1-3 Then God turned his attention to Noah and all the wild animals and farm animals with him on the ship. God caused the wind to blow and the floodwaters began to go down. The underground springs were shut off, the windows of Heaven closed and the rain quit. Inch by inch the water lowered. After 150 days the worst was over.

4-6 On the seventeenth day of the seventh month, the ship landed on the Ararat mountain range. The water kept going down until the tenth month. On the first day of the tenth month the tops of the mountains came into view. After forty days Noah opened the window that he had built into the ship.

7-9 He sent out a raven; it flew back and forth waiting for the floodwaters to dry up. Then he sent a dove to check on the flood conditions, but it couldn’t even find a place to perch—water still covered the Earth. Noah reached out and caught it, brought it back into the ship.

10-11 He waited seven more days and sent out the dove again. It came back in the evening with a freshly picked olive leaf in its beak. Noah knew that the flood was about finished.

12 He waited another seven days and sent the dove out a third time. This time it didn’t come back.

13-14 In the six-hundred-first year of Noah’s life, on the first day of the first month, the flood had dried up. Noah opened the hatch of the ship and saw dry ground. By the twenty-seventh day of the second month, the Earth was completely dry.

15-17 God spoke to Noah: “Leave the ship, you and your wife and your sons and your sons’ wives. And take all the animals with you, the whole menagerie of birds and mammals and crawling creatures, all that swarming extravagance of life, so they can reproduce and flourish on the Earth.”

18-19 Noah disembarked with his sons and wife and his sons’ wives. Then all the animals, crawling creatures, birds—every creature on the face of the Earth—left the ship family by family.

20-21 Noah built an altar to God. He selected clean animals and birds from every species and offered them as burnt offerings on the altar. God smelled the sweet fragrance and thought to himself, “I’ll never again curse the ground because of people. I know they have this bent toward evil from an early age, but I’ll never again kill off everything living as I’ve just done.

22 For as long as Earth lasts,
    planting and harvest, cold and heat,
Summer and winter, day and night
    will never stop.”

1-4 God blessed Noah and his sons: He said, “Prosper! Reproduce! Fill the Earth! Every living creature—birds, animals, fish—will fall under your spell and be afraid of you. You’re responsible for them. All living creatures are yours for food; just as I gave you the plants, now I give you everything else. Except for meat with its lifeblood still in it—don’t eat that.

“But your own lifeblood I will avenge; I will avenge it against both animals and other humans.

6-7 Whoever sheds human blood,
    by humans let his blood be shed,
Because God made humans in his image
    reflecting God’s very nature.
You’re here to bear fruit, reproduce,
    lavish life on the Earth, live bountifully!”

8-11 Then God spoke to Noah and his sons: “I’m setting up my covenant with you including your children who will come after you, along with everything alive around you—birds, farm animals, wild animals—that came out of the ship with you. I’m setting up my covenant with you that never again will everything living be destroyed by floodwaters; no, never again will a flood destroy the Earth.”

12-16 God continued, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and everything living around you and everyone living after you. I’m putting my rainbow in the clouds, a sign of the covenant between me and the Earth. From now on, when I form a cloud over the Earth and the rainbow appears in the cloud, I’ll remember my covenant between me and you and everything living, that never again will floodwaters destroy all life. When the rainbow appears in the cloud, I’ll see it and remember the eternal covenant between God and everything living, every last living creature on Earth.”

17 And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant that I’ve set up between me and everything living on the Earth.”

18-19 The sons of Noah who came out of the ship were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Ham was the father of Canaan. These are the three sons of Noah; from these three the whole Earth was populated.

20-23 Noah, a farmer, was the first to plant a vineyard. He drank from its wine, got drunk and passed out, naked in his tent. Ham, the father of Canaan, saw that his father was naked and told his two brothers who were outside the tent. Shem and Japheth took a cloak, held it between them from their shoulders, walked backward and covered their father’s nakedness, keeping their faces turned away so they did not see their father’s exposed body.

24-27 When Noah woke up with his hangover, he learned what his youngest son had done. He said,

Cursed be Canaan! A slave of slaves,
    a slave to his brothers!
Blessed be God, the God of Shem,
    but Canaan shall be his slave.
God prosper Japheth,
    living spaciously in the tents of Shem.
But Canaan shall be his slave.

28-29 Noah lived another 350 years following the flood. He lived a total of 950 years. And he died.

The Family Tree of Noah’s Sons

10 This is the family tree of the sons of Noah: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. After the flood, they themselves had sons.

The sons of Japheth: Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, Tiras.

