1God remembered Noah and all the animals, wild and tame, that were with him in the ark. So God made a wind sweep over the earth, and the waters began to subside. 2The fountains of the abyss and the floodgates of the sky were closed, and the downpour from the sky was held back. 3Gradually the waters receded from the earth. At the end of one hundred and fifty days, the waters had so diminished 4that, in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat.#The mountains of Ararat: the mountain country of ancient Arartu in northwest Iraq, which was the highest part of the world to the biblical writer. There is no Mount Ararat in the Bible. 5The waters continued to diminish until the tenth month, and on the first day of the tenth month the tops of the mountains appeared.

6At the end of forty days Noah opened the hatch of the ark that he had made, 7#In the eleventh tablet of the Gilgamesh Epic, Utnapishtim (the equivalent of Noah) released in succession a dove, a swallow, and a raven. When the raven did not return, Utnapishtim knew it was safe to leave the ark. The first century A.D. Roman author Pliny tells of Indian sailors who release birds in order to follow them toward land. and he released a raven. It flew back and forth until the waters dried off from the earth. 8Then he released a dove, to see if the waters had lessened on the earth. 9But the dove could find no place to perch, and it returned to him in the ark, for there was water over all the earth. Putting out his hand, he caught the dove and drew it back to him inside the ark. 10He waited yet seven days more and again released the dove from the ark. 11In the evening the dove came back to him, and there in its bill was a plucked-off olive leaf! So Noah knew that the waters had diminished on the earth. 12He waited yet another seven days and then released the dove; but this time it did not come back.

13#On the first day of the first month, the world was in the state it had been on the day of creation in chap. 1. Noah had to wait another month until the earth was properly dry as in 1:9. In the six hundred and first year, in the first month, on the first day of the month, the water began to dry up on the earth. Noah then removed the covering of the ark and saw that the surface of the ground had dried. 14In the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dry.

15Then God said to Noah: 16Go out of the ark, together with your wife and your sons and your sons’ wives. 17Bring out with you every living thing that is with you—all creatures, be they birds or animals or crawling things that crawl on the earth—and let them abound on the earth, and be fertile and multiply on it.#Gn 1:22, 28. 18So Noah came out, together with his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives; 19and all the animals, all the birds, and all the crawling creatures that crawl on the earth went out of the ark by families.

20Then Noah built an altar to the Lord, and choosing from every clean animal and every clean bird, he offered burnt offerings on the altar. 21When the Lord smelled the sweet odor, the Lord said to himself: Never again will I curse the ground because of human beings, since the desires of the human heart are evil from youth; nor will I ever again strike down every living being, as I have done.#Sir 44:18; Is 54:9; Rom 7:18.

22All the days of the earth,

seedtime and harvest,

cold and heat,

Summer and winter,

and day and night

shall not cease.#Jer 33:20, 25.

Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc

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Genesis 8

1And God#GodHebrew: Elohim remembered Noah, and all the animals, and all the cattle that were with him in the ark; and God#GodHebrew: Elohim made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters subsided. 2And the fountains of the deep and the windows of heaven were closed, and the pour of rain from heaven was stopped. 3And the waters retired from the earth, continually retiring; and in the course of a hundred and fifty days the waters abated.

4And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on the mountains of Ararat. 5And the waters abated continually until the tenth month: in the tenth month, on the first of the month, the tops of the mountains were seen.

6And it came to pass at the end of forty days that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made. 7And he sent out the raven, which went forth going to and fro, until the waters were dried from the earth. 8And he sent out the dove from him, to see if the waters had become low on the ground. 9But the dove found no resting-place for the sole of her foot, and returned to him into the ark; for the waters were on the whole earth; and he put forth his hand, and took her, and brought her to him into the ark. 10And he waited yet other seven days, and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark. 11And the dove came to him at eventide; and behold, in her beak was an olive-leaf plucked off; and Noah knew that the waters had become low on the earth. 12And he waited yet other seven days, and sent forth the dove; but she returned no more to him.

13And it came to pass in the six hundred and first year, in the first month, on the first of the month, that the waters were dried up from the earth. And Noah removed the covering of the ark, and looked, and behold, the surface of the ground was dried. 14And in the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dry.

15And God#GodHebrew: Elohim spoke to Noah, saying, 16Go out of the ark, thou, and thy wife, and thy sons, and thy sons' wives with thee. 17Bring forth with thee every animal which is with thee, of all flesh, fowl as well as cattle, and all the creeping things which creep on the earth, that they may swarm on the earth, and may be fruitful and multiply on the earth. 18And Noah went out, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives with him. 19All the animals, all the creeping things, and all the fowl — everything that moves on the earth, after their kinds, went out of the ark.

20And Noah built an altar to Jehovah; and took of every clean animal, and of all clean fowl, and offered up burnt-offerings on the altar. 21And Jehovah smelled the sweet odour. And Jehovah said in his heart, I will no more henceforth curse the ground on account of Man, for the thought of Man's heart is evil from his youth; and I will no more smite every living thing, as I have done. 22Henceforth, all the days of the earth, seed time and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night, shall not cease.

First published in 1890. This edition is maintained by the British and Foreign Bible Society.

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Genesis 8

Genesis 8