Genesis 6
6
People Become Evil
1-4The number of people on earth continued to increase. When these people had daughters, the sons of God saw how beautiful they were. So they chose the women they wanted. They married them, and the women had their children.
Then the Lord said, “People are only human. I will not let my Spirit be troubled by them forever. I will let them live only 120 years.”#6:1-4 People … 120 years Or “The spirit from me will not live in people forever, because they are flesh. They will live only 120 years.” Or “My Spirit will not judge people forever, because they will all die in 120 years.”
During this time and also later, the Nephilim people lived in the land. They have been famous as powerful soldiers since ancient times.
5The Lord saw that the people on the earth were very evil. He saw that they thought only about evil things all the time. 6The Lord was sorry that he had made people on the earth. It made him very sad in his heart. 7So the Lord said, “I will destroy all the people I created on the earth. I will destroy every person and every animal and everything that crawls on the earth. And I will destroy all the birds in the air, because I am sorry that I have made them.”
8But Noah pleased the Lord.
Noah and the Great Flood
9This is the history of Noah’s family. He was a good man all his life, and he always followed God. 10Noah had three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
11-12When God looked at the earth, he saw that people had ruined it. Violence was everywhere, and it had ruined their life on earth.
13So God said to Noah, “Everyone has filled the earth with anger and violence. So I will destroy all living things. I will remove them from the earth. 14Use cypress wood#6:14 cypress wood In Hebrew, “gopher timbers.” It is uncertain what kind of wood this is. It might be a kind of tree or squared timbers. and build a boat for yourself. Make rooms in the boat and cover it with tar inside and out.
15“This is the size I want you to make the boat: 300 cubits#6:15 300 cubits 437' 1/8" (133 m) if this was the short cubit or 510' 1 13/16" (155.5 m) if it was the long cubit. long, 50 cubits#6:15 50 cubits 72' 10" (22.2 m) if this was the short cubit or 85' 5/16" (25.92 m) if it was the long cubit. wide, and 30 cubits#6:15 30 cubits 43' 8 7/16" (13.3 m) if this was the short cubit or 51' 3/16" (15.55 m) if it was the long cubit. high. 16Make a window for the boat about 1 cubit#6:16 1 cubit 17 1/2" (44.4 cm) if this was the short cubit or 20 5/8" (51.83 cm) if it was the long cubit. below the roof.#6:16 Make a window … below the roof Or “Make an opening for the boat about 18 inches tall.” Put a door in the side of the boat. Make three floors in the boat: a top deck, a middle deck, and a lower deck.
17“Understand what I am telling you. I will bring a great flood of water on the earth. I will destroy all living things that live under heaven. Everything on the earth will die. 18I will make a special agreement with you. You, your wife, your sons, and their wives will all go into the boat. 19Also, you will take two of every living thing on the earth with you into the boat. Take a male and female of every kind of animal so that they might survive with you. 20Two of every kind of bird, animal, and creeping thing will come to you so that you might keep them alive. 21Also bring every kind of food into the boat, for you and for the animals.”
22Noah did everything God commanded him.
© 1987, 2004 Bible League International
Genesis 6
6
1 And when men began to be multiplied upon the earth, and daughters were born to them,
2 the sons of God, seeing that the daughters of men were beautiful, took to themselves wives from all whom they chose.
3 And God said: "My spirit shall not remain in man forever, because he is flesh. And so his days shall be one hundred and twenty years."
4 Now giants were upon the earth in those days. For after the sons of God went in to the daughters of men, and they conceived, these became the powerful ones of ancient times, men of renown.
5 Then God, seeing that the wickedness of men was great upon the earth and that every thought of their heart was intent upon evil at all times,
6 repented that he had made man on the earth. And being touched inwardly with a sorrow of heart,
7 he said, "I will eliminate man, whom I have created, from the face of the earth, from man to other living things, from animals even to the flying things of the air. For it grieves me that I have made them."
8 Yet truly, Noah found grace before the Lord.
9 These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a just man, and yet he was predominate among his generations, for he walked with God.
10 And he conceived three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
11 Yet the earth was corrupted before the eyes of God, and it was filled with iniquity.
12 And when God had seen that the earth had been corrupted, (indeed, all flesh had corrupted its way upon the earth)
13 he said to Noah: "The end of all flesh has arrived in my sight. The earth has been filled with iniquity by their presence, and I will destroy them, along with the earth.
14 Make yourself an ark from smoothed wood. You shall make little dwelling places in the ark, and you shall smear pitch on the interior and exterior.
15 And thus shall you make it: The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, its width fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits.
16 You shall make a window in the ark, and you shall complete it within a cubit of the top. Then you shall set the door of the ark at its side. You shall make in it: a lower part, upper rooms, and a third level.
17 Behold, I shall bring the waters of a great flood upon the earth, so as to put to death all flesh in which there is the breath of life under heaven. All things that are on the earth shall be consumed.
18 And I shall establish my covenant with you, and you shall enter the ark, you and your sons, your wife and the wives of your sons with you.
19 And from every living thing of all that is flesh, you shall lead pairs into the ark, so that they may survive with you: from the male sex and the female,
20 from birds, according to their kind, and from beasts, in their kind, and from among all animals on earth, according to their kind; pairs from each shall enter with you, so that they may be able to live.
21 Therefore, you shall take with you from all the foods that are able to be eaten, and you shall carry these with you. And these shall be used as food, some for you, and the rest for them."
22 And so Noah did all things just as God had instructed him.