Genesis 8
New Catholic Bible
Chapter 8
The New Creation.[a] 1 God remembered Noah and all the wild and farm animals that were with him in the ark. God made a wind blow upon the earth, and the waters began to recede. 2 The springs of the abyss and the windows of the heavens were closed, and the rains from the heavens ceased. 3 The waters slowly receded from the earth. At the end of one hundred and fifty days they had greatly diminished. 4 In the seventh month, the seventeenth day of the month, the ark came to rest on Mount Ararat.[b] 5 The waters continued to recede until the tenth month. In the tenth month, the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains came into view.
6 After forty days had gone by, Noah opened the window that he had made in the ark 7 and released a raven to see if the waters had completely dried up. It flew back and forth until the waters upon the earth dried up. 8 Noah then released a dove, to see if the waters had drained from the surface of the earth, 9 but the dove, not finding any place to land, returned to the ark (for the waters still covered the surface of the earth). He reached out and caught the dove and brought it back into the ark.
10 After waiting another seven days, he once again released the dove from the ark. 11 It returned to him toward the evening. In its beak it had a sprig from an olive tree. Noah understood that the waters had receded from the earth. 12 He waited another seven days and then released the dove. It did not return to him.
13 In the six hundred and first year of Noah’s life, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters dried up upon the earth. Noah removed the covering from the ark and, behold, the surface of the earth was dry. 14 In the second month, the twenty-seventh day of the month, the entire surface of the earth was dry.
15 God commanded Noah, 16 “Leave the ark, you and your wife, your sons and their wives. 17 Take all the animals of every species with you, birds, cattle, all the reptiles that crawl upon the earth, take them all with you. Let them spread out upon the earth. May they be fruitful and multiply upon the earth.”
18 Noah left the ark with his sons, his wife, and his sons’ wives.
19 All the living creatures and all the wild animals, all the birds and all the reptiles that crawl upon the earth, each according to its kind, all left the ark.
20 Noah built an altar to the Lord, took every kind of clean animal and some of every kind of clean bird, and he offered them as burnt offerings upon the altar.
21 The Lord smelled the pleasant odor and said to himself, “I will never again curse the land because of humankind, for the instinct of every human heart is evil from its youth. I will never again destroy every living creature.
22 “As long as the earth endures,
seedtime and harvest,
cold and heat,
summer and winter,
day and night
shall not cease.”
Footnotes
- Genesis 8:1 The first five verses, on the withdrawal of the waters, are from the Priestly tradition with a short Yahwist insert, while the section on the raven and the dove is Yahwist. The sending of a bird to find solid land was a custom of ancient mariners and also occurs in Mesopotamian stories of the flood. The following section, on the departure from the ark, is again Priestly and is in continuity with chapter 9, which is from the same source, whereas 8:21-22 on sacrifice and the divine decision are Yahwist.
God does not allow evil to conquer him but defeats it by preparing a new world. With Noah, the second father of humankind, everything begins again: nature takes up its laws again and human beings rediscover their rights. However, sin had destroyed the harmony that existed in the beginning. Human beings enter into conflict with the animals and with one another. The prohibition of shedding blood and the punishment for murderers are intended to remind all that life belongs to God alone. The Lord concludes a new covenant with human beings but engages only himself; he has decided to be patient and allow freedom to go to its very limits. This ancient story of the covenant defines God’s attitude toward all humankind. The universal covenant that Jesus will seal with his blood bears witness to the astounding greatness of God’s love for human beings (see Jn 3:16). - Genesis 8:4 Ararat (cuneiform texts have Urartu) has been variously identified: the northeast region of Lake Van; the mountains of Kurdistan; the Lubar mountains, near Zagros, close to the Nisir of the Gilgamesh myth.
Genesis 8
1599 Geneva Bible
8 13 The flood ceaseth. 16 Noah is commanded to come forth of the Ark with his. 20 He sacrificeth to the Lord. 22 God promiseth that all things should continue in their first order.
1 Now God [a]remembered Noah and [b]every beast, and all the cattle that were with him in the Ark: therefore God made a wind to pass upon the earth, and the waters ceased.
2 The fountains also of the deep and the windows of heaven were stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained.
3 And the waters returned from above the earth, going and returning: and after the end of the hundred and fiftieth day the waters abated.
4 And in the [c]seventh month, in the seventeenth day of the month, the Ark [d]rested upon the mountains of [e]Ararat.
5 And the waters were going and decreasing until the [f]tenth month: in the tenth month, and in the first day of the month, were the tops of the mountains seen.
6 ¶ So [g]after forty days, Noah opened the window of the Ark which he had made,
7 And sent forth a raven, which went out, going forth and returning, until the waters were dried up upon the earth.
8 Again he sent a dove from him, that he might see if the waters were diminished from off the earth.
9 But the dove found no rest for the sole of her foot: therefore she returned unto him into the Ark (for the waters were upon the whole earth) and he [h]put forth his hand, and received her, and took her to him into the Ark.
10 And he abode yet another seven days, and again he sent forth the dove out of the Ark.
11 And the dove came to him in the evening, and lo in her [i]mouth was an [j]olive leaf that she had plucked: whereby Noah knew that the waters were abated from off the earth.
12 Notwithstanding, he waited yet another seven days, and sent forth the dove, which returned not again unto him anymore.
