Genesis 6:9-11:32

Complete Jewish Bible

Parashah 2: Noach (Noah) 6:9–11:32

⁹ Here is the history of Noach. In his generation, Noach was a man righteous and wholehearted; Noach walked with God. ¹⁰ Noach fathered three sons, Shem, Ham and Yefet. ¹¹ The earth was corrupt before God, the earth was filled with violence. ¹² God saw the earth, and, yes, it was corrupt; for all living beings had corrupted their ways on the earth.

¹³ God said to Noach, “The end of all living beings has come before me, for because of them the earth is filled with violence. I will destroy them along with the earth. ¹⁴ Make yourself an ark of gofer-wood; you are to make the ark with rooms and cover it with pitch both outside and inside. ¹⁵ Here is how you are to build it: the length of the ark is to be 450 feet, its width seventy-five feet and its height forty-five feet. ¹⁶ You are to make an opening for daylight in the ark eighteen inches below its roof. Put a door in its side; and build it with lower, second and third decks.

¹⁷ “Then I myself will bring the flood of water over the earth to destroy from under heaven every living thing that breathes; everything on earth will be destroyed. ¹⁸ But I will establish my covenant with you; you will come into the ark, you, your sons, your wife and your sons’ wives with you.

¹⁹ “From everything living, from each kind of living being, you are to bring two into the ark, to keep them alive with you; they are to be male and female. ²⁰ Of each kind of bird, each kind of livestock, and each kind of animal creeping on the ground, two are to come to you, so that they can be kept alive. ²¹ Also take from all the kinds of food that are eaten, and collect it for yourself; it is to be food for you and for them.” ²² This is what Noach did; he did all that God ordered him to do.

7 (ii) Adonai said to Noach, “Come into the ark, you and all your household; for I have seen that you alone in this generation are righteous before me. ² Of every clean animal you are to take seven couples, and of the animals that are not clean, one couple; ³ also of the birds in the air take seven couples — in order to preserve their species throughout the earth. ⁴ For in seven more days I will cause it to rain on the earth forty days and forty nights; I will wipe out every living thing that I have made from the face of the earth.” ⁵ Noach did all that Adonai ordered him to do.

⁶ Noach was 600 years old when the water flooded the earth. ⁷ Noach went into the ark with his sons, his wife and his sons’ wives, because of the floodwaters. ⁸ Of clean animals, of animals that are not clean, of birds, and of everything that creeps on the ground, ⁹ couples, male and female, went in to Noach in the ark, as God had ordered Noach.

¹⁰ After seven days the water flooded the earth. ¹¹ On the seventeenth day of the second month of the 600th year of Noach’s life all the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the windows of the sky were opened. ¹² It rained on the earth forty days and forty nights.

¹³ On that same day Noach entered the ark with Shem, Ham and Yefet the sons of Noach, Noach’s wife and the three wives of his sons accompanying them; ¹⁴ they, and every animal of every species, all the livestock of every species, every animal that creeps on the ground of every species, and every bird of every species — all sorts of winged creatures. ¹⁵ They went in to Noach in the ark, couples from every kind of living thing that breathes. ¹⁶ Those that entered went in, male and female, from every kind of living being, as God had ordered him; and Adonai shut him inside.

(iii) ¹⁷ The flood was forty days on the earth; the water grew higher and floated the ark, so that it was lifted up off the earth. ¹⁸ The water overflowed the earth and grew deeper, until the ark floated on the surface of the water. ¹⁹ The water overpowered the earth mightily; all the high mountains under the entire sky were covered; ²⁰ the water covered the mountains by more than twenty-two-and-a-half feet. ²¹ All living beings that moved on the earth perished — birds, livestock, other animals, insects, and every human being, ²² everything in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life; whatever was on dry land died. ²³ He wiped out every living thing on the surface of the ground — not only human beings, but livestock, creeping animals and birds in the air. They were wiped out from the earth; only Noach was left, along with those who were with him in the ark. ²⁴ The water held power over the earth for 150 days.

