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Genesis 1-11
New Living Translation
Genesis 1-11
New Living Translation
The Account of Creation
1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.[a] 2 The earth was formless and empty, and darkness covered the deep waters. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.
3 Then God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 And God saw that the light was good. Then he separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light “day” and the darkness “night.”
And evening passed and morning came, marking the first day.
6 Then God said, “Let there be a space between the waters, to separate the waters of the heavens from the waters of the earth.” 7 And that is what happened. God made this space to separate the waters of the earth from the waters of the heavens. 8 God called the space “sky.”
And evening passed and morning came, marking the second day.
9 Then God said, “Let the waters beneath the sky flow together into one place, so dry ground may appear.” And that is what happened. 10 God called the dry ground “land” and the waters “seas.” And God saw that it was good. 11 Then God said, “Let the land sprout with vegetation—every sort of seed-bearing plant, and trees that grow seed-bearing fruit. These seeds will then produce the kinds of plants and trees from which they came.” And that is what happened. 12 The land produced vegetation—all sorts of seed-bearing plants, and trees with seed-bearing fruit. Their seeds produced plants and trees of the same kind. And God saw that it was good.
13 And evening passed and morning came, marking the third day.
14 Then God said, “Let lights appear in the sky to separate the day from the night. Let them be signs to mark the seasons, days, and years. 15 Let these lights in the sky shine down on the earth.” And that is what happened. 16 God made two great lights—the larger one to govern the day, and the smaller one to govern the night. He also made the stars. 17 God set these lights in the sky to light the earth, 18 to govern the day and night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good.
19 And evening passed and morning came, marking the fourth day.
20 Then God said, “Let the waters swarm with fish and other life. Let the skies be filled with birds of every kind.” 21 So God created great sea creatures and every living thing that scurries and swarms in the water, and every sort of bird—each producing offspring of the same kind. And God saw that it was good. 22 Then God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply. Let the fish fill the seas, and let the birds multiply on the earth.”
23 And evening passed and morning came, marking the fifth day.
24 Then God said, “Let the earth produce every sort of animal, each producing offspring of the same kind—livestock, small animals that scurry along the ground, and wild animals.” And that is what happened. 25 God made all sorts of wild animals, livestock, and small animals, each able to produce offspring of the same kind. And God saw that it was good.
26 Then God said, “Let us make human beings[b] in our image, to be like us. They will reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the livestock, all the wild animals on the earth,[c] and the small animals that scurry along the ground.”
27 So God created human beings[d] in his own image.
In the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.
28 Then God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and govern it. Reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and all the animals that scurry along the ground.”
29 Then God said, “Look! I have given you every seed-bearing plant throughout the earth and all the fruit trees for your food. 30 And I have given every green plant as food for all the wild animals, the birds in the sky, and the small animals that scurry along the ground—everything that has life.” And that is what happened.
31 Then God looked over all he had made, and he saw that it was very good!
And evening passed and morning came, marking the sixth day.
2 So the creation of the heavens and the earth and everything in them was completed. 2 On the seventh day God had finished his work of creation, so he rested[e] from all his work. 3 And God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy, because it was the day when he rested from all his work of creation.
4 This is the account of the creation of the heavens and the earth.
The Man and Woman in Eden
When the Lord God made the earth and the heavens, 5 neither wild plants nor grains were growing on the earth. For the Lord God had not yet sent rain to water the earth, and there were no people to cultivate the soil. 6 Instead, springs[f] came up from the ground and watered all the land. 7 Then the Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground. He breathed the breath of life into the man’s nostrils, and the man became a living person.
8 Then the Lord God planted a garden in Eden in the east, and there he placed the man he had made. 9 The Lord God made all sorts of trees grow up from the ground—trees that were beautiful and that produced delicious fruit. In the middle of the garden he placed the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
10 A river flowed from the land of Eden, watering the garden and then dividing into four branches. 11 The first branch, called the Pishon, flowed around the entire land of Havilah, where gold is found. 12 The gold of that land is exceptionally pure; aromatic resin and onyx stone are also found there. 13 The second branch, called the Gihon, flowed around the entire land of Cush. 14 The third branch, called the Tigris, flowed east of the land of Asshur. The fourth branch is called the Euphrates.
15 The Lord God placed the man in the Garden of Eden to tend and watch over it. 16 But the Lord God warned him, “You may freely eat the fruit of every tree in the garden— 17 except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If you eat its fruit, you are sure to die.”
18 Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper who is just right for him.” 19 So the Lord God formed from the ground all the wild animals and all the birds of the sky. He brought them to the man[g] to see what he would call them, and the man chose a name for each one. 20 He gave names to all the livestock, all the birds of the sky, and all the wild animals. But still there was no helper just right for him.
21 So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep. While the man slept, the Lord God took out one of the man’s ribs[h] and closed up the opening. 22 Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib, and he brought her to the man.
23 “At last!” the man exclaimed.
“This one is bone from my bone,
and flesh from my flesh!
She will be called ‘woman,’
because she was taken from ‘man.’”
24 This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.
25 Now the man and his wife were both naked, but they felt no shame.
The Man and Woman Sin
3 The serpent was the shrewdest of all the wild animals the Lord God had made. One day he asked the woman, “Did God really say you must not eat the fruit from any of the trees in the garden?”
2 “Of course we may eat fruit from the trees in the garden,” the woman replied. 3 “It’s only the fruit from the tree in the middle of the garden that we are not allowed to eat. God said, ‘You must not eat it or even touch it; if you do, you will die.’”
4 “You won’t die!” the serpent replied to the woman. 5 “God knows that your eyes will be opened as soon as you eat it, and you will be like God, knowing both good and evil.”
6 The woman was convinced. She saw that the tree was beautiful and its fruit looked delicious, and she wanted the wisdom it would give her. So she took some of the fruit and ate it. Then she gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it, too. 7 At that moment their eyes were opened, and they suddenly felt shame at their nakedness. So they sewed fig leaves together to cover themselves.
8 When the cool evening breezes were blowing, the man[i] and his wife heard the Lord God walking about in the garden. So they hid from the Lord God among the trees. 9 Then the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”
10 He replied, “I heard you walking in the garden, so I hid. I was afraid because I was naked.”
11 “Who told you that you were naked?” the Lord God asked. “Have you eaten from the tree whose fruit I commanded you not to eat?”
12 The man replied, “It was the woman you gave me who gave me the fruit, and I ate it.”
13 Then the Lord God asked the woman, “What have you done?”
“The serpent deceived me,” she replied. “That’s why I ate it.”
14 Then the Lord God said to the serpent,
“Because you have done this, you are cursed
more than all animals, domestic and wild.
You will crawl on your belly,
groveling in the dust as long as you live.
15 And I will cause hostility between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and her offspring.
He will strike[j] your head,
and you will strike his heel.”
16 Then he said to the woman,
“I will sharpen the pain of your pregnancy,
and in pain you will give birth.
And you will desire to control your husband,
but he will rule over you.[k]”
17 And to the man he said,
“Since you listened to your wife and ate from the tree
whose fruit I commanded you not to eat,
the ground is cursed because of you.
All your life you will struggle to scratch a living from it.