13 ¶ And in the six hundred and one year, in the first day of the [k]first month, the waters were dried up from off the earth: and Noah removed the covering of the Ark, and looked, and behold, the upper part of the ground was dry.
14 And in the second month, in the seven and twentieth day of the month, was the earth dry.
15 ¶ Then God spake to Noah, saying,
16 [l]Go forth of the Ark, thou, and thy wife, and thy sons, and thy sons’ wives with thee.
17 Bring forth with thee every beast that is with thee, of all flesh, both fowl and cattle, and everything that creepeth and moveth upon the earth, that they may breed abundantly in the earth, (A)and bring forth fruit and increase upon the earth.
18 So Noah came forth, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons’ wives with him.
19 Every beast, every creeping thing, and every fowl, all that moveth upon the earth, after their kinds, went out of the Ark.
20 ¶ Then Noah [m]built an altar to the Lord, and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings upon the altar.
21 And the Lord smelled a [n][o]savor of rest, and the Lord said in his heart, I will henceforth curse the ground no more for man’s cause: for the (B)imagination of man’s heart is evil, even from his youth: neither will I smite anymore all things living, as I have done.
22 Hereafter [p]seed time and harvest, and cold and heat, and Summer and Winter, and day and night shall not cease, so long as the earth remaineth.
Footnotes
- Genesis 8:1 Not that God forgetteth his at any time, but when he sendeth succor then he showeth that he remembereth them.
- Genesis 8:1 If God remember every brute beast, what ought to be the assurance of his children?
- Genesis 8:4 Which contained part of September, and part of October.
- Genesis 8:4 Or, stayed.
- Genesis 8:4 Or, Armenia.
- Genesis 8:5 Which was the month of December.
- Genesis 8:6 Hebrew, at the end of forty days.
- Genesis 8:9 It is like that the raven did fly to and fro, resting on the Ark, but came not into it, as the dove that was taken in.
- Genesis 8:11 Or, bill.
- Genesis 8:11 Which was a sign that the waters were much diminished: for the olives grow not on the high mountains.
- Genesis 8:13 Called in Hebrew Abib, containing part of March and part of April.
- Genesis 8:16 Noah declareth his obedience, in that he would not depart out of the Ark without God’s express commandment, as he did not enter in without the same: the Ark being a figure of the Church, wherein nothing must be done without the word of God.
- Genesis 8:20 For sacrifices which were as an exercise of their faith, whereby they used to give thanks to God for his benefits.
- Genesis 8:21 Or, sweet savor.
- Genesis 8:21 That is, thereby he showeth himself appeased and his anger to rest.
- Genesis 8:22 The order of nature destroyed by the flood, is restored by God’s promise.
Genesis 8
New King James Version
Noah’s Deliverance
8 Then God (A)remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the animals that were with him in the ark. (B)And God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters subsided. 2 (C)The fountains of the deep and the windows of heaven were also (D)stopped, and (E)the rain from heaven was restrained. 3 And the waters receded continually from the earth. At the end (F)of the hundred and fifty days the waters decreased. 4 Then the ark rested in the seventh month, the seventeenth day of the month, on the mountains of Ararat. 5 And the waters decreased continually until the tenth month. In the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains were seen.
6 So it came to pass, at the end of forty days, that Noah opened (G)the window of the ark which he had made. 7 Then he sent out a raven, which kept going to and fro until the waters had dried up from the earth. 8 He also sent out from himself a dove, to see if the waters had receded from the face of the ground. 9 But the dove found no resting place for the sole of her foot, and she returned into the ark to him, for the waters were on the face of the whole earth. So he put out his hand and took her, and drew her into the ark to himself. 10 And he waited yet another seven days, and again he sent the dove out from the ark. 11 Then the dove came to him in the evening, and behold, a freshly plucked olive leaf was in her mouth; and Noah knew that the waters had receded from the earth. 12 So he waited yet another seven days and sent out the dove, which did not return again to him anymore.
13 And it came to pass in the six hundred and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, that the waters were dried up from the earth; and Noah removed the covering of the ark and looked, and indeed the surface of the ground was dry. 14 And in the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dried.
15 Then God spoke to Noah, saying, 16 “Go out of the ark, (H)you and your wife, and your sons and your sons’ wives with you. 17 Bring out with you every living thing of all flesh that is with you: birds and cattle and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, so that they may abound on the earth, and (I)be fruitful and multiply on the earth.” 18 So Noah went out, and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives with him. 19 Every animal, every creeping thing, every bird, and whatever creeps on the earth, according to their families, went out of the ark.
God’s Covenant with Creation
20 Then Noah built an (J)altar to the Lord, and took of (K)every clean animal and of every clean bird, and offered (L)burnt offerings on the altar. 21 And the Lord smelled (M)a soothing aroma. Then the Lord said in His heart, “I will never again (N)curse the ground for man’s sake, although the (O)imagination[a] of man’s heart is evil from his youth; (P)nor will I again destroy every living thing as I have done.
22 “While the earth (Q)remains,
Seedtime and harvest,
Cold and heat,
Winter and summer,
And (R)day and night
Shall not cease.”
Footnotes
- Genesis 8:21 intent or thought
Geneva Bible, 1599 Edition. Published by Tolle Lege Press. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without written permission from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations in articles, reviews, and broadcasts.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
