The Corruption of Mankind

6 Now it happened, when men began to multiply on the face of the land, and daughters were born to them, ² that the ^[a]sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful and desirable; and they took wives for themselves, whomever they chose and desired. ³ Then the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not strive and remain with man forever, because he is indeed flesh [sinful, corrupt—given over to sensual appetites]; nevertheless his days shall yet be ^[b]a hundred and twenty years.” ⁴ There were Nephilim (men of stature, notorious men) on the earth in those days—and also afterward—when the sons of God lived with the daughters of men, and they gave birth to their children. These were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown (great reputation, fame).^(A)

⁵ The Lord saw that the wickedness (depravity) of man was great on the earth, and that every imagination or intent of the thoughts of his heart were only evil continually. ⁶ The Lord ^[c]regretted that He had made mankind on the earth, and He was [deeply] grieved in His heart. ⁷ So the Lord said, “I will destroy (annihilate) mankind whom I have created from the surface of the earth—not only man, but the animals and the crawling things and the birds of the air—because it [deeply] grieves Me [to see mankind’s sin] and I regret that I have made them.” ⁸ But Noah found favor and grace in the eyes of the Lord.

⁹ These are the records of the generations (family history) of Noah. Noah was a righteous man [one who was just and had right standing with God], blameless in his [evil] generation; Noah walked (lived) [in habitual fellowship] with God. ¹⁰ Now Noah became the father of three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

¹¹ The [population of the] earth was corrupt [absolutely depraved—spiritually and morally putrid] in God’s sight, and the land was filled with violence [desecration, infringement, outrage, assault, and lust for power]. ¹² God looked on the earth and saw how debased and degenerate it was, for all humanity had corrupted their way on the earth and lost their true direction.

¹³ God said to Noah, “I intend to make an end of all that lives, for through men the land is filled with violence; and behold, I am about to ^[d]destroy them together with the land. ¹⁴ Make yourself an ^[e]ark of ^[f]gopher wood; make in it rooms (stalls, pens, coops, nests, cages, compartments) and ^[g]coat it inside and out with pitch (bitumen). ¹⁵ This is the way you are to make it: the length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, its width fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits (450’ x 75’ x 45’). ¹⁶ You shall make a ^[h]window [for light and ventilation] for the ark, and finish it to at least a cubit (eighteen inches) from the top—and set the [entry] door of the ark in its side; and you shall make it with lower, second and third decks. ¹⁷ For behold, I, even I, will bring a flood of waters on the earth, to destroy all life under the heavens in which there is the breath and spirit of life; everything that is on the land shall die. ¹⁸ But I will establish My covenant (solemn promise, formal agreement) with you; and you shall come into the ark—you and your [three] sons and your wife, and your sons’ wives with you. ¹⁹ And of every living thing [found on land], you shall bring two of every kind into the ark, to keep them alive with you; they shall be male and female. ²⁰ Of fowls and birds according to their kind, of animals according to their kind, of every crawling thing of the ground according to its kind—two of every kind shall come to you to keep them alive. ²¹ Also take with you every kind of food that is edible, and you shall collect and store it; and it shall be food for you and for them.” ²² So Noah did this; according to all that God commanded him, that is what he did.

The Flood

7 Then the Lord said to Noah, “Come into the ark, you with all your household, for you [alone] I have seen as righteous (doing what is right) before Me in this generation.^{(B) 2} Of every ^[i]clean animal you shall take with you seven pair, the male and his female, and of animals that are not clean, two each the male and his female;^{(C) 3} also of the birds of the air, seven pair, the male and the female, to keep the offspring alive on the surface of the earth. ⁴ For in seven days I am going to cause it to rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights; and I will destroy (blot out, wipe away) every living thing that I have made from the surface of the earth.” ⁵ So Noah did all that the Lord commanded him.^(D)

⁶ Noah was six hundred years old when the flood (deluge) of water came on the earth [covering all of the land]. ⁷ Then Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives with him entered the ark to escape the flood waters.^{(E) 8} Of ^[j]clean animals and animals that are not clean and birds and fowls and everything that crawls on the ground, ⁹ they came [motivated by God] into the ark with Noah two by two, the male and the female, just as God had commanded Noah. ¹⁰ And after the seven days [God released the rain and] the floodwaters came on the earth. ¹¹ In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, on the seventeenth day of the second month, on that same day all the fountains of the great deep [subterranean waters] burst open, and the windows and floodgates of the heavens were opened. ¹² It rained on the earth for forty days and forty nights.