18 It will grow thorns and thistles for you,
though you will eat of its grains.
19 By the sweat of your brow
will you have food to eat
until you return to the ground
from which you were made.
For you were made from dust,
and to dust you will return.”
Paradise Lost: God’s Judgment
20 Then the man—Adam—named his wife Eve, because she would be the mother of all who live.[l] 21 And the Lord God made clothing from animal skins for Adam and his wife.
22 Then the Lord God said, “Look, the human beings[m] have become like us, knowing both good and evil. What if they reach out, take fruit from the tree of life, and eat it? Then they will live forever!” 23 So the Lord God banished them from the Garden of Eden, and he sent Adam out to cultivate the ground from which he had been made. 24 After sending them out, the Lord God stationed mighty cherubim to the east of the Garden of Eden. And he placed a flaming sword that flashed back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.
Cain and Abel
4 Now Adam[n] had sexual relations with his wife, Eve, and she became pregnant. When she gave birth to Cain, she said, “With the Lord’s help, I have produced[o] a man!” 2 Later she gave birth to his brother and named him Abel.
When they grew up, Abel became a shepherd, while Cain cultivated the ground. 3 When it was time for the harvest, Cain presented some of his crops as a gift to the Lord. 4 Abel also brought a gift—the best portions of the firstborn lambs from his flock. The Lord accepted Abel and his gift, 5 but he did not accept Cain and his gift. This made Cain very angry, and he looked dejected.
6 “Why are you so angry?” the Lord asked Cain. “Why do you look so dejected? 7 You will be accepted if you do what is right. But if you refuse to do what is right, then watch out! Sin is crouching at the door, eager to control you. But you must subdue it and be its master.”
8 One day Cain suggested to his brother, “Let’s go out into the fields.”[p] And while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother, Abel, and killed him.
9 Afterward the Lord asked Cain, “Where is your brother? Where is Abel?”
“I don’t know,” Cain responded. “Am I my brother’s guardian?”
10 But the Lord said, “What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground! 11 Now you are cursed and banished from the ground, which has swallowed your brother’s blood. 12 No longer will the ground yield good crops for you, no matter how hard you work! From now on you will be a homeless wanderer on the earth.”
13 Cain replied to the Lord, “My punishment[q] is too great for me to bear! 14 You have banished me from the land and from your presence; you have made me a homeless wanderer. Anyone who finds me will kill me!”
15 The Lord replied, “No, for I will give a sevenfold punishment to anyone who kills you.” Then the Lord put a mark on Cain to warn anyone who might try to kill him. 16 So Cain left the Lord’s presence and settled in the land of Nod,[r] east of Eden.
The Descendants of Cain
17 Cain had sexual relations with his wife, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Enoch. Then Cain founded a city, which he named Enoch, after his son. 18 Enoch had a son named Irad. Irad became the father of[s] Mehujael. Mehujael became the father of Methushael. Methushael became the father of Lamech.
19 Lamech married two women. The first was named Adah, and the second was Zillah. 20 Adah gave birth to Jabal, who was the first of those who raise livestock and live in tents. 21 His brother’s name was Jubal, the first of all who play the harp and flute. 22 Lamech’s other wife, Zillah, gave birth to a son named Tubal-cain. He became an expert in forging tools of bronze and iron. Tubal-cain had a sister named Naamah. 23 One day Lamech said to his wives,
“Adah and Zillah, hear my voice;
listen to me, you wives of Lamech.
I have killed a man who attacked me,
a young man who wounded me.
24 If someone who kills Cain is punished seven times,
then the one who kills me will be punished seventy-seven times!”
The Birth of Seth
25 Adam had sexual relations with his wife again, and she gave birth to another son. She named him Seth,[t] for she said, “God has granted me another son in place of Abel, whom Cain killed.” 26 When Seth grew up, he had a son and named him Enosh. At that time people first began to worship the Lord by name.
The Descendants of Adam
5 This is the written account of the descendants of Adam. When God created human beings,[u] he made them to be like himself. 2 He created them male and female, and he blessed them and called them “human.”
3 When Adam was 130 years old, he became the father of a son who was just like him—in his very image. He named his son Seth. 4 After the birth of Seth, Adam lived another 800 years, and he had other sons and daughters. 5 Adam lived 930 years, and then he died.
6 When Seth was 105 years old, he became the father of[v] Enosh. 7 After the birth of[w] Enosh, Seth lived another 807 years, and he had other sons and daughters. 8 Seth lived 912 years, and then he died.
9 When Enosh was 90 years old, he became the father of Kenan. 10 After the birth of Kenan, Enosh lived another 815 years, and he had other sons and daughters. 11 Enosh lived 905 years, and then he died.
12 When Kenan was 70 years old, he became the father of Mahalalel. 13 After the birth of Mahalalel, Kenan lived another 840 years, and he had other sons and daughters. 14 Kenan lived 910 years, and then he died.
15 When Mahalalel was 65 years old, he became the father of Jared. 16 After the birth of Jared, Mahalalel lived another 830 years, and he had other sons and daughters. 17 Mahalalel lived 895 years, and then he died.
18 When Jared was 162 years old, he became the father of Enoch. 19 After the birth of Enoch, Jared lived another 800 years, and he had other sons and daughters. 20 Jared lived 962 years, and then he died.
21 When Enoch was 65 years old, he became the father of Methuselah. 22 After the birth of Methuselah, Enoch lived in close fellowship with God for another 300 years, and he had other sons and daughters. 23 Enoch lived 365 years, 24 walking in close fellowship with God. Then one day he disappeared, because God took him.
25 When Methuselah was 187 years old, he became the father of Lamech. 26 After the birth of Lamech, Methuselah lived another 782 years, and he had other sons and daughters. 27 Methuselah lived 969 years, and then he died.
28 When Lamech was 182 years old, he became the father of a son. 29 Lamech named his son Noah, for he said, “May he bring us relief[x] from our work and the painful labor of farming this ground that the Lord has cursed.” 30 After the birth of Noah, Lamech lived another 595 years, and he had other sons and daughters. 31 Lamech lived 777 years, and then he died.
32 After Noah was 500 years old, he became the father of Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
A World Gone Wrong
6 Then the people began to multiply on the earth, and daughters were born to them. 2 The sons of God saw the beautiful women[y] and took any they wanted as their wives. 3 Then the Lord said, “My Spirit will not put up with[z] humans for such a long time, for they are only mortal flesh. In the future, their normal lifespan will be no more than 120 years.”
4 In those days, and for some time after, giant Nephilites lived on the earth, for whenever the sons of God had intercourse with women, they gave birth to children who became the heroes and famous warriors of ancient times.
5 The Lord observed the extent of human wickedness on the earth, and he saw that everything they thought or imagined was consistently and totally evil. 6 So the Lord was sorry he had ever made them and put them on the earth. It broke his heart. 7 And the Lord said, “I will wipe this human race I have created from the face of the earth. Yes, and I will destroy every living thing—all the people, the large animals, the small animals that scurry along the ground, and even the birds of the sky. I am sorry I ever made them.” 8 But Noah found favor with the Lord.
