Corruption on the Earth

¹Now when men began to multiply on the face of the earth and daughters were born to them,

²the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful, and they took as wives whomever they chose.

³So the LORD said, “My Spirit will not contend with man forever,for he is mortal; his days shall be 120 years.”

⁴The Nephilim were on the earth in those days—and afterward as well—when the sons of God had relations with the daughters of men. And they bore them children who became the mighty men of old, men of renown.

⁵Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great upon the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was altogether evil all the time.

⁶And the LORD regretted that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.

⁷So the LORD said, “I will blot out man, whom I have created, from the face of the earth—every man and beast and crawling creature and bird of the air—for I am grieved that I have made them.”

Noah’s Favor with God

⁸Noah, however, found favor in the eyes of the LORD.

⁹This is the account of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation; Noah walked with God.

¹⁰And Noah had three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

¹¹Now the earth was corrupt in the sight of God, and full of violence.

¹²And God looked upon the earth and saw that it was corrupt; for all living creatureson the earth had corrupted their ways.

Preparing the Ark

¹³Then God said to Noah, “The end of all living creatures has come before Me, because through them the earth is full of violence. Now behold, I will destroy both them and the earth.

¹⁴Make for yourself an ark of gopher wood;make rooms in the ark and coat it with pitch inside and out.

¹⁵And this is how you are to build it: The ark is to be 300 cubits long, 50 cubits wide, and 30 cubits high.

¹⁶You are to make a rooffor the ark, finish its walls a cubit from the top,place a door in the side of the ark, and build lower, middle, and upper decks.

¹⁷And behold, I will bring floodwaters upon the earth to destroy every creature under the heavens that has the breath of life. Everything on the earth will perish.

¹⁸But I will establish My covenant with you, and you will enter the ark—you and your sons and your wife and your sons’ wives with you.

¹⁹And you are to bring two of every living creature into the ark—male and female—to keep them alive with you.

²⁰Two of every kind of bird and animal and crawling creature will come to you to be kept alive.

²¹You are also to take for yourself every kind of food that is eaten and gather it as food for yourselves and for the animals.”

²²So Noah did everything precisely as God had commanded him.

The Covenant of the Rainbow

¹And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.

²The fear and dread of you will fall on every living creature on the earth, every bird of the air, every creature that crawls on the ground, and all the fish of the sea. They are delivered into your hand.

³Everything that lives and moves will be food for you; just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you all things.

⁴But you must not eat meat with its lifeblood still in it.

⁵And surely I will require the life of any man or beast by whose hand your lifeblood is shed. I will demand an accounting from anyone who takes the life of his fellow man:

⁶Whoever sheds the blood of man,by man his blood will be shed;for in His own imageGod has made mankind.

⁷But as for you,be fruitful and multiply;spread out across the earthand multiply upon it.”

⁸Then God said to Noah and his sons with him,

⁹“Behold, I now establish My covenant with you and your descendants after you,

¹⁰and with every living creature that was with you—the birds, the livestock, and every beast of the earth—every living thing that came out of the ark.

¹¹And I establish My covenant with you: Never again will all life be cut off by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.”

¹²And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between Me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come:

¹³I have set My rainbow in the clouds, and it will be a sign of the covenant between Me and the earth.

¹⁴Whenever I form clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds,

¹⁵I will remember My covenant between Me and you and every living creature of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life.

¹⁶And whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of every kind that is on the earth.”

¹⁷So God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between Me and every creature on the earth.”

Noah’s Shame and Canaan’s Curse

¹⁸The sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. And Ham was the father of Canaan.

¹⁹These three were the sons of Noah, and from them the whole earth was populated.

²⁰Now Noah, a man of the soil, proceededto plant a vineyard.

²¹But when he drank some of its wine, he became drunk and uncovered himself inside his tent.

²²And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father’s nakedness and told his two brothers outside.

²³Then Shem and Japheth took a garment and placed it across their shoulders, and walking backward, they covered their father’s nakedness. Their faces were turned away so that they did not see their father’s nakedness.