¹³ On the very same day Noah and Shem and Ham and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noah’s wife and the three wives of his sons with them, entered the ark, ¹⁴ they and every animal according to its kind, all the livestock according to their kinds, every moving thing that crawls on the earth according to its kind, and every bird according to its kind, every winged thing of every sort. ¹⁵ So they went into the ark with Noah, two by two of all living beings in which there was the breath and spirit of life. ¹⁶ Those which entered, male and female of all flesh (creatures), entered as God had commanded Noah; and the Lord closed the door behind him.

¹⁷ The flood [the great downpour of rain] was forty days and nights on the earth; and the waters increased and lifted up the ark, and it floated [high] above the land. ¹⁸ The waters became mighty and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the waters. ¹⁹ The waters prevailed so greatly and were so mighty and overwhelming on the earth, so that all the high mountains everywhere under the heavens were covered. ²⁰ [In fact] the waters became ^[k]fifteen cubits higher [than the highest ground], and the mountains were covered. ²¹ All living beings that moved on the earth perished—birds and cattle (domestic animals), [wild] animals, all things that swarm and crawl on the earth, and all mankind. ²² Everything on the dry land, all in whose nostrils was the breath and spirit of life, died. ²³ God destroyed (blotted out, wiped away) every living thing that was on the surface of the earth; man and animals and the crawling things and the birds of the heavens were destroyed from the land. Only Noah and those who were with him in the ark remained alive.^{(F) 24} The waters covered [all of] the earth for a hundred and fifty days (five months).

The Flood Abates

8 And God remembered and thought kindly of Noah and every living thing and all the animals that were with him in the ark; and God made a wind blow over the land, and the waters receded. ² Also the fountains of the deep [subterranean waters] and the windows of the heavens were closed, the [pouring] rain from the sky was restrained, ³ and the waters receded steadily from the earth. At the end of a hundred and fifty days the waters had diminished. ⁴ On the seventeenth day of the seventh month [five months after the rain began], the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat [in ^[l]Turkey]. ⁵ The waters continued to decrease until the tenth month; on the first day of the tenth month the tops of the mountains were seen.

⁶ At the end of [another] forty days Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made; ⁷ and he sent out a raven, which flew here and there until the waters were dried up from the earth. ⁸ Then Noah sent out a dove to see if the water level had fallen below the surface of the land. ⁹ But the dove found no place on which to rest the sole of her foot, and she returned to him to the ark, for the waters were [still] on the face of the entire earth. So he reached out his hand and took the dove, and brought her into the ark. ¹⁰ He waited another seven days and again sent the dove out from the ark. ¹¹ The dove came back to him in the evening, and there, in her beak, was a fresh olive leaf. So Noah knew that the water level had subsided from the earth. ¹² Then he waited another seven days and sent out the dove, but she did not return to him again.

¹³ Now in the six hundred and first year [of Noah’s life], on the first day of the first month, the waters were drying up from the earth. Then Noah removed the covering of the ark and looked, and the surface of the ground was drying. ¹⁴ On the twenty-seventh day of the second month the land was [entirely] dry. ¹⁵ And God spoke to Noah, saying, ¹⁶ “Go out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons and their wives with you. ¹⁷ Bring out with you every living thing from all flesh—birds and animals and every crawling thing that crawls on the earth—that they may breed abundantly on the earth, and be fruitful and multiply on the earth.” ¹⁸ So Noah went out, and his wife and his sons and their wives with him [after being in the ark one year and ten days]. ¹⁹ Every animal, every crawling thing, every bird—and whatever moves on the land—went out by families (types, groupings) from the ark.

²⁰ And Noah built an altar to the Lord, and took of every [ceremonially] clean animal and of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar. ²¹ The Lord smelled the pleasing aroma [a soothing, satisfying scent] and the Lord said to Himself, “I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intent (strong inclination, desire) of man’s heart is wicked from his youth; and I will never again destroy every living thing, as I have done.