Genesis 8-11

New Life Version

The Flood Ends

8 But God remembered Noah and all the wild animals and all the cattle that were with him in the large boat. Then God made a wind blow over the earth until the water went down. ² Also the wells of water under the earth and the windows of the heavens were shut. And it stopped raining. ³ The water kept moving away from the earth. At the end of 150 days the water was less. ⁴ And in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, the large boat came to rest on Mount Ararat. ⁵ The water kept on going down until the tenth month. In the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains could be seen.

⁶ At the end of forty days, Noah opened the window of the large boat which he had made. ⁷ Then he sent out a raven, and it flew here and there until the water was dried up from the earth. ⁸ Then he sent out a dove, to see if the water was gone from the ground. ⁹ But the dove found no place to set her foot, so she returned to him in the boat. For the water was still over the earth. So Noah put out his hand and took her, and brought her into the boat with him. ¹⁰ He waited another seven days, and sent the dove from the boat again. ¹¹ The dove returned to him in the evening. In her mouth was an olive leaf that had just been picked. So Noah knew that the water had gone from the earth. ¹² Then he waited another seven days, and sent out the dove. But she did not return to him again.

¹³ In the year 601, in the first month, on the first day of the month, the water was dried up from the earth. Then Noah took the covering off the large boat, and looked out and saw that the earth was dry. ¹⁴ In the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the ground was dry. ¹⁵ Then God said to Noah, ¹⁶ “Go out of the boat, you and your wife and your sons and your sons’ wives with you. ¹⁷ Bring out with you every living thing of all flesh that is with you, birds and animals and everything that moves on the earth. So they may give birth and become many upon the earth.” ¹⁸ So Noah went out with his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives. ¹⁹ Every animal, every bird, everything that moves on the earth, went out of the large boat by their families.

²⁰ Then Noah built an altar to the Lord. He took of every clean animal and every clean bird, and gave burnt gifts in worship on the altar. ²¹ Then the Lord smelled a pleasing smell. And the Lord said to Himself, “I will never again curse the ground because of man. For the desire of man’s heart is sinful from when he is young. I will never again destroy every living thing as I have done. ²² While the earth lasts, planting time and gathering time, cold and heat, summer and winter, and day and night will not end.”

God’s Agreement with Noah

9 God made good come to Noah and his sons, and said to them, “Have many children, and cover the earth. ² Every animal of the earth, every bird of the sky, everything that moves on the ground, and all the fish of the sea will be afraid of you. They are given into your hand. ³ Every moving thing that lives will be food for you. I give all to you as I gave you the green plants. ⁴ But you must not eat meat with blood in it because that is its life. ⁵ For sure, I will take the life of every animal and every person for taking a life. I will punish every man’s brother for taking the life of man. ⁶ Whoever takes the life of a man will have his life taken. For God made man to be like Him. ⁷ As for you, have many children. Cover the earth with many people.”

⁸ Then God said to Noah and his sons, ⁹ “See, I make My agreement with you, and with your children after you, ¹⁰ and with every living thing that is with you, the birds, the cattle, and every animal of the earth, of all that came out of the large boat, every living thing on earth. ¹¹ I make My agreement with you, that never again will all flesh be destroyed by the water of a flood. There will never again be a flood to destroy the earth.” ¹² Then God said, “This is something special to see for all time, because of the agreement that I am making between Me and you and every living thing that is with you: ¹³ I will set My rain-bow in the cloud, and it will be something special to see because of an agreement between Me and the earth. ¹⁴ When I bring clouds over the earth and the rain-bow is seen in the clouds, ¹⁵ I will remember My agreement that is between Me and you and every living thing of all flesh. Never again will the water become a flood to destroy all flesh. ¹⁶ When the rain-bow is in the cloud, I will look upon it to remember the agreement that will last forever between God and every living thing of all flesh that is on the earth.” ¹⁷ God said to Noah, “This is the special thing to see because of the agreement I have made between Me and all flesh upon the earth.”

Noah and His Sons

¹⁸ The sons of Noah who came out of the large boat were Shem, Ham and Japheth. Ham was the father of Canaan. ¹⁹ These three were the sons of Noah. And all the people of the earth came from them.

²⁰ Then Noah became a farmer and planted a grape-field. ²¹ And he drank of the wine, and drank too much, and lay without covering himself in his tent. ²² Then Ham, the father of Canaan, saw that his father was without clothes. And he told his two brothers outside. ²³ But Shem and Japheth took a coat and laid it upon their shoulders and walked in with their backs toward their father and covered him. Their faces were turned away, so that they did not see their father without clothes. ²⁴ When Noah awoke from his wine, he knew what his youngest son had done to him. ²⁵ So he said, “May Canaan be cursed! He will be a servant of servants to his brothers.” ²⁶ He also said, “Honor and thanks be to the Lord, the God of Shem. Let Canaan be his servant. ²⁷ May God make Japheth great. Let him live in the tents of Shem. And let Canaan be his servants.”

²⁸ Noah lived 350 years after the flood. ²⁹ So Noah lived 950 years, and he died.

The Families after Noah’s Sons

10 These are the families of Shem, Ham and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and of their families. Sons were born to them after the flood.

² The sons of Japheth were Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras. ³ The sons of Gomer were Ashkenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah. ⁴ The sons of Javan were Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim. ⁵ From these the people who live beside the sea spread out into their lands, each one by his language, family, and nation.