The sons of Gomer: Ashkenaz, Riphath, Togarmah.

4-5 The sons of Javan: Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim, Rodanim. The seafaring peoples developed from these, each in its own place by family, each with its own language.

The sons of Ham: Cush, Egypt, Put, Canaan.

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

The sons of Raamah: Sheba, Dedan.

8-12 Cush also had Nimrod. He was the first great warrior on Earth. He was a great hunter before God. There was a saying, “Like Nimrod, a great hunter before God.” His kingdom got its start with Babel; then Erech, Akkad, and Calneh in the country of Shinar. From there he went up to Asshur and built Nineveh, Rehoboth Ir, Calah, and Resen between Nineveh and the great city Calah.

13-14 Egypt was ancestor to the Ludim, the Anamim, the Lehabim, the Naphtuhim, the Pathrusim, the Casluhim (the origin of the Philistines), and the Kaphtorim.

15-19 Canaan had Sidon his firstborn, Heth, the Jebusites, the Amorites, the Girgashites, the Hivites, the Arkites, the Sinites, the Arvadites, the Zemarites, and the Hamathites. Later the Canaanites spread out, going from Sidon toward Gerar, as far south as Gaza, and then east all the way over to Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboiim, and on to Lasha.

20 These are the descendants of Ham by family, language, country, and nation.

21 Shem, the older brother of Japheth, also had sons. Shem was ancestor to all the children of Eber.

22 The sons of Shem: Elam, Asshur, Arphaxad, Lud, and Aram.

23 The sons of Aram: Uz, Hul, Gether, Meshech.

24-25 Arphaxad had Shelah and Shelah had Eber. Eber had two sons, Peleg (so named because in his days the human race divided) and Joktan.

26-30 Joktan had Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah, Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah, Obal, Abimael, Sheba, Ophir, Havilah, and Jobab—all sons of Joktan. Their land goes from Mesha toward Sephar as far as the mountain ranges in the east.

31 These are the descendants of Shem by family, language, country, and nation.

32 This is the family tree of the sons of Noah as they developed into nations. From them nations developed all across the Earth after the flood.

God Turned Their Language into ‘Babble’”

11 1-2 At one time, the whole Earth spoke the same language. It so happened that as they moved out of the east, they came upon a plain in the land of Shinar and settled down.

They said to one another, “Come, let’s make bricks and fire them well.” They used brick for stone and tar for mortar.

Then they said, “Come, let’s build ourselves a city and a tower that reaches Heaven. Let’s make ourselves famous so we won’t be scattered here and there across the Earth.”

God came down to look over the city and the tower those people had built.

6-9 God took one look and said, “One people, one language; why, this is only a first step. No telling what they’ll come up with next—they’ll stop at nothing! Come, we’ll go down and garble their speech so they won’t understand each other.” Then God scattered them from there all over the world. And they had to quit building the city. That’s how it came to be called Babel, because there God turned their language into “babble.” From there God scattered them all over the world.

* * *

10-11 This is the story of Shem. When Shem was 100 years old, he had Arphaxad. It was two years after the flood. After he had Arphaxad, he lived 500 more years and had other sons and daughters.

12-13 When Arphaxad was thirty-five years old, he had Shelah. After Arphaxad had Shelah, he lived 403 more years and had other sons and daughters.

14-15 When Shelah was thirty years old, he had Eber. After Shelah had Eber, he lived 403 more years and had other sons and daughters.

16-17 When Eber was thirty-four years old, he had Peleg. After Eber had Peleg, he lived 430 more years and had other sons and daughters.

18-19 When Peleg was thirty years old, he had Reu. After he had Reu, he lived 209 more years and had other sons and daughters.

20-21 When Reu was thirty-two years old, he had Serug. After Reu had Serug, he lived 207 more years and had other sons and daughters.

22-23 When Serug was thirty years old, he had Nahor. After Serug had Nahor, he lived 200 more years and had other sons and daughters.

24-25 When Nahor was twenty-nine years old, he had Terah. After Nahor had Terah, he lived 119 more years and had other sons and daughters.

26 When Terah was seventy years old, he had Abram, Nahor, and Haran.

The Family Tree of Terah

27-28 This is the story of Terah. Terah had Abram, Nahor, and Haran.

Haran had Lot. Haran died before his father, Terah, in the country of his family, Ur of the Chaldees.

29 Abram and Nahor each got married. Abram’s wife was Sarai; Nahor’s wife was Milcah, the daughter of his brother Haran. Haran had two daughters, Milcah and Iscah.