The Story of Noah
9 This is the account of Noah and his family. Noah was a righteous man, the only blameless person living on earth at the time, and he walked in close fellowship with God. 10 Noah was the father of three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
11 Now God saw that the earth had become corrupt and was filled with violence. 12 God observed all this corruption in the world, for everyone on earth was corrupt. 13 So God said to Noah, “I have decided to destroy all living creatures, for they have filled the earth with violence. Yes, I will wipe them all out along with the earth!
14 “Build a large boat[aa] from cypress wood[ab] and waterproof it with tar, inside and out. Then construct decks and stalls throughout its interior. 15 Make the boat 450 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet high.[ac] 16 Leave an 18-inch opening[ad] below the roof all the way around the boat. Put the door on the side, and build three decks inside the boat—lower, middle, and upper.
17 “Look! I am about to cover the earth with a flood that will destroy every living thing that breathes. Everything on earth will die. 18 But I will confirm my covenant with you. So enter the boat—you and your wife and your sons and their wives. 19 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. 20 Pairs of every kind of bird, and every kind of animal, and every kind of small animal that scurries along the ground, will come to you to be kept alive. 21 And be sure to take on board enough food for your family and for all the animals.”
22 So Noah did everything exactly as God had commanded him.
The Flood Covers the Earth
7 When everything was ready, the Lord said to Noah, “Go into the boat with all your family, for among all the people of the earth, I can see that you alone are righteous. 2 Take with you seven pairs—male and female—of each animal I have approved for eating and for sacrifice,[ae] and take one pair of each of the others. 3 Also take seven pairs of every kind of bird. There must be a male and a female in each pair to ensure that all life will survive on the earth after the flood. 4 Seven days from now I will make the rains pour down on the earth. And it will rain for forty days and forty nights, until I have wiped from the earth all the living things I have created.”
5 So Noah did everything as the Lord commanded him.
6 Noah was 600 years old when the flood covered the earth. 7 He went on board the boat to escape the flood—he and his wife and his sons and their wives. 8 With them were all the various kinds of animals—those approved for eating and for sacrifice and those that were not—along with all the birds and the small animals that scurry along the ground. 9 They entered the boat in pairs, male and female, just as God had commanded Noah. 10 After seven days, the waters of the flood came and covered the earth.
11 When Noah was 600 years old, on the seventeenth day of the second month, all the underground waters erupted from the earth, and the rain fell in mighty torrents from the sky. 12 The rain continued to fall for forty days and forty nights.
13 That very day Noah had gone into the boat with his wife and his sons—Shem, Ham, and Japheth—and their wives. 14 With them in the boat were pairs of every kind of animal—domestic and wild, large and small—along with birds of every kind. 15 Two by two they came into the boat, representing every living thing that breathes. 16 A male and female of each kind entered, just as God had commanded Noah. Then the Lord closed the door behind them.
17 For forty days the floodwaters grew deeper, covering the ground and lifting the boat high above the earth. 18 As the waters rose higher and higher above the ground, the boat floated safely on the surface. 19 Finally, the water covered even the highest mountains on the earth, 20 rising more than twenty-two feet[af] above the highest peaks. 21 All the living things on earth died—birds, domestic animals, wild animals, small animals that scurry along the ground, and all the people. 22 Everything that breathed and lived on dry land died. 23 God wiped out every living thing on the earth—people, livestock, small animals that scurry along the ground, and the birds of the sky. All were destroyed. The only people who survived were Noah and those with him in the boat. 24 And the floodwaters covered the earth for 150 days.
The Flood Recedes
8 But God remembered Noah and all the wild animals and livestock with him in the boat. He sent a wind to blow across the earth, and the floodwaters began to recede. 2 The underground waters stopped flowing, and the torrential rains from the sky were stopped. 3 So the floodwaters gradually receded from the earth. After 150 days, 4 exactly five months from the time the flood began,[ag] the boat came to rest on the mountains of Ararat. 5 Two and a half months later,[ah] as the waters continued to go down, other mountain peaks became visible.
6 After another forty days, Noah opened the window he had made in the boat 7 and released a raven. The bird flew back and forth until the floodwaters on the earth had dried up. 8 He also released a dove to see if the water had receded and it could find dry ground. 9 But the dove could find no place to land because the water still covered the ground. So it returned to the boat, and Noah held out his hand and drew the dove back inside. 10 After waiting another seven days, Noah released the dove again. 11 This time the dove returned to him in the evening with a fresh olive leaf in its beak. Then Noah knew that the floodwaters were almost gone. 12 He waited another seven days and then released the dove again. This time it did not come back.
13 Noah was now 601 years old. On the first day of the new year, ten and a half months after the flood began,[ai] the floodwaters had almost dried up from the earth. Noah lifted back the covering of the boat and saw that the surface of the ground was drying. 14 Two more months went by,[aj] and at last the earth was dry!
15 Then God said to Noah, 16 “Leave the boat, all of you—you and your wife, and your sons and their wives. 17 Release all the animals—the birds, the livestock, and the small animals that scurry along the ground—so they can be fruitful and multiply throughout the earth.”
18 So Noah, his wife, and his sons and their wives left the boat. 19 And all of the large and small animals and birds came out of the boat, pair by pair.
20 Then Noah built an altar to the Lord, and there he sacrificed as burnt offerings the animals and birds that had been approved for that purpose.[ak] 21 And the Lord was pleased with the aroma of the sacrifice and said to himself, “I will never again curse the ground because of the human race, even though everything they think or imagine is bent toward evil from childhood. I will never again destroy all living things. 22 As long as the earth remains, there will be planting and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night.”
God Confirms His Covenant
9 Then God blessed Noah and his sons and told them, “Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth. 2 All the animals of the earth, all the birds of the sky, all the small animals that scurry along the ground, and all the fish in the sea will look on you with fear and terror. I have placed them in your power. 3 I have given them to you for food, just as I have given you grain and vegetables. 4 But you must never eat any meat that still has the lifeblood in it.
5 “And I will require the blood of anyone who takes another person’s life. If a wild animal kills a person, it must die. And anyone who murders a fellow human must die. 6 If anyone takes a human life, that person’s life will also be taken by human hands. For God made human beings[al] in his own image. 7 Now be fruitful and multiply, and repopulate the earth.”
8 Then God told Noah and his sons, 9 “I hereby confirm my covenant with you and your descendants, 10 and with all the animals that were on the boat with you—the birds, the livestock, and all the wild animals—every living creature on earth. 11 Yes, I am confirming my covenant with you. Never again will floodwaters kill all living creatures; never again will a flood destroy the earth.”
12 Then God said, “I am giving you a sign of my covenant with you and with all living creatures, for all generations to come. 13 I have placed my rainbow in the clouds. It is the sign of my covenant with you and with all the earth. 14 When I send clouds over the earth, the rainbow will appear in the clouds, 15 and I will remember my covenant with you and with all living creatures. Never again will the floodwaters destroy all life. 16 When I see the rainbow in the clouds, I will remember the eternal covenant between God and every living creature on earth.” 17 Then God said to Noah, “Yes, this rainbow is the sign of the covenant I am confirming with all the creatures on earth.”
Noah’s Sons
18 The sons of Noah who came out of the boat with their father were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. (Ham is the father of Canaan.) 19 From these three sons of Noah came all the people who now populate the earth.
