1But 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. 2The 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. 3The water on the earth continued to go down. At the end of the 150 days the water had gone down. 4On the 17th day of the seventh month, the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat. 5The waters continued to go down until the tenth month. On the first day of that month, the tops of the mountains could be seen.
6After 40 days Noah opened a window he had made in the ark. 7He sent out a raven. It kept flying back and forth until the water on the earth had dried up. 8Then Noah sent out a dove. He wanted to see if the water on the surface of the ground had gone down. 9But 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. 10He waited seven more days. Then he sent out the dove again from the ark. 11In 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. 12He waited seven more days. Then he sent out the dove again. But this time it didn’t return to him.
13It 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. 14By the 27th day of the second month the earth was completely dry.
15Then God said to Noah, 16“Come out of the ark. Bring your wife and your sons and their wives with you. 17Bring 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.”
18So Noah came out of the ark. His sons and his wife and his sons’ wives were with him. 19All 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.
20Then 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. 21The 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.
22“As long as the earth lasts,
there will always be a time to plant
and a time to gather the crops.
As long as the earth lasts,
there will always be cold and heat.
There will always be summer and winter,
day and night.”
洪水消退
1上帝眷顾挪亚及方舟里的野兽和牲畜，使风吹在大地上，水便开始消退。 2深渊的泉源和天上的水闸都关闭了，大雨也停了。 3地上的洪水慢慢消退，过了一百五十天，水退下去了。 4七月十七日，方舟停在亚拉腊山上。 5水继续消退，到十月一日，山顶都露出来了。
6又过了四十天，挪亚打开方舟的窗户， 7放出一只乌鸦。它一直在空中飞来飞去，直到地上的水都干了。 8后来，挪亚放出一只鸽子，以便了解地面的水是否已经消退。 9但遍地都是水，鸽子找不到歇脚的地方，就飞回了方舟，挪亚伸手把鸽子接进方舟里。 10过了七天，挪亚再把鸽子放出去。 11到了黄昏，鸽子飞回来，嘴里衔着一片新拧下来的橄榄叶，挪亚便知道地上的水已经退了。 12等了七天，他又放出鸽子，这一次，鸽子没有回来。
13挪亚六百零一岁那年的一月一日，地上的水干了。挪亚打开方舟的盖观望，看见地面都干了。 14到了二月二十七日，大地完全干了。 15上帝对挪亚说： 16“你与妻子、儿子和儿媳可以出方舟了。 17你要把方舟里的飞禽走兽及爬虫等所有动物都带出来，让它们在地上多多繁殖。” 18于是，挪亚与妻子、儿子和儿媳都出了方舟。 19方舟里的飞禽走兽和爬虫等所有地上的动物，都按种类出了方舟。
挪亚献祭
20挪亚为耶和华筑了一座坛，在上面焚烧各种洁净的牲畜和飞鸟作为燔祭。 21耶和华闻到这燔祭的馨香，心想：“虽然人从小就心存恶念，但我再不会因为人的缘故而咒诅大地，再不会毁灭一切生灵。 22只要大地尚存，播种收割、夏热冬寒、白昼黑夜必永不停息。”
