Genesis 7–9

ENTERING THE ARK

7Then the Lord said to Noah, “Enter the ark, you and all your household, for I have seen that you alone are righteous before me in this generation.^{p 2}You are to take with you seven pairs, a male and its female, of all the clean animals,^q and two of the animals that are not clean, a male and its female, ³and seven pairs, male and female, of the birds of the sky—in order to keep offspring alive throughout the earth. ⁴Seven days from now I will make it rain on the earth forty days and forty nights, and every living thing I have made I will wipe off the face of the earth.” ⁵And Noah did everything that the Lord commanded him.^r

⁶Noah was six hundred years old when the flood came and water covered the earth. ⁷So Noah, his sons, his wife, and his sons’ wives entered the ark because of the floodwaters. ⁸From the animals that are clean, and from the animals that are not clean, and from the birds and every creature that crawls on the ground, ⁹two of each, male and female, came to Noah and entered the ark, just as God had commanded him. ¹⁰Seven days later the floodwaters came on the earth.

THE FLOOD

¹¹In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the sources of the vast watery depths burst open,^s the floodgates of the sky were opened,^{t 12}and the rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights. ¹³On that same day Noah along with his sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth, entered the ark, along with Noah’s wife and his three sons’ wives. ¹⁴They entered it with all the wildlife according to their kinds, all livestock according to their kinds, all the creatures that crawl on the earth according to their kinds, every flying creature—all the birds and every winged creature—according to their kinds. ¹⁵Two of every creature that has the breath of life in it came to Noah and entered the ark. ¹⁶Those that entered, male and female of every creature, entered just as God had commanded him. Then the Lord shut him in.

¹⁷The flood continued for forty days on the earth; the water increased and lifted up the ark so that it rose above the earth. ¹⁸The water surged and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the water. ¹⁹Then the water surged even higher on the earth, and all the high mountains under the whole sky were covered. ²⁰The mountains were covered as the water surged above them more than twenty feet.^{A 21}Every creature perished—those that crawl on the earth, birds, livestock, wildlife, and those that swarm on the earth, as well as all mankind. ²²Everything with the breath of the spirit of life in its nostrils^a—everything on dry land died. ²³He wiped out every living thing that was on the face of the earth, from mankind to livestock, to creatures that crawl, to the birds of the sky, and they were wiped off the earth. Only Noah was left, and those that were with him in the ark.^{b 24}And the water surged on the earth 150 days.

THE FLOOD RECEDES

8God remembered Noah,^c as well as all the wildlife and all the livestock that were with him in the ark. God caused a wind to pass over the earth,^d and the water began to subside. ²The sources of the watery depths and the floodgates of the sky were closed, and the rain from the sky stopped.^{e 3}The water steadily receded from the earth, and by the end of 150 days the water had decreased significantly.^{f 4}The ark came to rest in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on the mountains of Ararat.^g

⁵The water continued to recede until the tenth month; in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains were visible. ⁶After forty days Noah opened the window of the ark that he had made, ⁷and he sent out a raven. It went back and forth until the water had dried up from the earth. ⁸Then he sent out a dove to see whether the water on the earth’s surface had gone down, ⁹but the dove found no resting place for its foot. It returned to him in the ark because water covered the surface of the whole earth. He reached out and brought it into the ark to himself. ¹⁰So Noah waited seven more days and sent out the dove from the ark again. ¹¹When the dove came to him at evening, there was a plucked olive leaf in its beak. So Noah knew that the water on the earth’s surface had gone down. ¹²After he had waited another seven days, he sent out the dove, but it did not return to him again. ¹³In the six hundred first year,^A in the first month, on the first day of the month, the water that had covered the earth was dried up. Then Noah removed the ark’s cover and saw that the surface of the ground was drying. ¹⁴By the twenty-seventh day of the second month, the earth was dry.

THE LORD’S PROMISE

¹⁵Then God spoke to Noah, ¹⁶“Come out of the ark, you, your wife, your sons, and your sons’ wives with you. ¹⁷Bring out all the living creatures that are with you—birds, livestock, those that crawl on the earth—and they will spread over the earth and be fruitful and multiply on the earth.”^{h 18}So Noah, along with his sons, his wife, and his sons’ wives, came out. ¹⁹All the animals, all the creatures that crawl, and all the flying creatures—everything that moves on the earth—came out of the ark by their families.

²⁰Then Noah built an altar to the Lord. He took some of every kind of clean animal and every kind of clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar. ²¹When the Lord smelled the pleasing aroma,ⁱ he said to himself, “I will never again curse the ground^j because of human beings, even though the inclination of the human heart is evil from youth onward.^k And I will never again strike down every living thing as I have done.^l

²²As long as the earth endures,

seedtime and harvest, cold and heat,

summer and winter, and day and night

will not cease.”^a

GOD’S COVENANT WITH NOAH

9God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.^{b 2}The fear and terror of you will be in every living creature on the earth, every bird of the sky, every creature that crawls on the ground, and all the fish of the sea. They are placed under your authority. ³Every creature that lives and moves will be food for you;^c as I gave the green plants, I have given you everything.^{d 4}However, you must not eat meat with its lifeblood in it.^{e 5}And I will require a penalty for your lifeblood;^A I will require it from any animal^f and from any human; if someone murders a fellow human, I will require that person’s life.^g

⁶Whoever sheds human blood,

by humans his blood will be shed,^h

for God made humans in his image.ⁱ

⁷But you, be fruitful and multiply; spread out over the earth and multiply on it.”^j

⁸Then God said to Noah and his sons with him, ⁹“Understand that I am establishing my covenant^k with you and your descendants after you, ¹⁰and with every living creature that is with you—birds, livestock, and all wildlife of the earth that are with you—all the animals of the earth that came out of the ark. ¹¹I establish my covenant with you that never again will every creature be wiped out by floodwaters; there will never again be a flood to destroy the earth.”^l

¹²And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant^m I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all future generations: ¹³I have placed my bow in the clouds,ⁿ and it will be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. ¹⁴Whenever I form clouds over the earth and the bow appears in the clouds, ¹⁵I will remember my covenant^o between me and you and all the living creatures: water will never again become a flood to destroy every creature. ¹⁶The bow will be in the clouds, and I will look at it and remember the permanent covenant^p between God and all the living creatures on earth.” ¹⁷God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and every creature on earth.”

PROPHECIES ABOUT NOAH’S FAMILY

¹⁸Noah’s sons who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Ham was the father of Canaan. ¹⁹These three were Noah’s sons, and from them the whole earth was populated.^q

²⁰Noah, as a man of the soil, began by planting^B a vineyard. ²¹He drank some of the wine, became drunk, and uncovered himself inside his tent. ²²Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father naked and told his two brothers outside.^{r 23}Then Shem and Japheth took a cloak and placed it over both their shoulders, and walking backward, they covered their father’s nakedness. Their faces were turned away, and they did not see their father naked.

²⁴When Noah awoke from his drinking and learned what his youngest son had done to him, ²⁵he said:

Canaan is cursed.^s

He will be the lowest of slaves to his brothers.^t

²⁶He also said:

Blessed be the Lord, the God of Shem;

Let Canaan be Shem’s slave.

²⁷Let God extend Japheth;^B

let Japheth dwell in the tents of Shem;

let Canaan be Shem’s slave.

²⁸Now Noah lived 350 years after the flood. ²⁹So Noah’s life lasted 950 years; then he died.