Noah

This translation was taken from the JPS Tanakh

Genesis 6:9-11:32

⁹ This is the line of Noah. — Noah was a righteous man; he was blameless in his age; Noah walked with God. — ¹⁰ Noah begot three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

¹¹ The earth became corrupt before God; the earth was filled with lawlessness. ¹² When God saw how corrupt the earth was, for all flesh had corrupted its ways on earth, ¹³ God said to Noah, “I have decided to put an end to all flesh, for the earth is filled with lawlessness because of them: I am about to destroy them with the earth. ¹⁴ Make yourself an ark of gopher wood; make it an ark with compartments, and cover it inside and out with pitch. ¹⁵ This is how you shall make it: the length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, its width fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits. ¹⁶ Make an opening for daylight in the ark, and terminate it within a cubit of the top. Put the entrance to the ark in its side; make it with bottom, second, and third decks.

¹⁷ “For My part, I am about to bring the Flood — waters upon the earth — to destroy all flesh under the sky in which there is breath of life; everything on earth shall perish. ¹⁸ But I will establish My covenant with you, and you shall enter the ark, with your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives. ¹⁹ And of all that lives, of all flesh, you shall take two of each into the ark to keep alive with you; they shall be male and female. ²⁰ From birds of every kind, cattle of every kind, every kind of creeping thing on earth, two of each shall come to you to stay alive. ²¹ For your part, take of everything that is eaten and store it away, to serve as food for you and for them.” ²² Noah did so; just as God commanded him, so he did.

Chapter 7
¹ Then the Lord said to Noah, “Go into the ark, with all your household, for you alone have I found righteous before Me in this generation. ² Of every clean animal you shall take seven pairs, males and their mates, and of every animal that is not clean, two, a male and its mate; ³ of the birds of the sky also, seven pairs, male and female, to keep seed alive upon all the earth. ⁴ For in seven days’ time I will make it rain upon the earth, forty days and forty nights, and I will blot out from the earth all existence that I created.” ⁵ And Noah did just as the Lord commanded him.

⁶ Noah was six hundred years old when the Flood came, waters upon the earth. ⁷ Noah, with his sons, his wife, and his sons’ wives, went into the ark because of the waters of the Flood. ⁸ Of the clean animals, of the animals that are not clean, of the birds, and of everything that creeps on the ground, ⁹ two of each, male and female, came to Noah into the ark, as God had commanded Noah. ¹⁰ And on the seventh day the waters of the Flood came upon the earth.

¹¹ In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on that day 

All the fountains of the great deep burst apart,
And the floodgates of the sky broke open.

(¹² The rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights.) ¹³ That same day Noah and Noah’s sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, went into the ark, with Noah’s wife and the three wives of his sons — ¹⁴ they and all beasts of every kind, all cattle of every kind, all creatures of every kind that creep on the earth, and all birds of every kind, every bird, every winged thing. ¹⁵ They came to Noah into the ark, two each of all flesh in which there was breath of life. ¹⁶ Thus they that entered comprised male and female of all flesh, as God had commanded him. And the Lord shut him in.

¹⁷ The Flood continued forty days on the earth, and the waters increased and raised the ark so that it rose above the earth. 18 The waters swelled and increased greatly upon the earth, and the ark drifted upon the waters. ¹⁹ When the waters had swelled much more upon the earth, all the highest mountains everywhere under the sky were covered. ²⁰ Fifteen cubits higher did the waters swell, as the mountains were covered. ²¹ And all flesh that stirred on earth perished — birds, cattle, beasts, and all the things that swarmed upon the earth, and all mankind. ²² All in whose nostrils was the merest breath of life, all that was on dry land, died. ²³ All existence on earth was blotted out — man, cattle, creeping things, and birds of the sky; they were blotted out from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those with him in the ark.

²⁴ And when the waters had swelled on the earth one hundred and fifty days,

Chapter 8
¹ God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the cattle that were with him in the ark, and God caused a wind to blow across the earth, and the waters subsided. ² The fountains of the deep and the floodgates of the sky were stopped up, and the rain from the sky was held back; ³ the waters then receded steadily from the earth. At the end of one hundred and fifty days the waters diminished, ⁴ so that in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat. ⁵ The waters went on diminishing until the tenth month; in the tenth month, on the first of the month, the tops of the mountains became visible.

⁶ At the end of forty days, Noah opened the window of the ark that he had made ⁷ and sent out the raven; it went to and fro until the waters had dried up from the earth. ⁸ Then he sent out the dove to see whether the waters had decreased from the surface of the ground. ⁹ But the dove could not find a resting place for its foot, and returned to him to the ark, for there was water over all the earth. So putting out his hand, he took it into the ark with him. ¹⁰ He waited another seven days, and again sent out the dove from the ark. 11 The dove came back to him toward evening, and there in its bill was a plucked-off olive leaf! Then Noah knew that the waters had decreased on the earth. ¹² He waited still another seven days and sent the dove forth; and it did not return to him any more.

