The Story of Cain and Abel

Now the man was intimate with his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain. Then she said, “I have created a man just as the Lord did!”

But Abel brought some of the firstborn of his flock—even the fattest of them. And the Lord was pleased with Abel and his offering,

but with Cain and his offering he was not pleased. So Cain became very angry, and his expression was downcast.

So now you are banished from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand.

But the Lord said to him, “All right then, if anyone kills Cain, Cain will be avenged seven times as much.” Then the Lord put a special mark on Cain so that no one who found him would strike him down.

The Beginning of Civilization

Cain was intimate with his wife, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Enoch. Cain was building a city, and he named the city after his son Enoch.

The name of his brother was Jubal; he was the first of all who play the harp and the flute.

Now Zillah also gave birth to Tubal-Cain, who heated metal and shaped all kinds of tools made of bronze and iron. The sister of Tubal-Cain was Naamah.

And Adam was intimate with his wife again, and she gave birth to a son. She named him Seth, saying, “God has given me another child in place of Abel because Cain killed him.”

After he became the father of Methuselah, Enoch walked with God for 300 years, and he had other sons and daughters.

Enoch walked with God, and then he disappeared because God took him away.

God’s Grief over Humankind’s Wickedness

When humankind began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born to them,

The Nephilim were on the earth in those days (and also after this) when the sons of God would sleep with the daughters of humankind, who gave birth to their children. They were the mighty heroes of old, the famous men.

But the Lord saw that the wickedness of humankind had become great on the earth. Every inclination of the thoughts of their minds was only evil all the time.

So the Lord said, “I will wipe humankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth—everything from humankind to animals, including creatures that move on the ground and birds of the air, for I regret that I have made them.”

The Judgment of the Flood

This is the account of Noah. Noah was a godly man; he was blameless among his contemporaries. He walked with God.

The earth was ruined in the sight of God; the earth was filled with violence.

God saw the earth, and indeed it was ruined, for all living creatures on the earth were sinful.

So God said to Noah, “I have decided that all living creatures must die, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. Now I am about to destroy them and the earth.

Make for yourself an ark of cypress wood. Make rooms in the ark, and cover it with pitch inside and out.

I am about to bring floodwaters on the earth to destroy from under the sky all the living creatures that have the breath of life in them. Everything that is on the earth will die,

but I will confirm my covenant with you. You will enter the ark—you, your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives with you.

You must bring into the ark two of every kind of living creature from all flesh, male and female, to keep them alive with you.

And Noah did all that God commanded him—he did indeed.

The Lord said to Noah, “Come into the ark, you and all your household, for I consider you godly among this generation.