²⁴When Noah awoke from his drunkenness and learned what his youngest son had done to him,

²⁵he said,“Cursed be Canaan!A servant of servantsshall he be to his brothers.”

Shem’s Blessing and Noah’s Death

²⁶He also declared:“Blessed be the LORD, the God of Shem!May Canaan be the servant of Shem.

²⁷May God expand the territory of Japheth;may he dwell in the tents of Shem,and may Canaan be his servant.”

²⁸After the flood, Noah lived 350 years.

²⁹So Noah lived a total of 950 years, and then he died.

The Creation

¹In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

²Now the earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.

The First Day

³And God said, “Let there be light,”and there was light.

⁴And God saw that the light was good, and He separated the light from the darkness.

⁵God called the light “day,” and the darkness He called “night.”And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.

The Second Day

⁶And God said, “Let there be an expansebetween the waters, to separate the waters from the waters.”

⁷So God made the expanse and separated the waters beneath it from the waters above. And it was so.

⁸God called the expanse “sky.”And there was evening, and there was morning—the second day.

The Third Day

⁹And God said, “Let the waters under the sky be gathered into one place, so that the dry land may appear.” And it was so.

¹⁰God called the dry land “earth,” and the gathering of waters He called “seas.” And God saw that it was good.

¹¹Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth vegetation: seed-bearing plants and fruit trees, each bearing fruit with seed according to its kind.” And it was so.

¹²The earth produced vegetation: seed-bearing plants according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.

¹³And there was evening, and there was morning—the third day.

The Fourth Day

¹⁴And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to distinguish between the day and the night, and let them be signs to mark the seasons and days and years.

¹⁵And let them serve as lights in the expanse of the sky to shine upon the earth.” And it was so.

¹⁶God made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night. And He made the stars as well.

¹⁷God set these lights in the expanse of the sky to shine upon the earth,

¹⁸to preside over the day and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good.

¹⁹And there was evening, and there was morning—the fourth day.

The Fifth Day

²⁰And God said, “Let the waters teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth in the open expanse of the sky.”

²¹So God created the great sea creatures and every living thing that moves, with which the waters teemed according to their kinds, and every winged bird after its kind. And God saw that it was good.

²²Then God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters of the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.”

²³And there was evening, and there was morning—the fifth day.

The Sixth Day

²⁴And God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds: livestock, land crawlers, and beasts of the earth according to their kinds.” And it was so.

²⁵God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that crawls upon the earth according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

²⁶Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness, to rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, and over all the earth itselfand every creature that crawls upon it.”

²⁷So God created man in His own image;in the image of God He created him;male and female He created them.

²⁸God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and every creature that crawls upon the earth.”

²⁹Then God said, “Behold, I have given you every seed-bearing plant on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit contains seed. They will be yours for food.

³⁰And to every beast of the earth and every bird of the air and every creature that crawls upon the earth—everything that has the breath of life in it—I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so.

³¹And God looked upon all that He had made, and indeed, it was very good.And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.

Praise the LORD from the Heavens

¹Hallelujah!Praise the LORD from the heavens;praise Him in the highest places.

²Praise Him, all His angels;praise Him, all His heavenly hosts.

³Praise Him, O sun and moon;praise Him, all you shining stars.

⁴Praise Him, O highest heavens,and you waters above the skies.

⁵Let them praise the name of the LORD,for He gave the command and they were created.

⁶He established them forever and ever;He issued a decree that will never pass away.

⁷Praise the LORD from the earth,all great sea creatures and ocean depths,

⁸lightning and hail, snow and clouds,powerful wind fulfilling His word,

⁹mountains and all hills,fruit trees and all cedars,

¹⁰wild animals and all cattle,crawling creatures and flying birds,

¹¹kings of the earth and all peoples,princes and all rulers of the earth,

¹²young men and maidens,old and young together.

¹³Let them praise the name of the LORD,for His name alone is exalted;His splendor is above the earth and the heavens.

¹⁴He has raised up a horn for His people,the praise of all His saints,of Israel, a people near to Him.Hallelujah!