Daily Bible Reading, Day 3 (Genesis 8-11)

Noah Waits for the Waters to Recede

Genesis, chapter 8. Then God remembered Noah, and all the beasts and all the cattle that were with him in the ark, and God caused a wind to pass over the earth, and the water subsided. Also the fountains of the deep and the floodgates of the sky were closed, and the rain from the sky was restrained.

And the water receded from the earth, going forth and returning, and at the end of one hundred and fifty days the water decreased. In the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, the ark rested upon the mountains of Ararat.

Now the water decreased steadily until the tenth month. In the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains appeared. Then it happened at the end of forty days that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made, and he sent out a raven, and it went out flying back and forth until the water was dried up from the earth.

Then he sent out a dove from him to see if the water was abated from the face of the land. But the dove found no resting place for the sole of its foot, so it returned to him into the ark, for the water was on the surface of all the earth.

Then he stretched out his hand and took it, and brought it into the ark to himself. Then he waited yet another seven days, and again he sent out the dove from the ark. And the dove came to him toward evening, and behold, in its beak was a freshly picked olive leaf.

So Noah knew that the water was abated from the earth. Then he waited yet another seven days, and sent out the dove, but it did not return to him again. Now it happened in the six hundred and first year, in the first month, on the first day of the month, the water was dried up from the earth.

Then Noah removed the covering of the ark and looked, and behold, the surface of the ground was dried up. In the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dry. Then God spoke to Noah, saying, Go out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons and your sons' wives with you.

Bring out with you every living thing of all flesh that is with you, birds and animals and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, that they may swarm on the earth, and that they may be fruitful and multiply on the earth.

So Noah went out, and his sons and his wife and his sons' wives with him. Every beast, every creeping thing and every bird, everything that moves on the ground, went out by their families from the ark.

Then Noah built an altar to Yahweh, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. And Yahweh smelled the soothing aroma, and Yahweh said to himself, I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intent of man's heart is evil from his youth, and I will never again strike down every living thing as I have done.

God’s Covenant With Noah

While all the days of the earth remain, seed time and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night, shall not cease. Genesis, chapter nine. And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them, be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth.

And the fear of you and the terror of you will be on every beast of the earth, and on every bird of the sky, with everything that creeps on the ground, and all the fish of the sea, into your hand they are given.

Every moving thing that is alive, shall be food for you, as with the green plant, I give all to you. However, flesh with its life, that is, its blood, you shall not eat. Surely, I will require your life blood, from every living thing I will require it, and from every man, from each man's brother, I will require the life of man.

Whoever sheds man's blood, by man his blood shall be shed, for in the image of God he made man. As for you, be fruitful and multiply, swarm on the earth and multiply in it. Then God spoke to Noah and to his sons with him, saying, As for me, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you, and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the cattle, and every beast of the earth with you, of all that comes out of the ark, even every beast of the earth.

Indeed, I establish my covenant with you, and all flesh shall never again be cut off by the water of the flood, and there shall never again be a flood to destroy the earth. Then God said, This is the sign of the covenant which I am giving to be between me and you and every living creature that is with you for all successive generations.

I put my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a sign of a covenant between me and the earth. And it will be when I bring a cloud over the earth that the bow will be seen in the cloud, and I will remember my covenant which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh, and never again shall the water become a flood to destroy all flesh.

So the bow shall be in the cloud, and I will look upon it to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth. And God said to Noah, This is the sign of the covenant which I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth.

Noah’s Shame and the Curse of Canaan

Now the sons of Noah who went out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. And Ham was the father of Canaan. These three were the sons of Noah, and from these the whole earth was scattered abroad. Then Noah began to be a man of the land and planted a vineyard.

And he drank of the wine and became drunk and uncovered himself inside his tent. Then Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father and told his two brothers outside. But Shem and Japheth took a garment and laid it upon both their shoulders and walked backward and covered the nakedness of their father.

And their faces were turned backward so that they did not see their father's nakedness. Then Noah awoke from his wine and he knew what his youngest son had done to him. So he said, Cursed be Canaan, a servant of servants, he shall be to his brothers.

And he said, Blessed be Yahweh, the God of Shem, and let Canaan be his servant. May God enlarge Japheth and let him dwell in the tents of Shem and let Canaan be his servant. And Noah lived 350 years after the flood.

The Table of Nations

So all the days of Noah were 950 years and he died. Genesis chapter 10. Now these are the generations of Shem, Ham and Japheth, the sons of Noah and sons were born to them after the flood. The sons of Japheth were Gomer and Magog and Madiai and Javan and Tubal and Meshach and Tiras.

The sons of Gomer were Ashkenaz and Riphath and Togerma. The sons of Javan were Elisha and Tarshish, Kittim and Dodanim. From these, the coastlands of the nations were separated into their lands, everyone according to his tongue, according to their families into their nations.