30 Sarai was barren; she had no children.

31 Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot (Haran’s son), and Sarai his daughter-in-law (his son Abram’s wife) and set out with them from Ur of the Chaldees for the land of Canaan. But when they got as far as Haran, they settled down there.

32 Terah lived 205 years. He died in Haran.

But God remembered(A) Noah and all the wild animals and the livestock that were with him in the ark, and he sent a wind over the earth,(B) and the waters receded. Now the springs of the deep and the floodgates of the heavens(C) had been closed, and the rain(D) had stopped falling from the sky. The water receded steadily from the earth. At the end of the hundred and fifty days(E) the water had gone down, and on the seventeenth day of the seventh month(F) the ark came to rest on the mountains(G) of Ararat.(H) The waters continued to recede until the tenth month, and on the first day of the tenth month the tops of the mountains became visible.

After forty days(I) Noah opened a window he had made in the ark and sent out a raven,(J) and it kept flying back and forth until the water had dried up from the earth.(K) Then he sent out a dove(L) to see if the water had receded from the surface of the ground. But the dove could find nowhere to perch because there was water over all the surface of the earth; so it returned to Noah in the ark. He reached out his hand and took the dove and brought it back to himself in the ark. 10 He waited seven more days and again sent out the dove from the ark. 11 When the dove returned to him in the evening, there in its beak was a freshly plucked olive leaf! Then Noah knew that the water had receded from the earth.(M) 12 He waited seven more days and sent the dove out again, but this time it did not return to him.

13 By the first day of the first month of Noah’s six hundred and first year,(N) the water had dried up from the earth. Noah then removed the covering from the ark and saw that the surface of the ground was dry. 14 By the twenty-seventh day of the second month(O) the earth was completely dry.

15 Then God said to Noah, 16 “Come out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons and their wives.(P) 17 Bring out every kind of living creature that is with you—the birds, the animals, and all the creatures that move along the ground—so they can multiply on the earth and be fruitful and increase in number on it.”(Q)

18 So Noah came out, together with his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives.(R) 19 All the animals and all the creatures that move along the ground and all the birds—everything that moves on land—came out of the ark, one kind after another.

20 Then Noah built an altar to the Lord(S) and, taking some of all the clean animals and clean(T) birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings(U) on it. 21 The Lord smelled the pleasing aroma(V) and said in his heart: “Never again will I curse the ground(W) because of humans, even though[a] every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood.(X) And never again will I destroy(Y) all living creatures,(Z) as I have done.

22 “As long as the earth endures,
seedtime and harvest,(AA)
cold and heat,
summer and winter,(AB)
day and night
will never cease.”(AC)

God’s Covenant With Noah

Then God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth.(AD) The fear and dread of you will fall on all the beasts of the earth, and on all the birds in the sky, on every creature that moves along the ground, and on all the fish in the sea; they are given into your hands.(AE) Everything that lives and moves about will be food for you.(AF) Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything.(AG)

“But you must not eat meat that has its lifeblood still in it.(AH) And for your lifeblood I will surely demand an accounting.(AI) I will demand an accounting from every animal.(AJ) And from each human being, too, I will demand an accounting for the life of another human being.(AK)

“Whoever sheds human blood,
    by humans shall their blood be shed;(AL)
for in the image of God(AM)
    has God made mankind.

As for you, be fruitful and increase in number; multiply on the earth and increase upon it.”(AN)

Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him: “I now establish my covenant with you(AO) and with your descendants after you 10 and with every living creature that was with you—the birds, the livestock and all the wild animals, all those that came out of the ark with you—every living creature on earth. 11 I establish my covenant(AP) with you:(AQ) Never again will all life be destroyed by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.(AR)

12 And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant(AS) I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come:(AT) 13 I have set my rainbow(AU) in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. 14 Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow(AV) appears in the clouds, 15 I will remember my covenant(AW) between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life.(AX) 16 Whenever the rainbow(AY) appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant(AZ) between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.”

17 So God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant(BA) I have established between me and all life on the earth.”

The Sons of Noah

18 The sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham and Japheth.(BB) (Ham was the father of Canaan.)(BC) 19 These were the three sons of Noah,(BD) and from them came the people who were scattered over the whole earth.(BE)

20 Noah, a man of the soil, proceeded[b] to plant a vineyard. 21 When he drank some of its wine,(BF) he became drunk and lay uncovered inside his tent. 22 Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father naked(BG) and told his two brothers outside. 23 But Shem and Japheth took a garment and laid it across their shoulders; then they walked in backward and covered their father’s naked body. Their faces were turned the other way so that they would not see their father naked.