¹³ In the six hundred and first year, in the first month, on the first of the month, the waters began to dry from the earth; and when Noah removed the covering of the ark, he saw that the surface of the ground was drying. ¹⁴ And in the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dry.

¹⁵ God spoke to Noah, saying, ¹⁶ “Come out of the ark, together with your wife, your sons, and your sons’ wives. ¹⁷ Bring out with you every living thing of all flesh that is with you: birds, animals, and everything that creeps on earth; and let them swarm on the earth and be fertile and increase on earth.” ¹⁸ So Noah came out, together with his sons, his wife, and his sons’ wives. ¹⁹ Every animal, every creeping thing, and every bird, everything that stirs on earth came out of the ark by families.

²⁰ Then Noah built an altar to the Lord and, taking of every clean animal and of every clean bird, he offered burnt offerings on the altar. ²¹ The Lord smelled the pleasing odor, and the Lord said to Himself: “Never again will I doom the earth because of man, since the devisings of man’s mind are evil from his youth; nor will I ever again destroy every living being, as I have done.

²² So long as the earth endures,
Seedtime and harvest,
Cold and heat,
Summer and winter,
Day and night
Shall not cease.”

Chapter 9
¹ God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them, “Be fertile and increase, and fill the earth. ² The fear and the dread of you shall be upon all the beasts of the earth and upon all the birds of the sky — everything with which the earth is astir — and upon all the fish of the sea; they are given into your hand. ³ Every creature that lives shall be yours to eat; as with the green grasses, I give you all these. ⁴ You must not, however, eat flesh with its life-blood in it. ⁵ But for your own life-blood I will require a reckoning: I will require it of every beast; of man, too, will I require a reckoning for human life, of every man for that of his fellow man!

⁶ Whoever sheds the blood of man,
By man shall his blood be shed;
For in His image
Did God make man.

⁷ Be fertile, then, and increase; abound on the earth and increase on it.”

⁸ And God said to Noah and to his sons with him, ⁹ “I now establish My covenant with you and your offspring to come, ¹⁰ and with every living thing that is with you — birds, cattle, and every wild beast as well — all that have come out of the ark, every living thing on earth. ¹¹ I will maintain My covenant with you: never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.”

¹² God further said, “This is the sign that I set for the covenant between Me and you, and every living creature with you, for all ages to come. ¹³ I have set My bow in the clouds, and it shall serve as a sign of the covenant between Me and the earth. ¹⁴ When I bring clouds over the earth, and the bow appears in the clouds, ¹⁵ I will remember My covenant between Me and you and every living creature among all flesh, so that the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. ¹⁶ When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures, all flesh that is on earth. ¹⁷ That,” God said to Noah, “shall be the sign of the covenant that I have established between Me and all flesh that is on earth.”

¹⁸ The sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth — Ham being the father of Canaan. ¹⁹ These three were the sons of Noah, and from these the whole world branched out.

²⁰ Noah, the tiller of the soil, was the first to plant a vineyard. ²¹ He drank of the wine and became drunk, and he uncovered himself within his tent. ²² Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father’s nakedness and told his two brothers outside. ²³ But Shem and Japheth took a cloth, placed it against both their backs and, walking backward, they covered their father’s nakedness; their faces were turned the other way, so that they did not see their father’s nakedness. ²⁴When Noah woke up from his wine and learned what his youngest son had done to him, ²⁵ he said,

“Cursed be Canaan;
The lowest of slaves
Shall he be to his brothers.”

²⁶ And he said,

“Blessed be the Lord,
The God of Shem;
Let Canaan be a slave to them.
²⁷ May God enlarge Japheth,
And let him dwell in the tents of Shem;
And let Canaan be a slave to them.”

²⁸ Noah lived after the Flood 350 years. ²⁹ And all the days of Noah came to 950 years; then he died.

Chapter 10
¹ These are the lines of Shem, Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah: sons were born to them after the Flood.

² The descendants of Japheth: Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras. ³ The descendants of Gomer: Ashkenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah. ⁴ The descendants of Javan: Elishah and Tarshish, the Kittim and the Dodanim. ⁵ From these the maritime nations branched out. [These are the descendants of Japheth] by their lands — each with its language — their clans and their nations.

⁶ The descendants of Ham: Cush, Mizraim, Put, and Canaan. ⁷ The descendants of Cush: Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, and Sabteca. The descendants of Raamah: Sheba and Dedan.

⁸ Cush also begot Nimrod, who was the first man of might on earth. ⁹ He was a mighty hunter by the grace of the Lord; hence the saying, “Like Nimrod a mighty hunter by the grace of the Lord.” ¹⁰ The mainstays of his kingdom were Babylon, Erech, Accad, and Calneh in the land of Shinar. ¹¹ From that land Asshur went forth and built Nineveh, Rehoboth-ir, Calah, 12 and Resen between Nineveh and Calah, that is the great city.

