Historical
Chapter 4
Cain and Abel. 1 The man had intercourse with his wife Eve, and she conceived and gave birth to Cain, saying, “I have produced a male child with the help of the Lord.”[a] 2 Next she gave birth to his brother Abel. Abel became a herder of flocks, and Cain a tiller of the ground.[b] 3 In the course of time Cain brought an offering to the Lord from the fruit of the ground, 4 while Abel, for his part, brought the fatty portion[c] of the firstlings of his flock.(A) The Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering, 5 but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry and dejected. 6 Then the Lord said to Cain: Why are you angry? Why are you dejected? 7 If you act rightly, you will be accepted;[d] but if not, sin lies in wait at the door: its urge is for you, yet you can rule over it.(B)
8 Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let us go out in the field.”[e] When they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.(C) 9 Then the Lord asked Cain, Where is your brother Abel? He answered, “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?” 10 God then said: What have you done? Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground! 11 Now you are banned from the ground[f] that opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand.(D) 12 If you till the ground, it shall no longer give you its produce. You shall become a constant wanderer on the earth. 13 Cain said to the Lord: “My punishment is too great to bear. 14 Look, you have now banished me from the ground. I must avoid you and be a constant wanderer on the earth. Anyone may kill me at sight.” 15 Not so! the Lord said to him. If anyone kills Cain, Cain shall be avenged seven times. So the Lord put a mark[g] on Cain, so that no one would kill him at sight. 16 Cain then left the Lord’s presence and settled in the land of Nod,[h] east of Eden.
Descendants of Cain and Seth. 17 [i]Cain had intercourse with his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch. Cain also became the founder of a city, which he named after his son Enoch. 18 To Enoch was born Irad, and Irad became the father of Mehujael; Mehujael became the father of Methusael, and Methusael became the father of Lamech. 19 Lamech took two wives; the name of the first was Adah, and the name of the second Zillah. 20 Adah gave birth to Jabal, who became the ancestor of those who dwell in tents and keep livestock. 21 His brother’s name was Jubal, who became the ancestor of all who play the lyre and the reed pipe. 22 Zillah, on her part, gave birth to Tubalcain, the ancestor of all who forge instruments of bronze and iron. The sister of Tubalcain was Naamah. 23 [j]Lamech said to his wives:
“Adah and Zillah, hear my voice;
wives of Lamech, listen to my utterance:
I have killed a man for wounding me,
a young man for bruising me.
24 If Cain is avenged seven times,
then Lamech seventy-seven times.”
25 [k]Adam again had intercourse with his wife, and she gave birth to a son whom she called Seth. “God has granted me another offspring in place of Abel,” she said, “because Cain killed him.” 26 To Seth, in turn, a son was born, and he named him Enosh.
At that time people began to invoke the Lord by name.(E)
Chapter 5
Generations: Adam to Noah.[l] 1 (F)This is the record of the descendants of Adam. When God created human beings, he made them in the likeness of God; 2 he created them male and female. When they were created, he blessed them and named them humankind.
3 (G)Adam was one hundred and thirty years old when he begot a son in his likeness, after his image; and he named him Seth.(H) 4 Adam lived eight hundred years after he begot Seth, and he had other sons and daughters. 5 The whole lifetime of Adam was nine hundred and thirty years; then he died.
6 When Seth was one hundred and five years old, he begot Enosh. 7 Seth lived eight hundred and seven years after he begot Enosh, and he had other sons and daughters. 8 The whole lifetime of Seth was nine hundred and twelve years; then he died.
9 When Enosh was ninety years old, he begot Kenan. 10 Enosh lived eight hundred and fifteen years after he begot Kenan, and he had other sons and daughters. 11 The whole lifetime of Enosh was nine hundred and five years; then he died.
12 When Kenan was seventy years old, he begot Mahalalel. 13 Kenan lived eight hundred and forty years after he begot Mahalalel, and he had other sons and daughters. 14 The whole lifetime of Kenan was nine hundred and ten years; then he died.
15 When Mahalalel was sixty-five years old, he begot Jared. 16 Mahalalel lived eight hundred and thirty years after he begot Jared, and he had other sons and daughters. 17 The whole lifetime of Mahalalel was eight hundred and ninety-five years; then he died.
18 When Jared was one hundred and sixty-two years old, he begot Enoch. 19 Jared lived eight hundred years after he begot Enoch, and he had other sons and daughters. 20 The whole lifetime of Jared was nine hundred and sixty-two years; then he died.
21 When Enoch was sixty-five years old, he begot Methuselah. 22 Enoch walked with God after he begot Methuselah for three hundred years, and he had other sons and daughters. 23 The whole lifetime of Enoch was three hundred and sixty-five years. 24 Enoch walked with God,[m] and he was no longer here, for God took him.(I)
25 When Methuselah was one hundred and eighty-seven years old, he begot Lamech. 26 Methuselah lived seven hundred and eighty-two years after he begot Lamech, and he had other sons and daughters. 27 The whole lifetime of Methuselah was nine hundred and sixty-nine years; then he died.