The sons of Ham were Cush and Mizraim and Put and Canaan. The sons of Cush were Seba and Havilah and Sabta and Rehama and Sebtecha. And the sons of Rehama were Sheba and Dedan. Now Cush was the father of Nimrod.

He began to be a mighty one on the earth. He was a mighty hunter before Yahweh. Therefore it is said like Nimrod, a mighty hunter before Yahweh. The beginning of his kingdom was Babel and Erech and Akkad and Kauna in the land of Shinar.

From that land, he went out to Assyria and built Nineveh and Rehoboth-ir and Kala and Wresin between Nineveh and Kala, that is the great city. Mizraim was the father of Ludim and Anamim and Laobim and Naphtahim and Pathrasim and Kaslahim from whom came the Philistines and Kaphtarim.

Canaan was the father of Sidon, his firstborn, and Heth and the Jebusite and the Amorite and the Girgashite and the Hivite and the Archite and the Sinite and the Arvidite and the Zemorite and the Hamathite.

And afterwards the families of the Canaanite were scattered. The border of the Canaanite extended from Sidon as you go toward Gerar, as far as Gaza, as you go toward Sodom and Gomorrah and Admah and Zeboiim as far as Laisha.

These are the sons of Ham according to their families, according to their tongues, by their lands, by their nations. Also Tishm, the father of all the children of Eber and the older brother of Japheth children were born.

The sons of Shem were Elam and Asher and Arpichad and Lud and Aram. The sons of Aram were Uz and Hul and Gether and Mash. Arpichad was the father of Shelah and Shelah was the father of Eber. Now two sons were born to Eber.

The name of the one was Peleg for in his days the earth was divided and his brother's name was Joktan. And Joktan was the father of Almadad and Shelaph and Hazarmaveth and Jera and Haderim and Uzal and Dikla and Obel and Abimele and Sheba and Ophir and Havilah and Jobab.

All these were the sons of Joktan. Now their settlement extended from Misha as you go towards Sephar, the hill country of the east. These are the sons of Shem according to their families, according to their tongues, by their lands, according to their nations.

The Tower of Babel and the Scattering of the Nations

These are the families of the sons of Noah, according to their generations, by their nations. And out of these, the nations were separated on the earth after the flood. Genesis chapter 11. Now the whole earth had the same language and the same words and it happened as they journeyed east that they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there.

Then they said to one another, come, let us make bricks and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone and they had tar for mortar. And they said, come, let us build for ourselves a city and a tower whose top will reach into heaven and let us make for ourselves a name lest we be scattered over the face of the whole earth.

Then Yahweh came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. And Yahweh said, behold, they are one people and they all have the same language. And this is what they have begun to do.

So now nothing which they purpose to do will be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and there confuse their language so that they will not understand one another's language. So Yahweh scattered them from there over the face of the whole earth and they stopped building the city.

Therefore its name was called Babel because there Yahweh confused the language of the whole earth. And from there Yahweh scattered them over the face of the whole earth. These are the generations of Shem.

Shem was 100 years old and became the father of Arpichad two years after the flood. And Shem lived 500 years after he became the father of Arpichad and he became the father of other sons and daughters.

And Arpichad lived 35 years and became the father of Shelah. And Arpichad lived 403 years after he became the father of Shelah and he became the father of other sons and daughters. And Shelah lived 30 years and became the father of Eber.

And Shelah lived 403 years after he became the father of Eber and he became the father of other sons and daughters. Years, and Eber lived 34 years and became the father of Peleg, and Eber lived 430 years after he became the father of Peleg, and he became the father of other sons and daughters, and Peleg lived 30 years and became the father of Riu, and Peleg lived 209 years after he became the father of Riu, and he became the father of other sons and daughters, and Riu lived 32 years and became the father of Sirug, and Riu lived 207 years after he became the father of Sirug, and he became the father of other sons and daughters.

And Sirug lived thirty years, and became the father of Naor. And Sirug lived two hundred years, after he became the father of Naor, and he became the father of other sons and daughters. Naor lived twenty-nine years, and became the father of Terah.

And Naor lived one hundred and nineteen years, after he became the father of Terah, and he became the father of other sons and daughters. Years, and Terah lived seventy years, and became the father of Abram, Naor, and Haran.

Terah, Abram, and the Move Toward Canaan

Now these are the generations of Terah. Terah became the father of Abram, Naor, and Haran, and Haran became the father of Lot. And Haran died in the presence of Terah his father in the land of his birth, in Ur of the Chaldeans.

Abram and Naor took wives for themselves. The name of Abram's wife was Sarai, and the name of Naor's wife was Milca, the daughter of Haran, the father of Milca, and the father of Isca. And Sarai was barren, she had no child.

And Terah took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran his grandson, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram's wife. And they went out together from Ur of the Chaldeans, in order to go to the land of Canaan.

And they came as far as Haran, and settled there. And the days of Terah were two hundred and five years, and Terah died in Haran.