20 After the flood, Noah began to cultivate the ground, and he planted a vineyard. 21 One day he drank some wine he had made, and he became drunk and lay naked inside his tent. 22 Ham, the father of Canaan, saw that his father was naked and went outside and told his brothers. 23 Then Shem and Japheth took a robe, held it over their shoulders, and backed into the tent to cover their father. As they did this, they looked the other way so they would not see him naked.
24 When Noah woke up from his stupor, he learned what Ham, his youngest son, had done. 25 Then he cursed Canaan, the son of Ham:
“May Canaan be cursed!
May he be the lowest of servants to his relatives.”
26 Then Noah said,
“May the Lord, the God of Shem, be blessed,
and may Canaan be his servant!
27 May God expand the territory of Japheth!
May Japheth share the prosperity of Shem,[am]
and may Canaan be his servant.”
28 Noah lived another 350 years after the great flood. 29 He lived 950 years, and then he died.
10 This is the account of the families of Shem, Ham, and Japheth, the three sons of Noah. Many children were born to them after the great flood.
Descendants of Japheth
2 The descendants of Japheth were Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras.
3 The descendants of Gomer were Ashkenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah.
4 The descendants of Javan were Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim, and Rodanim.[an] 5 Their descendants became the seafaring peoples that spread out to various lands, each identified by its own language, clan, and national identity.
Descendants of Ham
6 The descendants of Ham were Cush, Mizraim, Put, and Canaan.
7 The descendants of Cush were Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, and Sabteca. The descendants of Raamah were Sheba and Dedan.
8 Cush was also the ancestor of Nimrod, who was the first heroic warrior on earth. 9 Since he was the greatest hunter in the world,[ao] his name became proverbial. People would say, “This man is like Nimrod, the greatest hunter in the world.” 10 He built his kingdom in the land of Babylonia,[ap] with the cities of Babylon, Erech, Akkad, and Calneh. 11 From there he expanded his territory to Assyria,[aq] building the cities of Nineveh, Rehoboth-ir, Calah, 12 and Resen (the great city located between Nineveh and Calah).
13 Mizraim was the ancestor of the Ludites, Anamites, Lehabites, Naphtuhites, 14 Pathrusites, Casluhites, and the Caphtorites, from whom the Philistines came.[ar]
15 Canaan’s oldest son was Sidon, the ancestor of the Sidonians. Canaan was also the ancestor of the Hittites,[as] 16 Jebusites, Amorites, Girgashites, 17 Hivites, Arkites, Sinites, 18 Arvadites, Zemarites, and Hamathites. The Canaanite clans eventually spread out, 19 and the territory of Canaan extended from Sidon in the north to Gerar and Gaza in the south, and east as far as Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, near Lasha.
20 These were the descendants of Ham, identified by clan, language, territory, and national identity.
Descendants of Shem
21 Sons were also born to Shem, the older brother of Japheth.[at] Shem was the ancestor of all the descendants of Eber.
22 The descendants of Shem were Elam, Asshur, Arphaxad, Lud, and Aram.
23 The descendants of Aram were Uz, Hul, Gether, and Mash.
24 Arphaxad was the father of Shelah,[au] and Shelah was the father of Eber.
25 Eber had two sons. The first was named Peleg (which means “division”), for during his lifetime the people of the world were divided into different language groups. His brother’s name was Joktan.
26 Joktan was the ancestor of Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah, 27 Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah, 28 Obal, Abimael, Sheba, 29 Ophir, Havilah, and Jobab. All these were descendants of Joktan. 30 The territory they occupied extended from Mesha all the way to Sephar in the eastern mountains.
31 These were the descendants of Shem, identified by clan, language, territory, and national identity.
Conclusion
32 These are the clans that descended from Noah’s sons, arranged by nation according to their lines of descent. All the nations of the earth descended from these clans after the great flood.
The Tower of Babel
11 At one time all the people of the world spoke the same language and used the same words. 2 As the people migrated to the east, they found a plain in the land of Babylonia[av] and settled there.
3 They began saying to each other, “Let’s make bricks and harden them with fire.” (In this region bricks were used instead of stone, and tar was used for mortar.) 4 Then they said, “Come, let’s build a great city for ourselves with a tower that reaches into the sky. This will make us famous and keep us from being scattered all over the world.”
5 But the Lord came down to look at the city and the tower the people were building. 6 “Look!” he said. “The people are united, and they all speak the same language. After this, nothing they set out to do will be impossible for them! 7 Come, let’s go down and confuse the people with different languages. Then they won’t be able to understand each other.”
8 In that way, the Lord scattered them all over the world, and they stopped building the city. 9 That is why the city was called Babel,[aw] because that is where the Lord confused the people with different languages. In this way he scattered them all over the world.
The Line of Descent from Shem to Abram
10 This is the account of Shem’s family.
Two years after the great flood, when Shem was 100 years old, he became the father of[ax] Arphaxad. 11 After the birth of[ay] Arphaxad, Shem lived another 500 years and had other sons and daughters.
12 When Arphaxad was 35 years old, he became the father of Shelah. 13 After the birth of Shelah, Arphaxad lived another 403 years and had other sons and daughters.[az]
14 When Shelah was 30 years old, he became the father of Eber. 15 After the birth of Eber, Shelah lived another 403 years and had other sons and daughters.
16 When Eber was 34 years old, he became the father of Peleg. 17 After the birth of Peleg, Eber lived another 430 years and had other sons and daughters.
18 When Peleg was 30 years old, he became the father of Reu. 19 After the birth of Reu, Peleg lived another 209 years and had other sons and daughters.
20 When Reu was 32 years old, he became the father of Serug. 21 After the birth of Serug, Reu lived another 207 years and had other sons and daughters.
22 When Serug was 30 years old, he became the father of Nahor. 23 After the birth of Nahor, Serug lived another 200 years and had other sons and daughters.
24 When Nahor was 29 years old, he became the father of Terah. 25 After the birth of Terah, Nahor lived another 119 years and had other sons and daughters.
26 After Terah was 70 years old, he became the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran.
The Family of Terah
27 This is the account of Terah’s family. Terah was the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran was the father of Lot. 28 But Haran died in Ur of the Chaldeans, the land of his birth, while his father, Terah, was still living. 29 Meanwhile, Abram and Nahor both married. The name of Abram’s wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor’s wife was Milcah. (Milcah and her sister Iscah were daughters of Nahor’s brother Haran.) 30 But Sarai was unable to become pregnant and had no children.
31 One day Terah took his son Abram, his daughter-in-law Sarai (his son Abram’s wife), and his grandson Lot (his son Haran’s child) and moved away from Ur of the Chaldeans. He was headed for the land of Canaan, but they stopped at Haran and settled there. 32 Terah lived for 205 years[ba] and died while still in Haran.
Footnotes
- 1:1 Or In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, . . . Or When God began to create the heavens and the earth, . . .
- 1:26a Or man; Hebrew reads adam.
- 1:26b As in Syriac version; Hebrew reads all the earth.
- 1:27 Or the man; Hebrew reads ha-adam.
- 2:2 Or ceased; also in 2:3.
- 2:6 Or mist.
