The Daily Audio Bible

8 But God showed concern for Noah. He also showed concern for all the wild animals and livestock that were with Noah in the ark. So God sent a wind to sweep over the earth. And the waters began to go down. ² The springs at the bottom of the oceans had been closed. The windows of the sky had also been closed. And the rain had stopped falling from the sky. ³ The water on the earth continued to go down. At the end of the 150 days the water had gone down. ⁴ On the 17th day of the seventh month, the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat. ⁵ The waters continued to go down until the tenth month. On the first day of that month, the tops of the mountains could be seen.

⁶ After 40 days Noah opened a window he had made in the ark. ⁷ He sent out a raven. It kept flying back and forth until the water on the earth had dried up. ⁸ Then Noah sent out a dove. He wanted to see if the water on the surface of the ground had gone down. ⁹ But the dove couldn’t find any place to rest. Water still covered the whole surface of the earth. So the dove returned to Noah in the ark. Noah reached out his hand and took the dove in. He brought it back to himself in the ark. ¹⁰ He waited seven more days. Then he sent out the dove again from the ark. ¹¹ In the evening the dove returned to him. There in its beak was a freshly picked olive leaf! So Noah knew that the water on the earth had gone down. ¹² He waited seven more days. Then he sent out the dove again. But this time it didn’t return to him.

¹³ It was the first day of the first month of Noah’s 601st year. The water on the earth had dried up. Then Noah removed the covering from the ark. He saw that the surface of the ground was dry. ¹⁴ By the 27th day of the second month the earth was completely dry.

¹⁵ Then God said to Noah, ¹⁶ “Come out of the ark. Bring your wife and your sons and their wives with you. ¹⁷ Bring out every kind of living thing that is with you. Bring the birds, the animals, and all the creatures that move along the ground. Then they can multiply on the earth. They can have little ones and the number of them can increase.”

¹⁸ So Noah came out of the ark. His sons and his wife and his sons’ wives were with him. ¹⁹ All the animals came out of the ark. The creatures that move along the ground also came out. So did all the birds. Everything that moves on land came out of the ark, one kind after another.

²⁰ Then Noah built an altar to honor the Lord. He took some of the “clean” animals and birds. He sacrificed them on the altar as burnt offerings. ²¹ The smell of the offerings pleased the Lord. He said to himself, “I will never put a curse on the ground again because of human beings. I will not do it even though their hearts are always directed toward evil. Their thoughts are evil from the time they are young. I will never destroy all living things again, as I have just done.

God Makes a Covenant With Noah

9 Then God blessed Noah and his sons. He said to them, “Have children so that there are many of you. Fill the earth. ² All the land animals will be afraid of you. All the birds in the sky will be afraid of you. Every creature that moves along the ground will be afraid of you. So will every fish in the seas. Every living thing is put under your control. ³ Everything that lives and moves about will be food for you. I have already given you the green plants for food. Now I am giving you everything.

⁴ “But you must not eat meat that still has blood in it. ⁵ I will certainly hold someone accountable if you are murdered. I will even hold animals accountable if they kill you. I will also hold anyone accountable who murders another person.

⁷ Have children so that there will be many of you. Multiply and become many on the earth.”

⁸ Then God spoke to Noah and to his sons who were with him. He said, ⁹ “I am now making my covenant with you and with all your children who will be born after you. ¹⁰ I am making it also with every living creature that was with you in the ark. I am making my covenant with the birds, the livestock and all the wild animals. I am making it with all the creatures that came out of the ark with you. In fact, I am making it with every living thing on earth. ¹¹ Here is my covenant I am making with you. The waters of a flood will never again destroy all life. A flood will never again destroy the earth.”

¹² God continued, “My covenant is between me and you and every living creature with you. It is a covenant for all time to come. Here is the sign of the covenant I am making. ¹³ I have put my rainbow in the clouds. It will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. ¹⁴ Sometimes when I bring clouds over the earth, a rainbow will appear in them. ¹⁵ Then I will remember my covenant between me and you and every kind of living creature. The waters will never again become a flood to destroy all life. ¹⁶ When the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it. I will remember that my covenant will last forever. It is a covenant between me and every kind of living creature on earth.”

