| Holy Bible, The New Living Translation | |
| Book of Genesis |
Chapter 6 - Read Chapter - Click the Play Button for Chapter Audio
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- 6:1 - [In Context]
- When the human population began to grow rapidly on the earth,
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- 6:2 - [In Context]
- the sons of God saw the beautiful women of the human race and took any they wanted as their wives.
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- 6:3 - [In Context]
- Then the LORD said, "My Spirit will not put up with humans for such a long time, for they are only mortal flesh. In the future, they will live no more than 120 years."
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- 6:4 - [In Context]
- In those days, and even afterward, giants F24 lived on the earth, for whenever the sons of God had intercourse with human women, they gave birth to children who became the heroes mentioned in legends of old.
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- 6:5 - [In Context]
- Now the LORD observed the extent of the people's wickedness, and he saw that all their thoughts were consistently and totally evil.
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- 6:6 - [In Context]
- So the LORD was sorry he had ever made them. It broke his heart.
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- 6:7 - [In Context]
- And the LORD said, "I will completely wipe out this human race that I have created. Yes, and I will destroy all the animals and birds, too. I am sorry I ever made them."
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- 6:8 - [In Context]
- But Noah found favor with the LORD.
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- 6:9 - [In Context]
- This is the history of Noah and his family. Noah was a righteous man, the only blameless man living on earth at the time. He consistently followed God's will and enjoyed a close relationship with him.
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- 6:10 - [In Context]
- Noah had three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
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- 6:11 - [In Context]
- Now the earth had become corrupt in God's sight, and it was filled with violence.
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- 6:12 - [In Context]
- God observed all this corruption in the world, and he saw violence and depravity everywhere.
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- 6:13 - [In Context]
- So God said to Noah, "I have decided to destroy all living creatures, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. Yes, I will wipe them all from the face of the earth!
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- 6:14 - [In Context]
- "Make a boat F25 from resinous wood and seal it with tar, inside and out. Then construct decks and stalls throughout its interior.
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- 6:15 - [In Context]
- Make it 450 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet high. F26
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- 6:16 - [In Context]
- Construct an opening all the way around the boat, 18 inches F27 below the roof. Then put three decks inside the boat – bottom, middle, and upper – and put a door in the side.
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- 6:17 - [In Context]
- "Look! I am about to cover the earth with a flood that will destroy every living thing. Everything on earth will die!
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- 6:18 - [In Context]
- But I solemnly swear to keep you safe in the boat, with your wife and your sons and their wives.
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- 6:19 - [In Context]
- Bring a pair of every kind of animal – a male and a female – into the boat with you to keep them alive during the flood.
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- 6:20 - [In Context]
- Pairs of each kind of bird and each kind of animal, large and small alike, will come to you to be kept alive.
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- 6:21 - [In Context]
- And remember, take enough food for your family and for all the animals."
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- 6:22 - [In Context]
- So Noah did everything exactly as God had commanded him.
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Chapter 7 - Read Chapter - Click the Play Button for Chapter Audio
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- 7:1 - [In Context]
- Finally, the day came when the LORD said to Noah, "Go into the boat with all your family, for among all the people of the earth, I consider you alone to be righteous.
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- 7:2 - [In Context]
- Take along seven pairs of each animal that I have approved for eating and for sacrifice, and take one pair of each of the others.
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- 7:3 - [In Context]
- Then select seven pairs of every kind of bird. There must be a male and a female in each pair to ensure that every kind of living creature will survive the flood.
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- 7:4 - [In Context]
- One week from today I will begin forty days and forty nights of rain. And I will wipe from the earth all the living things I have created."
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- 7:5 - [In Context]
- So Noah did exactly as the LORD had commanded him.
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- 7:6 - [In Context]
- He was 600 years old when the flood came,
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- 7:7 - [In Context]
- and he went aboard the boat to escape – he and his wife and his sons and their wives.
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- 7:8 - [In Context]
- With them were all the various kinds of animals – those approved for eating and sacrifice and those that were not – along with all the birds and other small animals.
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- 7:9 - [In Context]
- They came into the boat in pairs, male and female, just as God had commanded Noah.
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- 7:10 - [In Context]
- One week later, the flood came and covered the earth.
