Genesis 8

CHAPTER 8

1Forsooth the Lord had mind of Noah, and of all living beasts, and of all work beasts, that were with him in the ship; and [he] brought a wind on the earth. And [the] waters were decreased, or assuaged,

2and the wells of the sea were closed, and the windows of heaven were closed, and rains of heaven were ceased.

3And [the] waters turned again from off the earth, and went again, and began to be decreased, or assuaged, after an hundred and fifty days.

4And the ship rested in the seventh month, in the seven and twentieth day of the month, on the hills [or mounts] of Armenia.

5And soothly the waters went and decreased till to the tenth month, for in the tenth month, in the first day of the month, the tops of [the] hills appeared.

6And when forty days had passed, Noah opened the window of the ship which he had made,

7and sent out a crow, which went out, and turned not again till the waters were dried on [the] earth.

8Also Noah sent out a culver after him, to see if the waters had ceased then on the face of the earth;

9and when the culver found not where her foot should rest, she turned again to him into the ship, for the waters were on all [the] earth; and Noah held forth his hand, and brought the culver taken into the ship.

10Soothly when other seven days were abided afterward, again he sent out a culver from the ship;

11and she came to him at eventide, and bare in her mouth a branch of an olive tree with green leaves. There-fore Noah understood that the waters had ceased or abated on earth;

12and nevertheless he abode seven other days, and sent out a culver, which turned not again to him.

13Therefore in the six hundred and one year of the life of Noah, in the first month, in the first day of the month, [the] waters were decreased on earth; and Noah opened the roof of the ship, and beheld, and saw that the face of the earth was dried.

14In the second month, in the seven and twentieth day of the month, the earth was made dry.

15Soothly the Lord spake to Noah; and said,

16Go out of the ship, thou, and thy wife, and thy sons, and the wives of thy sons with thee;

17and lead out with thee all living beasts that be with thee of each flesh, as well in volatiles, as in unreason-able beasts, and all reptiles or all creeping beasts that creep on [the] earth; and enter ye on the earth, increase ye, and be ye multiplied on earth.

18Therefore Noah went out, and his sons, and his wife, and the wives of his sons with him;

19but also all living beasts, and work beasts, and birds, and reptiles that creep on [the] earth, by their kind, went out of the ship.

20Forsooth Noah builded an altar to the Lord, and he took of all clean beasts and birds, and offered burnt sacrifices on the altar.

21And the Lord savoured the odour of sweetness, and said to him, I shall no more curse the earth for men, for the wit and thought of man’s heart be ready, either prone, into evil from young waxing age; therefore I shall no more smite each living soul, as I did;

22in all the days of [the] earth, seed and ripe corn, cold and heat, summer and winter, night and day, shall not rest.

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Genesis 8

The Water Goes Down

1God did not forget about Noah and the animals with him in the boat. So God made a wind blow, and the water started going down. 2God stopped up the places where the water had been gushing out from under the earth. He also closed up the sky, and the rain stopped. 3For 150 days the water slowly went down. 4Then on the seventeenth day of the seventh month of the year, the boat came to rest somewhere in the Ararat mountains. 5The water kept going down, and the mountain tops could be seen on the first day of the tenth month.

6-7Forty days later Noah opened a window to send out a raven, but it kept flying around until the water had dried up. 8Noah wanted to find out if the water had gone down, so he sent out a dove. 9Deep water was still everywhere, and when the dove could not find a place to land, it flew back to the boat. Then Noah held out his hand and helped it back in.

10Seven days later Noah sent the dove out again. 11It returned in the evening, holding in its beak a green leaf from an olive tree. Noah knew the water was finally going down. 12He waited seven more days before sending the dove out again, and this time it did not return.

13Noah was now 601 years old. And by the first day of that year, almost all the water had gone away. Noah made an opening in the roof of the boat#8.13 made … boat: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text. and saw that the ground was getting dry. 14By the twenty-seventh day of the second month, the earth was completely dry.

15God said to Noah, 16“You, your wife, your sons, and your daughters-in-law may now leave the boat. 17Let out the birds, animals, and reptiles, so they can mate and live all over the earth.” 18After Noah and his family had left the boat, 19the living creatures left in groups of their own kind.

The Lord's Promise for the Earth

20Noah built an altar where he could offer sacrifices to the Lord. Then he offered on the altar one of each kind of animal and bird that could be used for a sacrifice.#8.20 animal … sacrifice: See the note at 7.2. 21The smell of the burning offering pleased the Lord, and he said:

Never again will I punish the earth for the sinful things its people do. All of them have evil thoughts from the time they are young, but I will never destroy everything that breathes, as I did this time.

22As long as the earth remains,

there will be planting

and harvest,

cold and heat;

winter and summer,

day and night.

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