24 When Noah awoke from his wine and found out what his youngest son had done to him, 25 he said,

“Cursed(BH) be Canaan!(BI)
    The lowest of slaves
    will he be to his brothers.(BJ)

26 He also said,

“Praise be to the Lord, the God of Shem!(BK)
    May Canaan be the slave(BL) of Shem.
27 May God extend Japheth’s[c] territory;(BM)
    may Japheth live in the tents of Shem,(BN)
    and may Canaan be the slave of Japheth.”

28 After the flood Noah lived 350 years. 29 Noah lived a total of 950 years, and then he died.(BO)

The Table of Nations

10 This is the account(BP) of Shem, Ham and Japheth,(BQ) Noah’s sons,(BR) who themselves had sons after the flood.

The Japhethites(BS)

The sons[d] of Japheth:

Gomer,(BT) Magog,(BU) Madai, Javan,(BV) Tubal,(BW) Meshek(BX) and Tiras.

The sons of Gomer:

Ashkenaz,(BY) Riphath and Togarmah.(BZ)

The sons of Javan:

Elishah,(CA) Tarshish,(CB) the Kittites(CC) and the Rodanites.[e] (From these the maritime peoples spread out into their territories by their clans within their nations, each with its own language.)(CD)

The Hamites(CE)

The sons of Ham:

Cush,(CF) Egypt, Put(CG) and Canaan.(CH)

The sons of Cush:

Seba,(CI) Havilah,(CJ) Sabtah, Raamah(CK) and Sabteka.

The sons of Raamah:

Sheba(CL) and Dedan.(CM)

Cush was the father[f] of Nimrod,(CN) who became a mighty warrior on the earth. He was a mighty(CO) hunter(CP) before the Lord; that is why it is said, “Like Nimrod, a mighty hunter before the Lord.” 10 The first centers of his kingdom were Babylon,(CQ) Uruk,(CR) Akkad and Kalneh,(CS) in[g] Shinar.[h](CT) 11 From that land he went to Assyria,(CU) where he built Nineveh,(CV) Rehoboth Ir,[i] Calah 12 and Resen, which is between Nineveh and Calah—which is the great city.

13 Egypt was the father of

the Ludites, Anamites, Lehabites, Naphtuhites, 14 Pathrusites, Kasluhites (from whom the Philistines(CW) came) and Caphtorites.(CX)

15 Canaan(CY) was the father of

Sidon(CZ) his firstborn,[j](DA) and of the Hittites,(DB) 16 Jebusites,(DC) Amorites,(DD) Girgashites,(DE) 17 Hivites,(DF) Arkites, Sinites, 18 Arvadites,(DG) Zemarites and Hamathites.(DH)

Later the Canaanite(DI) clans scattered 19 and the borders of Canaan(DJ) reached from Sidon(DK) toward Gerar(DL) as far as Gaza,(DM) and then toward Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboyim,(DN) as far as Lasha.

20 These are the sons of Ham by their clans and languages, in their territories and nations.

The Semites(DO)

21 Sons were also born to Shem, whose older brother was[k] Japheth; Shem was the ancestor of all the sons of Eber.(DP)

22 The sons of Shem:

Elam,(DQ) Ashur,(DR) Arphaxad,(DS) Lud and Aram.(DT)

23 The sons of Aram:

Uz,(DU) Hul, Gether and Meshek.[l]

24 Arphaxad was the father of[m] Shelah,

and Shelah the father of Eber.(DV)

25 Two sons were born to Eber:

One was named Peleg,[n] because in his time the earth was divided; his brother was named Joktan.

26 Joktan was the father of

Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah, 27 Hadoram, Uzal,(DW) Diklah, 28 Obal, Abimael, Sheba,(DX) 29 Ophir,(DY) Havilah and Jobab. All these were sons of Joktan.

30 The region where they lived stretched from Mesha toward Sephar, in the eastern hill country.

31 These are the sons of Shem by their clans and languages, in their territories and nations.

32 These are the clans of Noah’s sons,(DZ) according to their lines of descent, within their nations. From these the nations spread out over the earth(EA) after the flood.

The Tower of Babel

11 Now the whole world had one language(EB) and a common speech. As people moved eastward,[o] they found a plain in Shinar[p](EC) and settled there.

They said to each other, “Come, let’s make bricks(ED) and bake them thoroughly.” They used brick instead of stone,(EE) and tar(EF) for mortar. Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens,(EG) so that we may make a name(EH) for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered(EI) over the face of the whole earth.”(EJ)

But the Lord came down(EK) to see the city and the tower the people were building. The Lord said, “If as one people speaking the same language(EL) they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. Come, let us(EM) go down(EN) and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.”(EO)

So the Lord scattered them from there over all the earth,(EP) and they stopped building the city. That is why it was called Babel[q](EQ)—because there the Lord confused the language(ER) of the whole world.(ES) From there the Lord scattered(ET) them over the face of the whole earth.