- 2:19 Or Adam, and so throughout the chapter.
- 2:21 Or took a part of the man’s side.
- 3:8 Or Adam, and so throughout the chapter.
- 3:15 Or bruise; also in 3:15b.
- 3:16 Or And though you will have desire for your husband, / he will rule over you.
- 3:20 Eve sounds like a Hebrew term that means “to give life.”
- 3:22 Or the man; Hebrew reads ha-adam.
- 4:1a Or the man; also in 4:25.
- 4:1b Or I have acquired. Cain sounds like a Hebrew term that can mean “produce” or “acquire.”
- 4:8 As in Samaritan Pentateuch, Greek and Syriac versions, and Latin Vulgate; Masoretic Text lacks “Let’s go out into the fields.”
- 4:13 Or My sin.
- 4:16 Nod means “wandering.”
- 4:18 Or the ancestor of, and so throughout the verse.
- 4:25 Seth probably means “granted”; the name may also mean “appointed.”
- 5:1 Or man; Hebrew reads adam; similarly in 5:2.
- 5:6 Or the ancestor of; also in 5:9, 12, 15, 18, 21, 25.
- 5:7 Or the birth of this ancestor of; also in 5:10, 13, 16, 19, 22, 26.
- 5:29 Noah sounds like a Hebrew term that can mean “relief” or “comfort.”
- 6:2 Hebrew daughters of men; also in 6:4.
- 6:3 Greek version reads will not remain in.
- 6:14a Traditionally rendered an ark.
- 6:14b Or gopher wood.
- 6:15 Hebrew 300 cubits [138 meters] long, 50 cubits [23 meters] wide, and 30 cubits [13.8 meters] high.
- 6:16 Hebrew an opening of 1 cubit [46 centimeters].
- 7:2 Hebrew of each clean animal; similarly in 7:8.
- 7:20 Hebrew 15 cubits [6.9 meters].
- 8:4 Hebrew on the seventeenth day of the seventh month; see 7:11.
- 8:5 Hebrew On the first day of the tenth month; see 7:11 and note on 8:4.
- 8:13 Hebrew On the first day of the first month; see 7:11.
- 8:14 Hebrew The twenty-seventh day of the second month arrived; see note on 8:13.
- 8:20 Hebrew every clean animal and every clean bird.
- 9:6 Or man; Hebrew reads ha-adam.
- 9:27 Hebrew May he live in the tents of Shem.
- 10:4 As in some Hebrew manuscripts and Greek version (see also 1 Chr 1:7); most Hebrew manuscripts read Dodanim.
- 10:9 Hebrew a great hunter before the Lord; also in 10:9b.
- 10:10 Hebrew Shinar.
- 10:11 Or From that land Assyria went out.
- 10:14 Hebrew Casluhites, from whom the Philistines came, and Caphtorites. Compare Jer 47:4; Amos 9:7.
- 10:15 Hebrew ancestor of Heth.
- 10:21 Or Shem, whose older brother was Japheth.
- 10:24 Greek version reads Arphaxad was the father of Cainan, Cainan was the father of Shelah. Compare Luke 3:36.
- 11:2 Hebrew Shinar.
- 11:9 Or Babylon. Babel sounds like a Hebrew term that means “confusion.”
- 11:10 Or the ancestor of; also in 11:12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24.
- 11:11 Or the birth of this ancestor of; also in 11:13, 15, 17, 19, 21, 23, 25.
- 11:12-13 Greek version reads 12 When Arphaxad was 135 years old, he became the father of Cainan. 13 After the birth of Cainan, Arphaxad lived another 430 years and had other sons and daughters, and then he died. When Cainan was 130 years old, he became the father of Shelah. After the birth of Shelah, Cainan lived another 330 years and had other sons and daughters, and then he died. Compare Luke 3:35-36.
- 11:32 Some ancient versions read 145 years; compare 11:26 and 12:4.
Genesis 1-10
New International Version
Genesis 1-10
New International Version
The Beginning
1 In the beginning(A) God created(B) the heavens(C) and the earth.(D) 2 Now the earth was formless(E) and empty,(F) darkness was over the surface of the deep,(G) and the Spirit of God(H) was hovering(I) over the waters.
3 And God said,(J) “Let there be light,” and there was light.(K) 4 God saw that the light was good,(L) and he separated the light from the darkness.(M) 5 God called(N) the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.”(O) And there was evening, and there was morning(P)—the first day.
6 And God said,(Q) “Let there be a vault(R) between the waters(S) to separate water from water.” 7 So God made the vault and separated the water under the vault from the water above it.(T) And it was so.(U) 8 God called(V) the vault “sky.”(W) And there was evening, and there was morning(X)—the second day.
9 And God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place,(Y) and let dry ground(Z) appear.” And it was so.(AA) 10 God called(AB) the dry ground “land,” and the gathered waters(AC) he called “seas.”(AD) And God saw that it was good.(AE)
11 Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation:(AF) seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.(AG)” And it was so.(AH) 12 The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds(AI) and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.(AJ) 13 And there was evening, and there was morning(AK)—the third day.
14 And God said, “Let there be lights(AL) in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night,(AM) and let them serve as signs(AN) to mark sacred times,(AO) and days and years,(AP) 15 and let them be lights in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth.” And it was so.(AQ) 16 God made two great lights—the greater light(AR) to govern(AS) the day and the lesser light to govern(AT) the night.(AU) He also made the stars.(AV) 17 God set them in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth, 18 to govern the day and the night,(AW) and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good.(AX) 19 And there was evening, and there was morning(AY)—the fourth day.
20 And God said, “Let the water teem with living creatures,(AZ) and let birds fly above the earth across the vault of the sky.”(BA) 21 So God created(BB) the great creatures of the sea(BC) and every living thing with which the water teems and that moves about in it,(BD) according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind.(BE) And God saw that it was good.(BF) 22 God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth.”(BG) 23 And there was evening, and there was morning(BH)—the fifth day.
24 And God said, “Let the land produce living creatures(BI) according to their kinds:(BJ) the livestock, the creatures that move along the ground, and the wild animals, each according to its kind.” And it was so.(BK) 25 God made the wild animals(BL) according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds.(BM) And God saw that it was good.(BN)
26 Then God said, “Let us(BO) make mankind(BP) in our image,(BQ) in our likeness,(BR) so that they may rule(BS) over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky,(BT) over the livestock and all the wild animals,[a] and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”
27 So God created(BU) mankind(BV) in his own image,(BW)
in the image of God(BX) he created them;
male and female(BY) he created them.(BZ)
28 God blessed them and said to them,(CA) “Be fruitful and increase in number;(CB) fill the earth(CC) and subdue it. Rule over(CD) the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.(CE)”
29 Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.(CF) 30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life(CG) in it—I give every green plant for food.(CH)” And it was so.
31 God saw all that he had made,(CI) and it was very good.(CJ) And there was evening, and there was morning(CK)—the sixth day.
2 Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array.(CL)
2 By the seventh day(CM) God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work.(CN) 3 Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy,(CO) because on it he rested(CP) from all the work of creating(CQ) that he had done.
Adam and Eve
4 This is the account(CR) of the heavens and the earth when they were created,(CS) when the Lord God made the earth and the heavens.