28 When Lamech was one hundred and eighty-two years old, he begot a son 29 (J)and named him Noah, saying, “This one shall bring us relief from our work and the toil of our hands, out of the very ground that the Lord has put under a curse.”[n] 30 Lamech lived five hundred and ninety-five years after he begot Noah, and he had other sons and daughters. 31 The whole lifetime of Lamech was seven hundred and seventy-seven years; then he died.
32 When Noah was five hundred years old, he begot Shem, Ham, and Japheth.[o](K)
Chapter 6
Origin of the Nephilim.[p] 1 When human beings began to grow numerous on the earth and daughters were born to them, 2 the sons of God[q] saw how beautiful the daughters of human beings were, and so they took for their wives whomever they pleased.(L) 3 Then the Lord said: My spirit shall not remain in human beings forever, because they are only flesh. Their days shall comprise one hundred and twenty years.
4 The Nephilim appeared on earth in those days, as well as later,[r] after the sons of God had intercourse with the daughters of human beings, who bore them sons. They were the heroes of old, the men of renown.(M)
Warning of the Flood. 5 [s]When the Lord saw how great the wickedness of human beings was on earth, and how every desire that their heart conceived was always nothing but evil,(N) 6 the Lord regretted making human beings on the earth, and his heart was grieved.[t]
7 So the Lord said: I will wipe out from the earth the human beings I have created, and not only the human beings, but also the animals and the crawling things and the birds of the air, for I regret that I made them.[u] 8 But Noah found favor with the Lord.
9 These are the descendants of Noah. Noah was a righteous man and blameless in his generation;(O) Noah walked with God. 10 Noah begot three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
11 But the earth was corrupt[v] in the view of God and full of lawlessness.(P) 12 When God saw how corrupt the earth had become, since all mortals had corrupted their ways on earth,(Q) 13 God said to Noah: I see that the end of all mortals has come, for the earth is full of lawlessness because of them. So I am going to destroy them with the earth.(R)
Preparation for the Flood. 14 Make yourself an ark of gopherwood,[w] equip the ark with various compartments, and cover it inside and out with pitch. 15 This is how you shall build it: the length of the ark will be three hundred cubits, its width fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits.[x] 16 Make an opening for daylight[y] and finish the ark a cubit above it. Put the ark’s entrance on its side; you will make it with bottom, second and third decks. 17 I, on my part, am about to bring the flood waters on the earth, to destroy all creatures under the sky in which there is the breath of life; everything on earth shall perish.(S) 18 I will establish my covenant with you. You shall go into the ark, you and your sons, your wife and your sons’ wives with you.(T) 19 Of all living creatures you shall bring two of every kind into the ark, one male and one female,[z] to keep them alive along with you. 20 Of every kind of bird, of every kind of animal, and of every kind of thing that crawls on the ground, two of each will come to you, that you may keep them alive. 21 Moreover, you are to provide yourself with all the food that is to be eaten, and store it away, that it may serve as provisions for you and for them. 22 Noah complied; he did just as God had commanded him.[aa]
Chapter 7
1 Then the Lord said to Noah: Go into the ark, you and all your household, for you alone in this generation have I found to be righteous before me.(U) 2 Of every clean animal, take with you seven pairs, a male and its mate; and of the unclean animals, one pair, a male and its mate; 3 likewise, of every bird of the air, seven pairs, a male and a female, to keep their progeny alive over all the earth. 4 For seven days from now I will bring rain down on the earth for forty days and forty nights, and so I will wipe out from the face of the earth every being that I have made.(V) 5 Noah complied, just as the Lord had commanded.
The Great Flood. 6 Noah was six hundred years old when the flood came upon the earth. 7 Together with his sons, his wife, and his sons’ wives, Noah went into the ark because of the waters of the flood.(W) 8 Of the clean animals and the unclean, of the birds, and of everything that crawls on the ground, 9 two by two, male and female came to Noah into the ark, just as God had commanded him.(X) 10 When the seven days were over, the waters of the flood came upon the earth.
11 In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month: on that day
All the fountains of the great abyss[ab] burst forth,
and the floodgates of the sky were opened.
12 For forty days and forty nights heavy rain poured down on the earth.
13 On the very same day, Noah and his sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and Noah’s wife, and the three wives of Noah’s sons had entered the ark, 14 together with every kind of wild animal, every kind of tame animal, every kind of crawling thing that crawls on the earth, and every kind of bird. 15 Pairs of all creatures in which there was the breath of life came to Noah into the ark. 16 Those that entered were male and female; of all creatures they came, as God had commanded Noah. Then the Lord shut him in.
17 The flood continued upon the earth for forty days. As the waters increased, they lifted the ark, so that it rose above the earth. 18 The waters swelled and increased greatly on the earth, but the ark floated on the surface of the waters. 19 Higher and higher on the earth the waters swelled, until all the highest mountains under the heavens were submerged. 20 The waters swelled fifteen cubits higher than the submerged mountains. 21 All creatures that moved on earth perished: birds, tame animals, wild animals, and all that teemed on the earth, as well as all humankind.(Y) 22 Everything on dry land with the breath of life in its nostrils died. 23 The Lord wiped out every being on earth: human beings and animals, the crawling things and the birds of the air; all were wiped out from the earth. Only Noah and those with him in the ark were left.
24 And when the waters had swelled on the earth for one hundred and fifty days,
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