From Shem to Abram(EU)

10 This is the account(EV) of Shem’s family line.

Two years after the flood, when Shem was 100 years old, he became the father[r] of Arphaxad.(EW) 11 And after he became the father of Arphaxad, Shem lived 500 years and had other sons and daughters.

12 When Arphaxad had lived 35 years, he became the father of Shelah.(EX) 13 And after he became the father of Shelah, Arphaxad lived 403 years and had other sons and daughters.[s]

14 When Shelah had lived 30 years, he became the father of Eber.(EY) 15 And after he became the father of Eber, Shelah lived 403 years and had other sons and daughters.

16 When Eber had lived 34 years, he became the father of Peleg.(EZ) 17 And after he became the father of Peleg, Eber lived 430 years and had other sons and daughters.

18 When Peleg had lived 30 years, he became the father of Reu.(FA) 19 And after he became the father of Reu, Peleg lived 209 years and had other sons and daughters.

20 When Reu had lived 32 years, he became the father of Serug.(FB) 21 And after he became the father of Serug, Reu lived 207 years and had other sons and daughters.

22 When Serug had lived 30 years, he became the father of Nahor.(FC) 23 And after he became the father of Nahor, Serug lived 200 years and had other sons and daughters.

24 When Nahor had lived 29 years, he became the father of Terah.(FD) 25 And after he became the father of Terah, Nahor lived 119 years and had other sons and daughters.

26 After Terah had lived 70 years, he became the father of Abram,(FE) Nahor(FF) and Haran.(FG)

Abram’s Family

27 This is the account(FH) of Terah’s family line.

Terah became the father of Abram, Nahor(FI) and Haran. And Haran became the father of Lot.(FJ) 28 While his father Terah was still alive, Haran died in Ur of the Chaldeans,(FK) in the land of his birth. 29 Abram and Nahor(FL) both married. The name of Abram’s wife was Sarai,(FM) and the name of Nahor’s wife was Milkah;(FN) she was the daughter of Haran, the father of both Milkah and Iskah. 30 Now Sarai was childless because she was not able to conceive.(FO)

31 Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot(FP) son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law(FQ) Sarai, the wife of his son Abram, and together they set out from Ur of the Chaldeans(FR) to go to Canaan.(FS) But when they came to Harran,(FT) they settled there.

32 Terah(FU) lived 205 years, and he died in Harran.

Footnotes

  1. Genesis 8:21 Or humans, for
  2. Genesis 9:20 Or soil, was the first
  3. Genesis 9:27 Japheth sounds like the Hebrew for extend.
  4. Genesis 10:2 Sons may mean descendants or successors or nations; also in verses 3, 4, 6, 7, 20-23, 29 and 31.
  5. Genesis 10:4 Some manuscripts of the Masoretic Text and Samaritan Pentateuch (see also Septuagint and 1 Chron. 1:7); most manuscripts of the Masoretic Text Dodanites
  6. Genesis 10:8 Father may mean ancestor or predecessor or founder; also in verses 13, 15, 24 and 26.
  7. Genesis 10:10 Or Uruk and Akkad—all of them in
  8. Genesis 10:10 That is, Babylonia
  9. Genesis 10:11 Or Nineveh with its city squares
  10. Genesis 10:15 Or of the Sidonians, the foremost
  11. Genesis 10:21 Or Shem, the older brother of
  12. Genesis 10:23 See Septuagint and 1 Chron. 1:17; Hebrew Mash.
  13. Genesis 10:24 Hebrew; Septuagint father of Cainan, and Cainan was the father of
  14. Genesis 10:25 Peleg means division.
  15. Genesis 11:2 Or from the east; or in the east
  16. Genesis 11:2 That is, Babylonia
  17. Genesis 11:9 That is, Babylon; Babel sounds like the Hebrew for confused.
  18. Genesis 11:10 Father may mean ancestor; also in verses 11-25.
  19. Genesis 11:13 Hebrew; Septuagint (see also Luke 3:35, 36 and note at Gen. 10:24) 35 years, he became the father of Cainan. 13 And after he became the father of Cainan, Arphaxad lived 430 years and had other sons and daughters, and then he died. When Cainan had lived 130 years, he became the father of Shelah. And after he became the father of Shelah, Cainan lived 330 years and had other sons and daughters