8 God remembered Noach, every living thing and all the livestock with him in the ark; so God caused a wind to pass over the earth, and the water began to go down. ² Also the fountains of the deep and the windows of the sky were stopped, the rain from the sky was restrained, ³ and the water came back from completely covering the earth. It was after 150 days that the water went down. ⁴ On the seventeenth day of the seventh month the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat. ⁵ The water kept going down until the tenth month; on the first day of the tenth month the tops of the mountains were seen.

⁶ After forty days Noach opened the window of the ark which he had built; ⁷ and he sent out a raven, which flew back and forth until the water had dried up from the earth. ⁸ Then he sent out a dove, to see if the water had gone from the surface of the ground. ⁹ But the dove found no place for her feet to rest, so she returned to him in the ark, because the water still covered the whole earth. He put out his hand, took her and brought her in to him in the ark. ¹⁰ He waited another seven days and again sent the dove out from the ark. ¹¹ The dove came in to him in the evening, and there in her mouth was a freshly plucked olive leaf, so Noach knew that the water had cleared from the earth. ¹² He waited yet another seven days and sent out the dove, and she didn’t return to him any more.

¹³ By the first day of the first month of the 601st year the water had dried up from off the earth; so Noach removed the covering of the ark and looked; and, yes, the surface of the ground was dry. ¹⁴ It was on the twenty-seventh day of the second month that the earth was dry.

(iv) ¹⁵ God said to Noach, ¹⁶ “Go out from the ark, you, your wife, your sons and your son’s wives with you. ¹⁷ Bring out with you every living thing you have with you — birds, livestock and every animal that creeps on the earth — so that they can swarm on the earth, be fruitful and multiply on the earth.” ¹⁸ So Noach went out with his sons, his wife and his sons’ wives; ¹⁹ every animal, every creeping thing and every bird, whatever moves on the earth, according to their families, went out of the ark.

²⁰ Noach built an altar to Adonai. Then he took from every clean animal and every clean bird, and he offered burnt offerings on the altar. ²¹ Adonai smelled the sweet aroma, and Adonai said in his heart, “I will never again curse the ground because of humankind, since the imaginings of a person’s heart are evil from his youth; nor will I ever again destroy all living things, as I have done. ²² So long as the earth exists, sowing time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, and day and night will not cease.”

9 God blessed Noach and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply and fill the earth. ² The fear and dread of you will be upon every wild animal, every bird in the air, every creature populating the ground, and all the fish in the sea; they have been handed over to you. ³ Every moving thing that lives will be food for you; just as I gave you green plants before, so now I give you everything — ⁴ only flesh with its life, which is its blood, you are not to eat. ⁵ I will certainly demand an accounting for the blood of your lives: I will demand it from every animal and from every human being. I will demand from every human being an accounting for the life of his fellow human being. ⁶ Whoever sheds human blood, by a human being will his own blood be shed; for God made human beings in his image. ⁷ And you people, be fruitful, multiply, swarm on the earth and multiply on it.”

(v) ⁸ God spoke to Noach and his sons with him; he said, ⁹ “As for me — I am herewith establishing my covenant with you, with your descendants after you, ¹⁰ and with every living creature that is with you — the birds, the livestock and every wild animal with you, all going out of the ark, every animal on earth. ¹¹ I will establish my covenant with you that never again will all living beings be destroyed by the waters of a flood, and there will never again be a flood to destroy the earth.” ¹² God added, “Here is the sign of the covenant I am making between myself and you and every living creature with you, for all generations to come: ¹³ I am putting my rainbow in the cloud — it will be there as a sign of the covenant between myself and the earth. ¹⁴ Whenever I bring clouds over the earth, and the rainbow is seen in the cloud; ¹⁵ I will remember my covenant which is between myself and you and every living creature of any kind; and the water will never again become a flood to destroy all living beings. ¹⁶ The rainbow will be in the cloud; so that when I look at it, I will remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of any kind on the earth.”

