Genesis 6-9

International Children’s Bible

The Human Race Becomes Evil

6 The number of people on earth began to grow. Daughters were born to these people. ² The sons of God saw that these girls were beautiful. And they married any of them they chose. ³ The Lord said, “My Spirit will not remain in human beings forever. This is because they are flesh. They will live only 120 years.”

⁴ The Nephilim were on the earth in those days and also later. That was when the sons of God had physical relations with the daughters of men. These women gave birth to children, who became famous. They were the mighty warriors of long ago.

⁵ The Lord saw that the human beings on the earth were very wicked. He also saw that their thoughts were only about evil all the time. ⁶ The Lord was sorry he had made human beings on the earth. His heart was filled with pain. ⁷ So the Lord said, “I will destroy all human beings that I made on the earth. And I will destroy every animal and everything that crawls on the earth. I will also destroy the birds of the air. This is because I am sorry that I have made them.” ⁸ But Noah pleased the Lord.

Noah and the Great Flood

⁹ This is the family history of Noah. Noah was a good man. He was the most innocent man of his time. He walked with God. ¹⁰ Noah had three sons: Shem, Ham and Japheth.

¹¹ People on earth did what God said was evil. Violence was everywhere. ¹² And God saw this evil. All people on the earth did only evil. ¹³ So God said to Noah, “People have made the earth full of violence. So I will destroy all people from the earth. ¹⁴ Build a boat of cypress wood for yourself. Make rooms in it and cover it inside and outside with tar. ¹⁵ This is how big I want you to build the boat: 450 feet long, 75 feet wide and 45 feet high. ¹⁶ Make an opening around the top of the boat. Make it 18 inches high from the edge of the roof down. Put a door in the side of the boat. Make an upper, middle and lower deck in it. ¹⁷ I will bring a flood of water on the earth. I will destroy all living things that live under the sky. This includes everything that has the breath of life. Everything on the earth will die. ¹⁸ But I will make an agreement with you. You, your sons, your wife and your sons’ wives will all go into the boat. ¹⁹ Also, you must bring into the boat two of every living thing, male and female. Keep them alive with you. ²⁰ There will be two of every kind of bird, animal and crawling thing. They will come to you to be kept alive. ²¹ Also gather some of every kind of food. Store it on the boat as food for you and the animals.”

²² Noah did everything that God commanded him.

The Flood Begins

7 Then the Lord said to Noah, “I have seen that you are the best man among the people of this time. So you and your family go into the boat. ² Take with you seven pairs, each male with its female, of every kind of clean animal. And take one pair, each male with its female, of every kind of unclean animal. ³ Take seven pairs of all the birds of the sky, each male with its female. This will allow all these animals to continue living on the earth after the flood. ⁴ Seven days from now I will send rain on the earth. It will rain 40 days and 40 nights. I will destroy from the earth every living thing that I made.”

⁵ Noah did everything that the Lord commanded him.

⁶ Noah was 600 years old when the flood came. ⁷ He and his wife and his sons and their wives went into the boat. They went in to escape the waters of the flood. ⁸ The clean animals, the unclean animals, the birds and everything that crawls on the ground ⁹ came to Noah. They went into the boat in groups of two, male and female. This was just as God had commanded Noah. ¹⁰ Seven days later the flood started.

¹¹ Noah was now 600 years old. The flood started on the seventeenth day of the second month of that year. That day the underground springs split open. And the clouds in the sky poured out rain. ¹² The rain fell on the earth for 40 days and 40 nights.

¹³ On that same day Noah and his wife, his sons Shem, Ham and Japheth and their wives went into the boat. ¹⁴ They had every kind of wild animal and tame animal. There was every kind of animal that crawls on the earth. Every kind of bird was there. ¹⁵ They all came to Noah in the boat in groups of two. There was every creature that had the breath of life. ¹⁶ One male and one female of every living thing came. It was just as God had commanded Noah. Then the Lord closed the door behind them.

¹⁷ Water flooded the earth for 40 days. As the water rose, it lifted the boat off the ground. ¹⁸ The water continued to rise, and the boat floated on the water above the earth. ¹⁹ The water rose so much that even the highest mountains under the sky were covered by it. ²⁰ The water continued to rise until it was more than 20 feet above the mountains.

²¹ All living things that moved on the earth died. This included all the birds, tame animals, wild animals and creatures that swarm on the earth. And all human beings died. ²² So everything on dry land died. This means everything that had the breath of life in its nose. ²³ So God destroyed from the earth every living thing that was on the land. This was every man, animal, crawling thing and bird of the sky. All that was left was Noah and what was with him in the boat. ²⁴ And the waters continued to cover the earth for 150 days.