5 Now no shrub had yet appeared on the earth[b] and no plant had yet sprung up,(CT) for the Lord God had not sent rain on the earth(CU) and there was no one to work the ground, 6 but streams[c] came up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground. 7 Then the Lord God formed(CV) a man[d](CW) from the dust(CX) of the ground(CY) and breathed into his nostrils the breath(CZ) of life,(DA) and the man became a living being.(DB)
8 Now the Lord God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden;(DC) and there he put the man he had formed. 9 The Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees(DD) that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life(DE) and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.(DF)
10 A river(DG) watering the garden flowed from Eden;(DH) from there it was separated into four headwaters. 11 The name of the first is the Pishon; it winds through the entire land of Havilah,(DI) where there is gold. 12 (The gold of that land is good; aromatic resin[e](DJ) and onyx are also there.) 13 The name of the second river is the Gihon; it winds through the entire land of Cush.[f] 14 The name of the third river is the Tigris;(DK) it runs along the east side of Ashur. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.(DL)
15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden(DM) to work it and take care of it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden;(DN) 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil,(DO) for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”(DP)
18 The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”(DQ)
19 Now the Lord God had formed out of the ground all the wild animals(DR) and all the birds in the sky.(DS) He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called(DT) each living creature,(DU) that was its name. 20 So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds in the sky and all the wild animals.
But for Adam[g] no suitable helper(DV) was found. 21 So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep;(DW) and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs[h] and then closed up the place with flesh. 22 Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib[i](DX) he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.
23 The man said,
“This is now bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh;(DY)
she shall be called(DZ) ‘woman,’
for she was taken out of man.(EA)”
24 That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united(EB) to his wife, and they become one flesh.(EC)
25 Adam and his wife were both naked,(ED) and they felt no shame.
The Fall
3 Now the serpent(EE) was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?(EF)”
2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden,(EG) 3 but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”(EH)
4 “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman.(EI) 5 “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God,(EJ) knowing good and evil.”
6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable(EK) for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband,(EL) who was with her, and he ate it.(EM) 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked;(EN) so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.(EO)
8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking(EP) in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid(EQ) from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”(ER)
10 He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid(ES) because I was naked;(ET) so I hid.”
11 And he said, “Who told you that you were naked?(EU) Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?(EV)”
12 The man said, “The woman you put here with me(EW)—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”
13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?”
The woman said, “The serpent deceived me,(EX) and I ate.”
14 So the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this,
“Cursed(EY) are you above all livestock
and all wild animals!
You will crawl on your belly
and you will eat dust(EZ)
all the days of your life.
15 And I will put enmity
between you and the woman,
and between your offspring[j](FA) and hers;(FB)
he will crush[k] your head,(FC)
and you will strike his heel.”
16 To the woman he said,
“I will make your pains in childbearing very severe;
with painful labor you will give birth to children.(FD)
Your desire will be for your husband,
and he will rule over you.(FE)”
17 To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’(FF)
“Cursed(FG) is the ground(FH) because of you;
through painful toil(FI) you will eat food from it
all the days of your life.(FJ)
18 It will produce thorns and thistles(FK) for you,
and you will eat the plants of the field.(FL)
19 By the sweat of your brow(FM)
you will eat your food(FN)
until you return to the ground,
since from it you were taken;
for dust you are
and to dust you will return.”(FO)
20 Adam[l] named his wife Eve,[m](FP) because she would become the mother of all the living.
21 The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them.(FQ) 22 And the Lord God said, “The man has now become like one of us,(FR) knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life(FS) and eat, and live forever.” 23 So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden(FT) to work the ground(FU) from which he had been taken. 24 After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side[n] of the Garden of Eden(FV) cherubim(FW) and a flaming sword(FX) flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.(FY)
Cain and Abel
4 Adam[o] made love to his wife(FZ) Eve,(GA) and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain.[p](GB) She said, “With the help of the Lord I have brought forth[q] a man.” 2 Later she gave birth to his brother Abel.(GC)
Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil.(GD) 3 In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering(GE) to the Lord.(GF) 4 And Abel also brought an offering—fat portions(GG) from some of the firstborn of his flock.(GH) The Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering,(GI) 5 but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast.
6 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry?(GJ) Why is your face downcast? 7 If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door;(GK) it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.(GL)”
8 Now Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let’s go out to the field.”[r] While they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.(GM)
9 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?”(GN)
“I don’t know,(GO)” he replied. “Am I my brother’s keeper?”
10 The Lord said, “What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground.(GP) 11 Now you are under a curse(GQ) and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. 12 When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you.(GR) You will be a restless wanderer(GS) on the earth.(GT)”
13 Cain said to the Lord, “My punishment is more than I can bear. 14 Today you are driving me from the land, and I will be hidden from your presence;(GU) I will be a restless wanderer on the earth,(GV) and whoever finds me will kill me.”(GW)
15 But the Lord said to him, “Not so[s]; anyone who kills Cain(GX) will suffer vengeance(GY) seven times over.(GZ)” Then the Lord put a mark on Cain so that no one who found him would kill him. 16 So Cain went out from the Lord’s presence(HA) and lived in the land of Nod,[t] east of Eden.(HB)
17 Cain made love to his wife,(HC) and she became pregnant and gave birth to Enoch. Cain was then building a city,(HD) and he named it after his son(HE) Enoch. 18 To Enoch was born Irad, and Irad was the father of Mehujael, and Mehujael was the father of Methushael, and Methushael was the father of Lamech.
19 Lamech married(HF) two women,(HG) one named Adah and the other Zillah. 20 Adah gave birth to Jabal; he was the father of those who live in tents and raise livestock. 21 His brother’s name was Jubal; he was the father of all who play stringed instruments(HH) and pipes.(HI) 22 Zillah also had a son, Tubal-Cain, who forged(HJ) all kinds of tools out of[u] bronze and iron. Tubal-Cain’s sister was Naamah.
23 Lamech said to his wives,
“Adah and Zillah, listen to me;
wives of Lamech, hear my words.
I have killed(HK) a man for wounding me,
a young man for injuring me.
24 If Cain is avenged(HL) seven times,(HM)
then Lamech seventy-seven times.(HN)”
25 Adam made love to his wife(HO) again, and she gave birth to a son and named him Seth,[v](HP) saying, “God has granted me another child in place of Abel, since Cain killed him.”(HQ) 26 Seth also had a son, and he named him Enosh.(HR)
At that time people began to call on[w] the name of the Lord.(HS)
From Adam to Noah
5 This is the written account(HT) of Adam’s family line.(HU)
When God created mankind, he made them in the likeness of God.(HV) 2 He created them(HW) male and female(HX) and blessed them. And he named them “Mankind”[x] when they were created.
3 When Adam had lived 130 years, he had a son in his own likeness, in his own image;(HY) and he named him Seth.(HZ) 4 After Seth was born, Adam lived 800 years and had other sons and daughters. 5 Altogether, Adam lived a total of 930 years, and then he died.(IA)
6 When Seth had lived 105 years, he became the father[y] of Enosh.(IB) 7 After he became the father of Enosh, Seth lived 807 years and had other sons and daughters. 8 Altogether, Seth lived a total of 912 years, and then he died.