¹⁷ God said to Noach, “This is the sign of the covenant which I have established between myself and every living creature on the earth.”

(vi) ¹⁸ The sons of Noach who went out from the ark were Shem, Ham and Yefet. Ham is the father of Kena‘an. ¹⁹ These three were the sons of Noach, and the whole earth was populated by them.

²⁰ Noach, a farmer, was the first to plant a vineyard. ²¹ He drank so much of the wine that he got drunk and lay uncovered in his tent. ²² Ham, the father of Kena‘an, saw his father shamefully exposed, went out and told his two brothers. ²³ Shem and Yefet took a cloak, put it over both their shoulders, and, walking backward, went in and covered their naked father. Their faces were turned away, so that they did not see their father lying there shamefully exposed.

²⁴ When Noach awoke from his wine, he knew what his youngest son had done to him. ²⁵ He said, “Cursed be Kena‘an; he will be a servant of servants to his brothers.” ²⁶ Then he said, “Blessed be Adonai, the God of Shem; Kena‘an will be their servant. ²⁷ May God enlarge Yefet; he will live in the tents of Shem, but Kena‘an will be their servant.”

²⁸ After the flood Noach lived 350 years. ²⁹ In all, Noach lived 950 years; then he died.

10 Here is the genealogy of the sons of Noach — Shem, Ham and Yefet; sons were born to them after the flood.

² The sons of Yefet were Gomer, Magog, Madai, Yavan, Tuval, Meshekh and Tiras. ³ The sons of Gomer were Ashkenaz, Rifat and Togarmah. ⁴ The sons of Yavan were Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim and Dodanim. ⁵ From these the islands of the nations were divided into their lands, each according to its language, according to their families, in their nations.

⁶ The sons of Ham were Kush, Mitzrayim, Put and Kena‘an. ⁷ The sons of Kush were S’va, Havilah, Savta, Ra‘mah and Savt’kha. The sons of Ra‘mah were Sh’va and D’dan.

⁸ Kush fathered Nimrod, who was the first powerful ruler on earth. ⁹ He was a mighty hunter before Adonai — this is why people say, “Like Nimrod, a mighty hunter before Adonai.” ¹⁰ His kingdom began with Bavel, Erekh, Akkad and Kalneh, in the land of Shin‘ar. ¹¹ Ashur went out from that land and built Ninveh, the city Rechovot, Kelach, ¹² and Resen between Ninveh and Kelach — that one is the great city.

¹³ Mitzrayim fathered the Ludim, the ‘Anamim, the L’havim, the Naftuchim, ¹⁴ the Patrusim, the Kasluchim (from whom came the P’lishtim) and the Kaftorim.

¹⁵ Kena‘an fathered Tzidon his firstborn, Het, ¹⁶ the Y’vusi, the Emori, the Girgashi, ¹⁷ the Hivi, the ‘Arki, the Sini, ¹⁸ the Arvadi, the Tz’mari and the Hamati. Afterwards, the families of the Kena‘ani were dispersed. ¹⁹ The border of the Kena‘ani was from Tzidon, as you go toward G’rar, to ‘Azah; as you go toward S’dom, ‘Amora, Admah and Tzvoyim, to Lesha.

²⁰ These were the descendants of Ham, according to their families and languages, in their lands and in their nations.

²¹ Children were also born to Shem, ancestor of all the descendants of ‘Ever and older brother of Yefet. ²² The sons of Shem were ‘Elam, Ashur, Arpakhshad, Lud and Aram. ²³ The sons of Aram were ‘Utz, Hul, Geter and Mash. ²⁴ Arpakhshad fathered Shelach, and Shelach fathered ‘Ever. ²⁵ To ‘Ever were born two sons. One was given the name Peleg [division], because during his lifetime the earth was divided. His brother’s name was Yoktan. ²⁶ Yoktan fathered Almodad, Shelef, Hatzar-Mavet, Yerach, ²⁷ Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah, ²⁸ ‘Oval, Avima’el, Sheva, ²⁹ Ofir, Havilah and Yovav — all these were the sons of Yoktan. ³⁰ Their territory stretched from Mesha, as you go toward S’far, to the mountain in the east.