The Flood Ends

8 But God remembered Noah and all the wild animals and tame animals with him in the boat. God made a wind blow over the earth. And the water went down. ² The underground springs stopped flowing. And the clouds in the sky stopped pouring down rain. ^3-4 The water that covered the earth began to go down. After 150 days the water had gone down so much that the boat touched land again. It came to rest on one of the mountains of Ararat.^[a] This was on the seventeenth day of the seventh month. ⁵ The water continued to go down. By the first day of the tenth month the tops of the mountains could be seen.

⁶ Forty days later Noah opened the window he had made in the boat. ⁷ He sent out a raven. It flew here and there until the water had dried up from the earth. ⁸ Then Noah sent out a dove. This was to find out if the water had dried up from the ground. ⁹ The dove could not find a place to land because water still covered the earth. So it came back to the boat. Noah reached out his hand and took the bird. And he brought it back into the boat.

¹⁰ After seven days Noah again sent out the dove from the boat. ¹¹ And that evening it came back to him with a fresh olive leaf in its mouth. Then Noah knew that the ground was almost dry. ¹² Seven days later he sent the dove out again. But this time it did not come back.

¹³ Noah was now 601 years old. It was the first day of the first month of that year. The water was dried up from the land. Noah removed the covering of the boat and saw that the land was dry. ¹⁴ By the twenty-seventh day of the second month the land was completely dry.

¹⁵ Then God said to Noah, ¹⁶ “You and your wife, your sons and their wives should go out of the boat. ¹⁷ Bring every animal out of the boat with you—the birds, animals and everything that crawls on the earth. Let them have many young ones and let them grow in number.”

¹⁸ So Noah went out with his sons, his wife and his sons’ wives. ¹⁹ Every animal, everything that crawls on the earth and every bird went out of the boat. They left by families.

²⁰ Then Noah built an altar to the Lord. Noah took some of all the clean birds and animals. And he burned them on the altar as offerings to God. ²¹ The Lord was pleased with these sacrifices. He said to himself, “I will never again curse the ground because of human beings. Their thoughts are evil even when they are young. But I will never again destroy every living thing on the earth as I did this time.

The New Beginning

9 Then God blessed Noah and his sons. He said to them, “Have many children. Grow in number and fill the earth. ² Every animal on earth and every bird in the sky will respect and fear you. So will every animal that crawls on the ground and every fish in the sea respect and fear you. I have given them to you.

³ “Everything that moves, everything that is alive, is yours for food. Earlier I gave you the green plants. And now I give you everything for food. ⁴ But you must not eat meat that still has blood in it, because blood gives life. ⁵ I will demand your blood for your lives. That is, I will demand the life of any animal that kills a person. And I will demand the life of anyone who takes another person’s life.

⁷ “Noah, I want you and your family to have many children. Grow in number on the earth and become many.”

⁸ Then God said to Noah and his sons, ⁹ “Now I am making my agreement with you and your people who will live after you. ¹⁰ And I also make it with every living thing that is with you. It is with the birds, the tame animals and the wild animals. It is with all that came out of the boat with you. I make my agreement with every living thing on earth. ¹¹ I make this agreement with you: I will never again destroy all living things by floodwaters. A flood will never again destroy the earth.”

¹² And God said, “I am making an agreement between me and you and every living creature that is with you. It will continue from now on. This is the sign: ¹³ I am putting my rainbow in the clouds. It is the sign of the agreement between me and the earth. ¹⁴ When I bring clouds over the earth, a rainbow appears in the clouds. ¹⁵ Then I will remember my agreement. It is between me and you and every living thing. Floodwaters will never again destroy all life on the earth. ¹⁶ When the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it. Then I will remember the agreement that continues forever. It is between me and every living thing on the earth.”

¹⁷ So God said to Noah, “That rainbow is a sign. It is the sign of the agreement that I made with all living things on earth.”

Noah and His Sons

¹⁸ The sons of Noah came out of the boat with him. They were Shem, Ham and Japheth. (Ham was the father of Canaan.) ¹⁹ These three men were Noah’s sons. And all the people on earth came from these three sons.

²⁰ Noah became a farmer and planted a vineyard. ²¹ He drank wine made from his grapes. Then he became drunk and lay naked in his tent. ²² Ham, the father of Canaan, looked at his naked father. Ham told his brothers outside. ²³ Then Shem and Japheth got a coat and carried it on both their shoulders. They walked backwards into the tent and covered their father. They turned their faces away. In this way they did not see their father without clothes.

²⁴ Noah was sleeping because of the wine. Later he woke up. Then he learned what his youngest son, Ham, had done to him. ²⁵ So Noah said,

²⁶ Noah also said,

²⁸ After the flood Noah lived 350 years. ²⁹ He lived a total of 950 years. Then he died.