9 When Enosh had lived 90 years, he became the father of Kenan.(IC) 10 After he became the father of Kenan, Enosh lived 815 years and had other sons and daughters. 11 Altogether, Enosh lived a total of 905 years, and then he died.
12 When Kenan had lived 70 years, he became the father of Mahalalel.(ID) 13 After he became the father of Mahalalel, Kenan lived 840 years and had other sons and daughters. 14 Altogether, Kenan lived a total of 910 years, and then he died.
15 When Mahalalel had lived 65 years, he became the father of Jared.(IE) 16 After he became the father of Jared, Mahalalel lived 830 years and had other sons and daughters. 17 Altogether, Mahalalel lived a total of 895 years, and then he died.
18 When Jared had lived 162 years, he became the father of Enoch.(IF) 19 After he became the father of Enoch, Jared lived 800 years and had other sons and daughters. 20 Altogether, Jared lived a total of 962 years, and then he died.
21 When Enoch had lived 65 years, he became the father of Methuselah.(IG) 22 After he became the father of Methuselah, Enoch walked faithfully with God(IH) 300 years and had other sons and daughters. 23 Altogether, Enoch lived a total of 365 years. 24 Enoch walked faithfully with God;(II) then he was no more, because God took him away.(IJ)
25 When Methuselah had lived 187 years, he became the father of Lamech.(IK) 26 After he became the father of Lamech, Methuselah lived 782 years and had other sons and daughters. 27 Altogether, Methuselah lived a total of 969 years, and then he died.
28 When Lamech had lived 182 years, he had a son. 29 He named him Noah[z](IL) and said, “He will comfort us in the labor and painful toil of our hands caused by the ground the Lord has cursed.(IM)” 30 After Noah was born, Lamech lived 595 years and had other sons and daughters. 31 Altogether, Lamech lived a total of 777 years, and then he died.
32 After Noah was 500 years old,(IN) he became the father of Shem,(IO) Ham and Japheth.(IP)
Wickedness in the World
6 When human beings began to increase in number on the earth(IQ) and daughters were born to them, 2 the sons of God(IR) saw that the daughters(IS) of humans were beautiful,(IT) and they married(IU) any of them they chose. 3 Then the Lord said, “My Spirit(IV) will not contend with[aa] humans forever,(IW) for they are mortal[ab];(IX) their days will be a hundred and twenty years.”
4 The Nephilim(IY) were on the earth in those days—and also afterward—when the sons of God went to the daughters of humans(IZ) and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown.(JA)
5 The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth,(JB) and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time.(JC) 6 The Lord regretted(JD) that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled. 7 So the Lord said, “I will wipe from the face of the earth(JE) the human race I have created—and with them the animals, the birds and the creatures that move along the ground—for I regret that I have made them.(JF)” 8 But Noah(JG) found favor in the eyes of the Lord.(JH)
Noah and the Flood
9 This is the account(JI) of Noah and his family.
Noah was a righteous man, blameless(JJ) among the people of his time,(JK) and he walked faithfully with God.(JL) 10 Noah had three sons: Shem,(JM) Ham and Japheth.(JN)
11 Now the earth was corrupt(JO) in God’s sight and was full of violence.(JP) 12 God saw how corrupt(JQ) the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways.(JR) 13 So God said to Noah, “I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy(JS) both them and the earth.(JT) 14 So make yourself an ark of cypress[ac] wood;(JU) make rooms in it and coat it with pitch(JV) inside and out. 15 This is how you are to build it: The ark is to be three hundred cubits long, fifty cubits wide and thirty cubits high.[ad] 16 Make a roof for it, leaving below the roof an opening one cubit[ae] high all around.[af] Put a door in the side of the ark and make lower, middle and upper decks. 17 I am going to bring floodwaters(JW) on the earth to destroy all life under the heavens, every creature that has the breath of life in it. Everything on earth will perish.(JX) 18 But I will establish my covenant with you,(JY) and you will enter the ark(JZ)—you and your sons and your wife and your sons’ wives with you. 19 You are to bring into the ark two of all living creatures, male and female, to keep them alive with you.(KA) 20 Two(KB) of every kind of bird, of every kind of animal and of every kind(KC) of creature that moves along the ground will come to you to be kept alive.(KD) 21 You are to take every kind of food that is to be eaten and store it away as food for you and for them.”
22 Noah did everything just as God commanded him.(KE)
7 The Lord then said to Noah, “Go into the ark, you and your whole family,(KF) because I have found you righteous(KG) in this generation. 2 Take with you seven pairs of every kind of clean(KH) animal, a male and its mate, and one pair of every kind of unclean animal, a male and its mate, 3 and also seven pairs of every kind of bird, male and female, to keep their various kinds alive(KI) throughout the earth. 4 Seven days from now I will send rain(KJ) on the earth(KK) for forty days(KL) and forty nights,(KM) and I will wipe from the face of the earth every living creature I have made.(KN)”
5 And Noah did all that the Lord commanded him.(KO)
6 Noah was six hundred years old(KP) when the floodwaters came on the earth. 7 And Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives entered the ark(KQ) to escape the waters of the flood. 8 Pairs of clean and unclean(KR) animals, of birds and of all creatures that move along the ground, 9 male and female, came to Noah and entered the ark, as God had commanded Noah.(KS) 10 And after the seven days(KT) the floodwaters came on the earth.
11 In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life,(KU) on the seventeenth day of the second month(KV)—on that day all the springs of the great deep(KW) burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens(KX) were opened. 12 And rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights.(KY)
13 On that very day Noah and his sons,(KZ) Shem, Ham and Japheth, together with his wife and the wives of his three sons, entered the ark.(LA) 14 They had with them every wild animal according to its kind, all livestock according to their kinds, every creature that moves along the ground according to its kind and every bird according to its kind,(LB) everything with wings. 15 Pairs of all creatures that have the breath of life in them came to Noah and entered the ark.(LC) 16 The animals going in were male and female of every living thing, as God had commanded Noah.(LD) Then the Lord shut him in.
17 For forty days(LE) the flood kept coming on the earth, and as the waters increased they lifted the ark high above the earth. 18 The waters rose and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the water. 19 They rose greatly on the earth, and all the high mountains under the entire heavens were covered.(LF) 20 The waters rose and covered the mountains to a depth of more than fifteen cubits.[ag][ah] (LG) 21 Every living thing that moved on land perished—birds, livestock, wild animals, all the creatures that swarm over the earth, and all mankind.(LH) 22 Everything on dry land that had the breath of life(LI) in its nostrils died. 23 Every living thing on the face of the earth was wiped out; people and animals and the creatures that move along the ground and the birds were wiped from the earth.(LJ) Only Noah was left, and those with him in the ark.(LK)
24 The waters flooded the earth for a hundred and fifty days.(LL)
8 But God remembered(LM) Noah and all the wild animals and the livestock that were with him in the ark, and he sent a wind over the earth,(LN) and the waters receded. 2 Now the springs of the deep and the floodgates of the heavens(LO) had been closed, and the rain(LP) had stopped falling from the sky. 3 The water receded steadily from the earth. At the end of the hundred and fifty days(LQ) the water had gone down, 4 and on the seventeenth day of the seventh month(LR) the ark came to rest on the mountains(LS) of Ararat.(LT) 5 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.