³¹ These were the descendants of Shem, according to their families and languages, in their lands and in their nations.

³² These were the families of the sons of Noach, according to their generations, in their nations. From these the nations of the earth were divided up after the flood.

11 (S: vii) The whole earth used the same language, the same words. ² It came about that as they traveled from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shin‘ar and lived there. ³ They said to one another, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them in the fire.” So they had bricks for building-stone and clay for mortar. ⁴ Then they said, “Come, let’s build ourselves a city with a tower that has its top reaching up into heaven, so that we can make a name for ourselves and not be scattered all over the earth.”

⁵ Adonai came down to see the city and the tower the people were building. ⁶ Adonai said, “Look, the people are united, they all have a single language, and see what they’re starting to do! At this rate, nothing they set out to accomplish will be impossible for them! ⁷ Come, let’s go down and confuse their language, so that they won’t understand each other’s speech.” ⁸ So from there Adonai scattered them all over the earth, and they stopped building the city. ⁹ For this reason it is called Bavel [confusion] — because there Adonai confused the language of the whole earth, and from there Adonai scattered them all over the earth.

¹⁰ Here is the genealogy of Shem. Shem was 100 years old when he fathered Arpakhshad two years after the flood. ¹¹ After Arpakhshad was born, Shem lived another 500 years and had sons and daughters.

¹² Arpakhshad lived thirty-five years and fathered Shelach. ¹³ After Shelach was born, Arpakhshad lived another 403 years and had sons and daughters.

¹⁴ Shelach lived thirty years and fathered ‘Ever. ¹⁵ After ‘Ever was born, Shelach lived another 403 years and had sons and daughters.

¹⁶ ‘Ever lived thirty-four years and fathered Peleg. ¹⁷ After Peleg was born, ‘Ever lived another 430 years and had sons and daughters.

¹⁸ Peleg lived thirty years and fathered Re‘u. ¹⁹ After Re‘u was born, Peleg lived another 209 years and had sons and daughters.

²⁰ Re‘u lived thirty-two years and fathered S’rug. ²¹ After S’rug was born, Re‘u lived another 207 years and had sons and daughters.

²² S’rug lived thirty years and fathered Nachor. ²³ After Nachor was born, S’rug lived another 200 years and had sons and daughters.

²⁴ Nachor lived twenty-nine years and fathered Terach. ²⁵ After Terach was born, Nachor lived another 119 years and had sons and daughters.

²⁶ Terach lived seventy years and fathered Avram, Nachor and Haran. ²⁷ Here is the genealogy of Terach. Terach fathered Avram, Nachor and Haran; and Haran fathered Lot. ²⁸ Haran died before his father Terach in the land where he was born, in Ur of the Kasdim.

(Maftir) ²⁹ Then Avram and Nachor took wives for themselves. The name of Avram’s wife was Sarai, and the name of Nachor’s wife was Milkah the daughter of Haran. He was the father of Milkah and of Yiskah. ³⁰ Sarai was barren — she had no child. ³¹ Terach took his son Avram, his son Haran’s son Lot, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Avram’s wife; and they left Ur of the Kasdim to go to the land of Kena‘an. But when they came to Haran, they stayed there. ³² Terach lived 205 years, and he died in Haran.

Haftarah Noach: Yesha‘yahu (Isaiah) 54:1–55:5 (A); 54:1–10 (S)

[Messianic adaptation: commence the reading at 52:13]

B’rit Hadashah suggested readings for Parashah Noach: Mattityahu (Matthew) 24:36–44; Luke 17:26–37; Acts 2:1–16; 1 Kefa (1 Peter) 3:18–22; 2 Kefa (2 Peter) 2:5