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- 7:11 - [In Context]
- When Noah was 600 years old, on the seventeenth day of the second month, the underground waters burst forth on the earth, and the rain fell in mighty torrents from the sky.
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- 7:12 - [In Context]
- The rain continued to fall for forty days and forty nights.
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- 7:13 - [In Context]
- But Noah had gone into the boat that very day with his wife and his sons – Shem, Ham, and Japheth – and their wives.
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- 7:14 - [In Context]
- With them in the boat were pairs of every kind of breathing animal – domestic and wild, large and small – along with birds and flying insects of every kind.
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- 7:15 - [In Context]
- Two by two they came into the boat,
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- 7:16 - [In Context]
- male and female, just as God had commanded. Then the LORD shut them in.
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- 7:17 - [In Context]
- For forty days the floods prevailed, covering the ground and lifting the boat high above the earth.
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- 7:18 - [In Context]
- As the waters rose higher and higher above the ground, the boat floated safely on the surface.
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- 7:19 - [In Context]
- Finally, the water covered even the highest mountains on the earth,
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- 7:20 - [In Context]
- standing more than twenty-two feet F28 above the highest peaks.
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- 7:21 - [In Context]
- All the living things on earth died – birds, domestic animals, wild animals, all kinds of small animals, and all the people.
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- 7:22 - [In Context]
- Everything died that breathed and lived on dry land.
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- 7:23 - [In Context]
- Every living thing on the earth was wiped out – people, animals both large and small, and birds. They were all destroyed, and only Noah was left alive, along with those who were with him in the boat.
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- 7:24 - [In Context]
- And the water covered the earth for 150 days.
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Chapter 8 - Read Chapter - Click the Play Button for Chapter Audio
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- 8:1 - [In Context]
- But God remembered Noah and all the animals in the boat. He sent a wind to blow across the waters, and the floods began to disappear.
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- 8:2 - [In Context]
- The underground water sources ceased their gushing, and the torrential rains stopped.
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- 8:3 - [In Context]
- So the flood gradually began to recede. After 150 days,
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- 8:4 - [In Context]
- exactly five months from the time the flood began, F29 the boat came to rest on the mountains of Ararat.
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- 8:5 - [In Context]
- Two and a half months later, F30 as the waters continued to go down, other mountain peaks began to appear.
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- 8:6 - [In Context]
- After another forty days, Noah opened the window he had made in the boat
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- 8:7 - [In Context]
- and released a raven that flew back and forth until the earth was dry.
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- 8:8 - [In Context]
- Then he sent out a dove to see if it could find dry ground.
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- 8:9 - [In Context]
- But the dove found no place to land because the water was still too high. So it returned to the boat, and Noah held out his hand and drew the dove back inside.
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- 8:10 - [In Context]
- Seven days later, Noah released the dove again.
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- 8:11 - [In Context]
- This time, toward evening, the bird returned to him with a fresh olive leaf in its beak. Noah now knew that the water was almost gone.
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- 8:12 - [In Context]
- A week later, he released the dove again, and this time it did not come back.
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- 8:13 - [In Context]
- Finally, when Noah was 601 years old, ten and a half months after the flood began, F31 Noah lifted back the cover to look. The water was drying up.
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- 8:14 - [In Context]
- Two more months went by, F32 and at last the earth was dry!
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- 8:15 - [In Context]
- Then God said to Noah,
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- 8:16 - [In Context]
- "Leave the boat, all of you.
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- 8:17 - [In Context]
- Release all the animals and birds so they can breed and reproduce in great numbers."
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- 8:18 - [In Context]
- So Noah, his wife, and his sons and their wives left the boat.
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- 8:19 - [In Context]
- And all the various kinds of animals and birds came out, pair by pair.
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- 8:20 - [In Context]
- Then Noah built an altar to the LORD and sacrificed on it the animals and birds that had been approved for that purpose.
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- 8:21 - [In Context]
- And the LORD was pleased with the sacrifice and said to himself, "I will never again curse the earth, destroying all living things, even though people's thoughts and actions are bent toward evil from childhood.
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- 8:22 - [In Context]
- As long as the earth remains, there will be springtime and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, day and night."