⁶ The sons of Ham were Cush, Mizraim, Put, and Canaan. ⁷ The sons of Cush were Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, and Sabteca. The sons of Raamah were Sheba and Dedan. ⁸ Cush became the father of Nimrod, who was the first on earth to become a powerful man. ⁹ He was a powerful animal-killer in the eyes of the Lord. So it is said, “Like Nimrod, a powerful animal-killer in the eyes of the Lord.” ¹⁰ The beginning of his nation was Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. ¹¹ He went into Assyria from the land, and built Nineveh, Rehoboth-Ir, Calah ¹² and Resen between Nineveh and Calah. That is the great city. ¹³ Mizraim became the father of Ludim, Anamim, Lehabim, Naphtuhim, ¹⁴ Pathrusim, Casluhim (from which came the Philistines), and Caphtorim.

¹⁵ Canaan became the father of Sidon, his first-born, and Heth, ¹⁶ and the Jebusite, the Amorite, the Girgashite, ¹⁷ the Hivite, the Arkite, the Sinite, ¹⁸ the Arvadite, the Zemarite, and the Hamathite. Later the Canaanite families spread out. ¹⁹ So the land of the Canaanite was from Sidon toward Gerar as far as Gaza, then toward Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim as far as Lasha. ²⁰ These are the sons of Ham, by their families, languages, lands and nations.

²¹ Children were born to Shem, the father of all the children of Eber, and the older brother of Japheth. ²² The sons of Shem were Elam, Asshur, Arpachshad, Lud, and Aram. ²³ The sons of Aram were Uz, Hul, Gether, and Mash. ²⁴ Arpachshad became the father of Shelah. Shelah became the father of Eber. ²⁵ Eber had two sons. The name of one was Peleg, for the earth was divided in his day. The name of his brother was Joktan. ²⁶ Joktan became the father of Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah, ²⁷ Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah, ²⁸ Obal, Abimael, Sheba, ²⁹ Ophir, Havilah, and Jobab. All these were the sons of Joktan. ³⁰ The land where they lived was from Mesha toward Sephar to the hill country of the east. ³¹ These are the sons of Shem, by their families, languages, lands and nations.

³² These are the families of the sons of Noah. From these family groups, nations were spread over the earth after the flood.

The Tower at Babylon

11 Now the whole earth used the same language and the same words. ² And as men traveled in the east, they found a valley in the land of Shinar and made their home there. ³ They said to one another, “Come, let us make blocks and burn them until they are hard.” They used blocks for stone, and tar to hold them together. ⁴ Then they said, “Come, let us build a city for ourselves, with a tower that touches the heavens. Let us make a name for ourselves, or else we may be sent everywhere over the whole earth.”

⁵ Then the Lord came down to see the city and the tower that the sons of men had built. ⁶ And the Lord said, “See, they are one people, and they all have the same language. This is only the beginning of what they will do. Now all they plan to do will be possible for them. ⁷ Come, let Us go down and mix up their language so they will not understand what each other says.” ⁸ So the Lord sent them everywhere over the whole earth. And they stopped building the city. ⁹ So the name of the city was Babel, because there the Lord mixed up the language of the whole earth. The Lord sent the people everywhere over the whole earth.

The Families after Shem

¹⁰ These are the children of Shem. When Shem had lived 100 years, he became the father of Arpachshad, two years after the flood. ¹¹ Shem lived 500 years after the birth of Arpachshad. He had other sons and daughters.

¹² When Arpachshad had lived thirty-five years, he became the father of Shelah. ¹³ Arpachshad lived 403 years after the birth of Shelah. He had other sons and daughters.

¹⁴ When Shelah had lived thirty years, he became the father of Eber. ¹⁵ Shelah lived 403 years after the birth of Eber. He had other sons and daughters.

¹⁶ When Eber had lived thirty-four years, he became the father of Peleg. ¹⁷ Eber lived 430 years after the birth of Peleg. He had other sons and daughters.

¹⁸ When Peleg had lived thirty years, he became the father of Reu. ¹⁹ Peleg lived 209 years after the birth of Reu. He had other sons and daughters.

²⁰ When Reu had lived thirty-two years, he became the father of Serug. ²¹ Reu lived 207 years after the birth of Serug. He had other sons and daughters.

²² When Serug had lived thirty years, he became the father of Nahor. ²³ Serug lived 200 years after the birth of Nahor. He had other sons and daughters.

²⁴ When Nahor had lived twenty-nine years, he became the father of Terah. ²⁵ Nahor lived 119 years after the birth of Terah. He had other sons and daughters.

²⁶ When Terah had lived seventy years, he became the father of Abram, Nahor and Haran.

²⁷ Now these are the children of Terah. Terah became the father of Abram, Nahor and Haran. And Haran became the father of Lot. ²⁸ Haran died with his father Terah beside him in the land of his birth, Ur of the Chaldeans. ²⁹ Abram and Nahor both married. The name of Abram’s wife was Sarai. The name of Nahor’s wife was Milcah, the daughter of Haran. Haran was the father of Milcah and Iscah. ³⁰ But Sarai could not give birth. She had no child. ³¹ Terah took his son Abram, and his grandson Lot, the son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, the wife of his son Abram and they went together from Ur of the Chaldeans to the land of Canaan. But when they went as far as Haran, they made their home there. ³² Terah lived 205 years, and he died in Haran.