¹³ And Mizraim begot the Ludim, the Anamim, the Lehabim, the Naphtuhim, 14 the Pathrusim, the Casluhim, and the Caphtorim, whence the Philistines came forth.

¹⁵ Canaan begot Sidon, his first-born, and Heth; ¹⁶ and the Jebusites, the Amorites, the Girgashites, ¹⁷ the Hivites, the Arkites, the Sinites, ¹⁸ the Arvadites, the Zemarites, and the Hamathites. Afterward the clans of the Canaanites spread out. (¹⁹ The [original] Canaanite territory extended from Sidon as far as Gerar, near Gaza, and as far as Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, near Lasha.) ²⁰ These are the descendants of Ham, according to their clans and languages, by their lands and nations.

²¹ Sons were also born to Shem, ancestor of all the descendants of Eber and older brother of Japheth. ²² The descendants of Shem: Elam, Asshur, Arpachshad, Lud, and Aram. ²³ The descendants of Aram: Uz, Hul, Gether, and Mash.²⁴ Arpachshad begot Shelah, and Shelah begot Eber. ²⁵ Two sons were born to Eber: the name of the first was Peleg, for in his days the earth was divided; and the name of his brother was Joktan. ²⁶ Joktan begot Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah, ²⁷ Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah, ²⁸ Obal, Abimael, Sheba, ²⁹ Ophir, Havilah, and Jobab; all these were the descendants of Joktan. ³⁰ Their settlements extended from Mesha as far as Sephar, the hill country to the east.³¹ These are the descendants of Shem according to their clans and languages, by their lands, according to their nations.

³² These are the groupings of Noah’s descendants, according to their origins, by their nations; and from these the nations branched out over the earth after the Flood.

Chapter 11
¹ Everyone on earth had the same language and the same words. ² And as they migrated from the east, they came upon a valley in the land of Shinar and settled there. ³ They said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and burn them hard.” — Brick served them as stone, and bitumen served them as mortar. — ⁴ And they said, “Come, let us build us a city, and a tower with its top in the sky, to make a name for ourselves; else we shall be scattered all over the world.” ⁵ The Lord came down to look at the city and tower that man had built, ⁶ and the Lord said, “If, as one people with one language for all, this is how they have begun to act, then nothing that they may propose to do will be out of their reach. ⁷ Let us, then, go down and confound their speech there, so that they shall not understand one another’s speech.” ⁸ Thus the Lord scattered them from there over the face of the whole earth; and they stopped building the city. ⁹ That is why it was called Babel, because there the Lord confounded the speech of the whole earth; and from there the Lord scattered them over the face of the whole earth.

¹⁰ This is the line of Shem. Shem was 100 years old when he begot Arpachshad, two years after the Flood. ¹¹ After the birth of Arpachshad, Shem lived 500 years and begot sons and daughters.

¹² When Arpachshad had lived 35 years, he begot Shelah. ¹³ After the birth of Shelah, Arpachshad lived 403 years and begot sons and daughters.

¹⁴ When Shelah had lived 30 years, he begot Eber. ¹⁵ After the birth of Eber, Shelah lived 403 years and begot sons and daughters.

¹⁶ When Eber had lived 34 years, he begot Peleg. ¹⁷ After the birth of Peleg, Eber lived 430 years and begot sons and daughters.

¹⁸ When Peleg had lived 30 years, he begot Reu. ¹⁹ After the birth of Reu, Peleg lived 209 years and begot sons and daughters.

²⁰ When Reu had lived 32 years, he begot Serug. ²¹ After the birth of Serug, Reu lived 207 years and begot sons and daughters.

²² When Serug had lived 30 years, he begot Nahor. ²³ After the birth of Nahor, Serug lived 200 years and begot sons and daughters.

²⁴ When Nahor had lived 29 years, he begot Terah. ²⁵ After the birth of Terah, Nahor lived 119 years and begot sons and daughters.

²⁶ When Terah had lived 70 years, he begot Abram, Nahor, and Haran. ²⁷ Now this is the line of Terah: Terah begot Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran begot Lot. ²⁸ Haran died in the lifetime of his father Terah, in his native land, Ur of the Chaldeans. ²⁹ Abram and Nahor took to themselves wives, the name of Abram’s wife being Sarai and that of Nahor’s wife Milcah, the daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah and Iscah. ³⁰ Now Sarai was barren, she had no child.

³¹ Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot the son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, the wife of his son Abram, and they set out together from Ur of the Chaldeans for the land of Canaan; but when they had come as far as Haran, they settled there. ³² The days of Terah came to 205 years; and Terah died in Haran.

Taken from Tanakh, The Holy Scriptures, (Philadelphia, Jerusalem: Jewish Publication Society) 1985.
Used by permission of The Jewish Publication Society. Copyright © 1962, 1992
Third Edition by the Jewish Publication Society.
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