Genesis 6–8

Eridu Genesis*

Gilgamesh†

Atra-Hasis‡

God said, “I have determined to make an end of all flesh”

By our hand a flood will sweep over […] that mankind is to be destroyed, has been decided

The great gods resolved to send the deluge

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Make yourself an ark of cypress wood

The ship which you shall build

build a ship, forsake possessions, seek life, build an ark and save life

Build a boat, forsake possessions, and save life

cover it inside and out with pitch

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Thrice 3600 measures of pitch I poured in the oven; thrice 3600 measures of tar did [I pour out] inside her

The pitch should be firm, and so give (the boat) strength

Make rooms in the ark

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the length of the ark 300 cubits, its breadth 50 cubits, and its height 30 cubits

Let her dimensions be measured off. Let her width and length be equal

Ten dozen cubits each was the height of her walls; ten dozen cubits each were the edges around her

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Make a roof for the ark, and finish it to a cubit above, and set the door of the ark in its side

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Roof her over like a hidden depth

Roof her over like the depth, so that the sun shall not see inside her, let her be roofed over fore and aft

Make it with lower, second and third decks

[text lost]

I decked her in six, I divided her in seven

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On the very same day Noah and his sons, Shem and Ham and Japeth, and Noah’s wife and the three wives of his sons with them entered the ark

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I made go aboard all my family and kin

His family he brought on board

And every beast, according to its kind, and all of the livestock according to their kinds, and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, according to its kind, and every bird, according to its kind, every winged creature […] went into the ark with Noah, two and two of all flesh in which there was the breath of life

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What living creatures I had I loaded upon her […]. Beasts of the steppe, wild animals of the steppe […] I made go on board

The [birds] flying in the heavens, the cattle […], the [creatures] of the steppe, he brought on board

And Yahweh shut the door behind him

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I went into the ship and battened my door

He brought pitch to seal his door

All the evil winds and stormy winds gathered into one

For one day the storm wind, swiftly it blew

The winds were furious as he set forth

And the flood came upon the earth

the flood was sweeping over [the cities]

[the flood cam]e forth, it was passing over the people like a battle.

the flood [came forth], its power came upon the peoples

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No one could see his neighbor, nor could the people see each other in the downpour

One person did [not] see another; they could [not] recognize each other in the catastrophe

forty days and forty nights

for seven days and seven nights

Six days and [seven] nights

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Noah opened the window of the ark

Ziusudra then drilled an opening in the big boat

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[Noah] sent forth a raven; it went to and fro until the waters were dried up from upon the earth. And he sent out a dove to see whether the waters had subsided from upon the ground. But the dove found no place to set her foot, and she returned to him to the ark, for the waters were still on the face of the whole earth. So he put out his hand and took her and brought her into the ark with him. He waited another seven days, and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark. And the dove came back to him in the evening, and behold, in her mouth was a freshly plucked olive leaf

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I released a dove to go free, the dove went and returned, no landing place came to view, it turned back. I released a swallow to go free, the swallow went and returned, no landing place came to view, it turned back. I sent a raven to go free, the raven went forth, saw the ebbing of the waters, it ate, circled, left droppings, did not turn back

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Noah built an altar to Yahweh

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I set up an offering stand on the top of the mountain

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[He] took from all the clean animals and from all the clean birds, and offered burnt offerings on the altar

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Seven and seven cult vessels I set out, I heaped reeds cedar, and myrtle in their bowls

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Yahweh smelled the soothing fragrance

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The gods smelled the sweet savor

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Yahweh said in his heart, “I will never again curse the ground because of humankind”

An and Enlil have sworn by the life’s breath of heaven, the life’s breath of earth, that he is allied with all of you

[Enlil] touched our brows, stood between us and blessed us

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