6 After forty days(LU) Noah opened a window he had made in the ark 7 and sent out a raven,(LV) and it kept flying back and forth until the water had dried up from the earth.(LW) 8 Then he sent out a dove(LX) to see if the water had receded from the surface of the ground. 9 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.(LY) 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,(LZ) 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(MA) 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.(MB) 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.”(MC)
18 So Noah came out, together with his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives.(MD) 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(ME) and, taking some of all the clean animals and clean(MF) birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings(MG) on it. 21 The Lord smelled the pleasing aroma(MH) and said in his heart: “Never again will I curse the ground(MI) because of humans, even though[ai] every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood.(MJ) And never again will I destroy(MK) all living creatures,(ML) as I have done.
22 “As long as the earth endures,
seedtime and harvest,(MM)
cold and heat,
summer and winter,(MN)
day and night
will never cease.”(MO)
God’s Covenant With Noah
9 Then God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth.(MP) 2 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.(MQ) 3 Everything that lives and moves about will be food for you.(MR) Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything.(MS)
4 “But you must not eat meat that has its lifeblood still in it.(MT) 5 And for your lifeblood I will surely demand an accounting.(MU) I will demand an accounting from every animal.(MV) And from each human being, too, I will demand an accounting for the life of another human being.(MW)
6 “Whoever sheds human blood,
by humans shall their blood be shed;(MX)
for in the image of God(MY)
has God made mankind.
7 As for you, be fruitful and increase in number; multiply on the earth and increase upon it.”(MZ)
8 Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him: 9 “I now establish my covenant with you(NA) 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(NB) with you:(NC) Never again will all life be destroyed by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.(ND)”
12 And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant(NE) I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come:(NF) 13 I have set my rainbow(NG) 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(NH) appears in the clouds, 15 I will remember my covenant(NI) between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life.(NJ) 16 Whenever the rainbow(NK) appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant(NL) 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(NM) 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.(NN) (Ham was the father of Canaan.)(NO) 19 These were the three sons of Noah,(NP) and from them came the people who were scattered over the whole earth.(NQ)
20 Noah, a man of the soil, proceeded[aj] to plant a vineyard. 21 When he drank some of its wine,(NR) he became drunk and lay uncovered inside his tent. 22 Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father naked(NS) 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,
26 He also said,
“Praise be to the Lord, the God of Shem!(NW)
May Canaan be the slave(NX) of Shem.
27 May God extend Japheth’s[ak] territory;(NY)
may Japheth live in the tents of Shem,(NZ)
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.(OA)
The Table of Nations
10 This is the account(OB) of Shem, Ham and Japheth,(OC) Noah’s sons,(OD) who themselves had sons after the flood.
The Japhethites(OE)
2 The sons[al] of Japheth:
Gomer,(OF) Magog,(OG) Madai, Javan,(OH) Tubal,(OI) Meshek(OJ) and Tiras.
3 The sons of Gomer:
Ashkenaz,(OK) Riphath and Togarmah.(OL)
4 The sons of Javan:
Elishah,(OM) Tarshish,(ON) the Kittites(OO) and the Rodanites.[am] 5 (From these the maritime peoples spread out into their territories by their clans within their nations, each with its own language.)(OP)
The Hamites(OQ)
6 The sons of Ham:
Cush,(OR) Egypt, Put(OS) and Canaan.(OT)
7 The sons of Cush:
Seba,(OU) Havilah,(OV) Sabtah, Raamah(OW) and Sabteka.
The sons of Raamah:
8 Cush was the father[an] of Nimrod,(OZ) who became a mighty warrior on the earth. 9 He was a mighty(PA) hunter(PB) 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,(PC) Uruk,(PD) Akkad and Kalneh,(PE) in[ao] Shinar.[ap](PF) 11 From that land he went to Assyria,(PG) where he built Nineveh,(PH) Rehoboth Ir,[aq] Calah 12 and Resen, which is between Nineveh and Calah—which is the great city.
Footnotes
- Genesis 1:26 Probable reading of the original Hebrew text (see Syriac); Masoretic Text the earth
- Genesis 2:5 Or land; also in verse 6
- Genesis 2:6 Or mist
- Genesis 2:7 The Hebrew for man (adam) sounds like and may be related to the Hebrew for ground (adamah); it is also the name Adam (see verse 20).
- Genesis 2:12 Or good; pearls
- Genesis 2:13 Possibly southeast Mesopotamia
- Genesis 2:20 Or the man
- Genesis 2:21 Or took part of the man’s side
- Genesis 2:22 Or part
- Genesis 3:15 Or seed
- Genesis 3:15 Or strike
- Genesis 3:20 Or The man
- Genesis 3:20 Eve probably means living.
- Genesis 3:24 Or placed in front
- Genesis 4:1 Or The man
- Genesis 4:1 Cain sounds like the Hebrew for brought forth or acquired.
- Genesis 4:1 Or have acquired
- Genesis 4:8 Samaritan Pentateuch, Septuagint, Vulgate and Syriac; Masoretic Text does not have “Let’s go out to the field.”
- Genesis 4:15 Septuagint, Vulgate and Syriac; Hebrew Very well
- Genesis 4:16 Nod means wandering (see verses 12 and 14).
- Genesis 4:22 Or who instructed all who work in
- Genesis 4:25 Seth probably means granted.
- Genesis 4:26 Or to proclaim
- Genesis 5:2 Hebrew adam
- Genesis 5:6 Father may mean ancestor; also in verses 7-26.
- Genesis 5:29 Noah sounds like the Hebrew for comfort.
- Genesis 6:3 Or My spirit will not remain in
- Genesis 6:3 Or corrupt
- Genesis 6:14 The meaning of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain.
- Genesis 6:15 That is, about 450 feet long, 75 feet wide and 45 feet high or about 135 meters long, 23 meters wide and 14 meters high
- Genesis 6:16 That is, about 18 inches or about 45 centimeters
- Genesis 6:16 The meaning of the Hebrew for this clause is uncertain.
- Genesis 7:20 That is, about 23 feet or about 6.8 meters
- Genesis 7:20 Or rose more than fifteen cubits, and the mountains were covered
- Genesis 8:21 Or humans, for
- Genesis 9:20 Or soil, was the first
- Genesis 9:27 Japheth sounds like the Hebrew for extend.
- Genesis 10:2 Sons may mean descendants or successors or nations; also in verses 3, 4, 6, 7, 20-23, 29 and 31.
- 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
- Genesis 10:8 Father may mean ancestor or predecessor or founder; also in verses 13, 15, 24 and 26.
- Genesis 10:10 Or Uruk and Akkad—all of them in
- Genesis 10:10 That is, Babylonia
- Genesis 10:11 Or Nineveh with its city squares
- Genesis 10:15 Or of the Sidonians, the foremost
New Living Translation (NLT)
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
New International Version (NIV) 
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NIV Reverse Interlinear Bible: English to Hebrew and English to Greek. Copyright © 2019 by Zondervan.