¹⁷ So God said to Noah, “The rainbow is the sign of my covenant. I have made my covenant between me and all life on earth.”

The Sons of Noah

¹⁸ The sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham and Japheth. Ham was the father of Canaan. ¹⁹ The people who were scattered over the earth came from Noah’s three sons.

²⁰ Noah was a man who farmed the land. He decided to plant a field that produced grapes for making wine. ²¹ When he drank some of the wine, it made him drunk. Then he lay down inside his tent without any clothes on. ²² Ham saw his father naked. Then Ham, the father of Canaan, went outside and told his two brothers. ²³ But Shem and Japheth picked up a piece of clothing and laid it across their shoulders. Then they walked backward into the tent. They covered their father’s body. They turned their faces away because they didn’t want to see their father naked.

²⁴ Then Noah woke up from his sleep that was caused by the wine. He found out what his youngest son had done to him. ²⁵ He said,

²⁶ Noah also said,

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

A List of Nations

10 Here is the story of Shem, Ham and Japheth. They were Noah’s sons. After the flood, they also had sons.

The Sons of Japheth

The Sons of Ham

⁸ Cush was the father of Nimrod. Nimrod became a mighty hero on the earth. ⁹ He was a mighty hunter in the Lord’s eyes. That’s why people sometimes compare others with Nimrod. They say, “They are like Nimrod, who was a mighty hunter in the Lord’s eyes.” ¹⁰ The first capital cities of Nimrod’s kingdom were Babylon, Uruk, Akkad and Kalneh. These cities were in the land of Babylon. ¹¹ From that land he went to Assyria. There he built Nineveh, Rehoboth Ir and Calah. ¹² He also built Resen, which is between Nineveh and Calah. Nineveh is the most famous city.

²⁰ These are the sons of Ham. They are listed by their tribes and languages in their territories and nations.

The Sons of Shem

²¹ Sons were also born to Shem, Japheth’s younger brother. All the sons of Eber belonged to Shem’s family line.

³¹ These are the sons of Shem. They are listed by their tribes and languages in their territories and nations.

³² These are the tribes of Noah’s sons. They are listed by their family lines within their nations. From them the nations spread out over the earth after the flood.

Jesus Begins to Preach

¹² John had been put in prison. When Jesus heard about this, he returned to Galilee. ¹³ Jesus left Nazareth and went to live in the city of Capernaum. It was by the lake in the area of Zebulun and Naphtali. ¹⁴ In that way, what the prophet Isaiah had said came true. He had said,

¹⁷ From that time on Jesus began to preach. “Turn away from your sins!” he said. “The kingdom of heaven has come near.”

Jesus Chooses His First Disciples

¹⁸ One day Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee. There he saw two brothers, Simon Peter and his brother Andrew. They were throwing a net into the lake, because they were fishermen. ¹⁹ “Come and follow me,” Jesus said. “I will send you out to fish for people.” ²⁰ At once they left their nets and followed him.

²¹ Going on from there, he saw two other brothers. They were James, son of Zebedee, and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee. As they were preparing their nets, Jesus called out to them. ²² Right away they left the boat and their father and followed Jesus.

Jesus Heals Sick People

²³ Jesus went all over Galilee. There he taught in the synagogues. He preached the good news of God’s kingdom. He healed every illness and sickness the people had. ²⁴ News about him spread all over Syria. People brought to him all who were ill with different kinds of sicknesses. Some were suffering great pain. Others were controlled by demons. Some were shaking wildly. Others couldn’t move at all. And Jesus healed all of them. ²⁵ Large crowds followed him. People came from Galilee, from the area known as the Ten Cities, and from Jerusalem and Judea. Others came from the area across the Jordan River.

For the director of music. A psalm of David to be played on stringed instruments.

Wisdom’s Warning