, walking backwards into the tent, let it fall across their father to cover his nakedness as they looked the other way. ^24-25 When Noah awoke from his drunken stupor, and learned what had happened and what Ham, his younger son, had done, he cursed Ham’s descendants:^[h]

^26-27 Then he said,

²⁸ Noah lived another 350 years after the flood ²⁹ and was 950 years old at his death.

10 These are the families of Shem, Ham, and Japheth, who were the three sons of Noah; for sons were born to them after the flood.

² The sons^[j] of Japheth were: Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, Tiras.

³ The sons of Gomer: Ashkenaz, Riphath, Togarmah.

⁴ The sons of Javan: Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim, Dodanim.

⁵ Their descendants became the maritime nations in various lands, each with a separate language.

⁶ The sons of Ham were: Cush, Mizraim, Put, Canaan.

⁷ The sons of Cush were: Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, Sabteca.

The sons of Raamah were: Sheba, Dedan.

⁸ One of the descendants^[k] of Cush was Nimrod, who became the first of the kings. ⁹ He was a mighty hunter, blessed of God,^[l] and his name became proverbial. People would speak of someone as being “like Nimrod—a mighty hunter, blessed of God.” ¹⁰ The heart of his empire included Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh in the land of Shinar. ^11-12 From there he extended his reign to Assyria. He built Nineveh, Rehoboth-Ir, Calah, and Resen (which is located between Nineveh and Calah), the main city of the empire.

^13-14 Mizraim was the ancestor^[m] of the people inhabiting these areas: Ludim, Anamim, Lehabim, Naphtuhim, Pathrusim, Casluhim (from whom came the Philistines), and Caphtorim.

^15-19 Canaan’s oldest son was Sidon, and he was also the father of Heth; from Canaan descended these nations: Jebusites, Amorites, Girgashites, Hivites, Arkites, Sinites, Arvadites, Zemarites, Hamathites. Eventually the descendants of Canaan spread from Sidon all the way to Gerar, in the Gaza strip; and to Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, near Lasha.

²⁰ These, then, were the descendants of Ham, spread abroad in many lands and nations, with many languages.

²¹ Eber descended from Shem, the oldest brother of Japheth. ²² Here is a list of Shem’s other descendants: Elam, Asshur, Arpachshad, Lud, Aram.

²³ Aram’s sons^[n] were: Uz, Hul, Gether, Mash.

²⁴ Arpachshad’s son was Shelah, and Shelah’s son was Eber.

²⁵ Two sons were born to Eber: Peleg (meaning “Division,” for during his lifetime the people of the world were separated and dispersed), and Joktan (Peleg’s brother).

^26-30 Joktan was the father^[o] of Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah, Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah, Obal, Abima-el, Sheba, Ophir, Havi-lah, Jobab.

These descendants of Joktan lived all the way from Mesha to the eastern hills of Sephar.

³¹ These, then, were the descendants of Shem, classified according to their political groupings, languages, and geographical locations.

³² All of the men listed above descended from Noah, through many generations, living in the various nations that developed after the flood.

11 At that time all mankind spoke a single language. ² As the population grew and spread eastward, a plain was discovered in the land of Babylon and was soon thickly populated. ^3-4 The people who lived there began to talk about building a great city, with a temple-tower reaching to the skies—a proud, eternal monument to themselves.

“This will weld us together,” they said, “and keep us from scattering all over the world.” So they made great piles of hard-burned brick, and collected bitumen to use as mortar.

⁵ But when God came down to see the city and the tower mankind was making, ⁶ he said, “Look! If they are able to accomplish all this when they have just begun to exploit their linguistic and political unity, just think of what they will do later! Nothing will be unattainable for them!^{[p] 7} Come, let us go down and give them different languages, so that they won’t understand each other’s words!”

⁸ So, in that way, God scattered them all over the earth; and that ended the building of the city. ⁹ That is why the city was called Babel (meaning “confusion”), because it was there that Jehovah confused them by giving them many languages, thus widely scattering them across the face of the earth.

^10-11 Shem’s line of descendants included Arpachshad, born two years after the flood when Shem was 100 years old; after that he lived another 500 years and had many sons and daughters.

^12-13 When Arpachshad was thirty-five years old, his son Shelah was born,^[q] and after that he lived another 403 years and had many sons and daughters.

^14-15 Shelah was thirty years old when his son Eber was born, living 403 years after that, and had many sons and daughters.

^16-17 Eber was thirty-four years old when his son Peleg was born. He lived another 430 years afterwards and had many sons and daughters.

^18-19 Peleg was thirty years old when his son Reu was born. He lived another 209 years afterwards and had many sons and daughters.

^20-21 Reu was thirty-two years old when Serug was born. He lived 207 years after that, with many sons and daughters.

^22-23 Serug was thirty years old when his son Nahor was born. He lived 200 years afterwards, with many sons and daughters.

^24-25 Nahor was twenty-nine years old at the birth of his son Terah. He lived 119 years afterwards and had sons and daughters.

²⁶ By the time Terah was seventy years old, he had three sons, Abram, Nahor, and Haran.

²⁷ And Haran had a son named Lot. ²⁸ But Haran died young, in the land where he was born (in Ur of the Chaldeans), and was survived by his father.

²⁹ Meanwhile, Abram married his half sister^[r] Sarai, while his brother Nahor married their orphaned niece, Milcah, who was the daughter of their brother Haran; and she had a sister named Iscah. ³⁰ But Sarai was barren; she had no children. ³¹ Then Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot (his son Haran’s child), and his daughter-in-law Sarai, and left Ur of the Chaldeans to go to the land of Canaan; but they stopped instead at the city of Haran and settled there. ³² And there Terah died at the age of 205.^[s]