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Chapter 9 - Read Chapter - Click the Play Button for Chapter Audio
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- 9:1 - [In Context]
- God blessed Noah and his sons and told them, "Multiply and fill the earth.
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- 9:2 - [In Context]
- All the wild animals, large and small, and all the birds and fish will be afraid of you. I have placed them in your power.
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- 9:3 - [In Context]
- I have given them to you for food, just as I have given you grain and vegetables.
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- 9:4 - [In Context]
- But you must never eat animals that still have their lifeblood in them.
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- 9:5 - [In Context]
- And murder is forbidden. Animals that kill people must die, and any person who murders must be killed.
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- 9:6 - [In Context]
- Yes, you must execute anyone who murders another person, for to kill a person is to kill a living being made in God's image.
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- 9:7 - [In Context]
- Now you must have many children and repopulate the earth. Yes, multiply and fill the earth!"
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- 9:8 - [In Context]
- Then God told Noah and his sons,
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- 9:9 - [In Context]
- "I am making a covenant with you and your descendants,
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- 9:10 - [In Context]
- and with the animals you brought with you – all these birds and livestock and wild animals.
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- 9:11 - [In Context]
- I solemnly promise never to send another flood to kill all living creatures and destroy the earth."
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- 9:12 - [In Context]
- And God said, "I am giving you a sign as evidence of my eternal covenant with you and all living creatures.
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- 9:13 - [In Context]
- I have placed my rainbow in the clouds. It is the sign of my permanent promise to you and to all the earth.
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- 9:14 - [In Context]
- When I send clouds over the earth, the rainbow will be seen in the clouds,
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- 9:15 - [In Context]
- and I will remember my covenant with you and with everything that lives. Never again will there be a flood that will destroy all life.
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- 9:16 - [In Context]
- When I see the rainbow in the clouds, I will remember the eternal covenant between God and every living creature on earth."
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- 9:17 - [In Context]
- Then God said to Noah, "Yes, this is the sign of my covenant with all the creatures of the earth."
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- 9:18 - [In Context]
- Shem, Ham, and Japheth, the three sons of Noah, survived the Flood with their father. (Ham is the ancestor of the Canaanites.)
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- 9:19 - [In Context]
- From these three sons of Noah came all the people now scattered across the earth.
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- 9:20 - [In Context]
- After the Flood, Noah became a farmer and planted a vineyard.
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- 9:21 - [In Context]
- One day he became drunk on some wine he had made and lay naked in his tent.
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- 9:22 - [In Context]
- Ham, the father of Canaan, saw that his father was naked and went outside and told his brothers.
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- 9:23 - [In Context]
- Shem and Japheth took a robe, held it over their shoulders, walked backward into the tent, and covered their father's naked body. As they did this, they looked the other way so they wouldn't see him naked.
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- 9:24 - [In Context]
- When Noah woke up from his drunken stupor, he learned what Ham, his youngest son, had done.
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- 9:25 - [In Context]
- Then he cursed the descendants of Canaan, the son of Ham: "A curse on the Canaanites! May they be the lowest of servants to the descendants of Shem and Japheth."
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- 9:26 - [In Context]
- Then Noah said, "May Shem be blessed by the LORD my God; and may Canaan be his servant.
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- 9:27 - [In Context]
- May God enlarge the territory of Japheth, and may he share the prosperity of Shem; F33 and let Canaan be his servant."
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- 9:28 - [In Context]
- Noah lived another 350 years after the Flood.
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- 9:29 - [In Context]
- He was 950 years old when he died.
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FOOTNOTES: F24: Hebrew Nephilim.
F25: Traditionally rendered an ark.
F26: Hebrew 300 cubits [135 meters] long, 50 cubits [22.5 meters] wide, and 30 cubits [13.5 meters] high.
F27: Hebrew 1 cubit [45 centimeters].
F28: Hebrew 15 cubits [6.8 meters].
F29: Hebrew on the seventeenth day of the seventh month; see 7:11.
F30: Hebrew On the first day of the tenth month; see 7:11 and note on 8:4.
F31: Hebrew on the first day of the first month; see 7:11.
F32: Hebrew The twenty-seventh day of the second month arrived; see note on 8:13.
F33: Hebrew may he live in the tents of Shem.
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