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Noah's Ark
Taken from the New Living Translation of the Bible
Genesis 6:1-9:17
6 Noah and the Flood
When the human population
began to grow rapidly on the earth, the sons of God saw the beautiful
women of the human race and took any they wanted as their wives. Then the
Lord said, "My spirit will not put up with humans for such a long
time, for they are only mortal flesh. In the future, they will live no
more than 120 years."
In those days, and even afterward, giants lived on the earth, for whenever
the sons of God had intercourse with human women, they gave birth to
children who became the heroes mentioned in the legends of old.
Now the Lord observed the extent of the people's wickedness, and he saw
all their thoughts were consistently and totally evil. So the Lord was
sorry he had ever made them. It broke his heart. And the Lord said,
"I will completely wipe out this human race that I have created. Yes,
and I will destroy all the animals and birds, too. I am sorry I ever made
them." But Noah found favor with the Lord.
This is the history of Noah and his family. Noah was a righteous man, the
only blameless man living on earth at the time. He consistently followed
God's will and enjoyed a close relationship with him. Noah had three sons;
Shem, Ham, and Japeth.
Now the earth had become corrupt in God's sight, and it was filled with
violence. God observed all this corruption in the world, and he saw
violence and depravity everywhere. So God said to Noah, "I have
decided to destroy all living creatures for the earth is filled with
violence because of them. yes I will wipe them all from the face of the
earth!"
"Make a boat from resinous wood and seal it with tar, inside and out.
Then construct decks and stall throughout its interior. Make it 450 feet
long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet high. Construct an opening all the way
around the boat, 18 inches below the roof. Then put three decks inside the
boat-bottom, middle, and upper- and put a door in the side."
"Look ! I am about to cover the earth with a flood that will destroy
every living thing. Everything on earth will die! But I solemnly swear to
keep you safe in the boat, with your wife and your sons and their wives.
Bring a pair of every kind of animal-a male and a female- into the boat
with you to keep them alive during the flood. Pairs of each kind of bird
and each kind of animal, large and small alike, will come to you to be
kept alive. And remember, take enough food for your family and for all the
animals."
So Noah did everything exactly as God had commanded him.
7 The Flood Covers the
Earth
Finally, the day came when
the Lord said to Noah, "Go into the boat with all your family, for
among all the people of the earth, I consider you alone to be righteous.
Take along seven pairs of each animal that I have approved for eating and
for sacrifice, and take one pair of each of the others. Then select seven
pairs of every kind of bird. There must be a male and a female in each
pair to ensure that every kind of living creature will survive the flood.
One week from today I will begin forty days and forty nights of rain. And
I will wipe from the earth all the living things I have created."
So Noah did exactly as the Lord had commanded him. He was 600 years old
when the flood came, and he went aboard the boat to escape-he and his wife
and his sons and their wives. With them were all the various kinds of
animals-those approved for eating and sacrifice and those that were
not-along with all the birds and other small animals. They came into the
boat in pairs, male and female, just as God had commanded Noah. One week
later, the flood came and covered the earth.
When Noah was 600 years old, on the seventeenth day of the second month,
the underground waters burst forth on the earth, and the rain fell in
mighty torrents from the sky. The rain continued to fall for forty days
and forty nights. But Noah had gone into the boat that very day with his
wife and his sons-Shem, Ham, and Japeth-and their wives. With them in the
boat were pairs of every kind of breathing animal-domestic and wild, large
and small-along with the birds and flying insects of every kind.
Two by two they came into the boat, male and female, just as God had
commanded. Then the Lord shut them in.
For forty days the floods prevailed, covering the ground and lifting the
boat high above the earth. As the waters rose higher and higher above the
ground, the boat floated safely on the surface. Finally, the water covered
even the highest mountains on the earth, standing more than twenty-two
feet above the highest peaks. All the living things on earth died-birds,
domestic animals, wild animals, all kinds of small animals, and all the
people.
Everything had died that breathed and lived on dry land.
Every living thing on the earth was wiped out-people, animals both large
and small, and birds. They were all destroyed, and only Noah was left
alive, along with those who were with him on the boat. And the water
covered the earth for 150 days.
8 The Flood Recedes
But
God remembered Noah and all the animals in the boat. He sent a wind to
blow across the waters, and the floods began to disappear. The underground
water sources ceased their gushing, and the torrential rain stopped. So
the flood gradually began to recede. After 150 days, exactly five months
from the time the flood began, the boat came to rest on the mountains of
Ararat. Two and a half months later, as the waters continued to go down,
other mountain peaks began to appear.
After another forty days, Noah opened the window he had made in the boat
and released a raven that flew back and forth until the earth was dry.
Then he sent out a dove to see if it could find dry ground. But the dove
found no place to land because the water was still too high. So it
returned to the boat, and Noah held out his hand and drew the dove back
inside. Seven days later, Noah released the dove again. This time, toward
evening, the bird returned to him with a fresh olive leaf in its beak.
Noah now knew that the water was almost gone. A week later, he released
the dove again, and this time it did not come back.
Finally, when Noah was 601 years old, ten and a half months after the
flood began, Noah lifted back the cover to look. The water was drying up.
Two more months went by, and the last of the earth was dry! Then God said
to Noah, "Leave the boat all of you. Release all the animals and
birds so they can breed and reproduce in great numbers." So Noah, his
wife, and his sons and their wives left the boat. And all the various
kinds of animals and birds came out, pair by pair.
Then Noah built an alter to the Lord and sacrificed on it the animals and
birds that had been approved for that purpose. And the Lord was pleased
with the sacrifice and said to himself, "I will never again curse the
earth, destroying all living things, even though people's thoughts and
actions are bent toward evil from childhood. As long as the earth remains,
there will be springtime and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer,
day and night."
9
God's Covenant with Noah
God
blessed Noah and his sons and told them, "Multiply and fill the
earth. All the wild animals, large and small, and all the birds and fish
will be afraid of you. I have placed them in your power. I have given them
to you for food, just as I have given your grain and vegetables. But you
must never eat animals that still have their lifeblood in them. And murder
is forbidden. Animals that kill people must die, and any person who
murders must be killed. Yes, you must execute anyone who murders another
person, for to kill a person is to kill a living being made in God's
image. Now you must have many children and repopulate the earth. Yes,
multiply and fill the earth!"
Then God told Noah and his sons, "I am making a covenant with you and
your descendants, and with the animals you brought with you-all these
birds and livestock and wild animals. I solemnly promise never to send
another flood to kill all living creatures and destroy the earth."
And God said, "I am giving you a sign as evidence of my eternal
covenant with you and all the living creatures. I have placed my rainbow
in the clouds, It is the sign of my permanent promise to you and to all
the earth. When I send clouds over the earth, the rainbow will be seen in
the clouds, and I will remember my covenant with you and with everything
that lives. Never again will there be a flood that will destroy all life.
When I see the rainbow in the clouds, I will remember the eternal covenant
between God and every living creature on earth." Then God said to
Noah, "Yes, this is the sign of my covenant with all the creatures of
the earth."
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