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上帝眷顧挪亞及方舟裡的野獸和牲畜，使風吹在大地上，水便開始消退。 2深淵的泉源和天上的水閘都關閉了，大雨也停了。 3地上的洪水慢慢消退，過了一百五十天，水退下去了。 4七月十七日，方舟停在亞拉臘山上。 5水繼續消退，到十月一日，山頂都露出來了。
6又過了四十天，挪亞打開方舟的窗戶， 7放出一隻烏鴉。牠一直在空中飛來飛去，直到地上的水都乾了。 8後來，挪亞放出一隻鴿子，以便瞭解地面的水是否已經消退。 9但遍地都是水，鴿子找不到歇腳的地方，就飛回了方舟，挪亞伸手把鴿子接進方舟裡。 10過了七天，挪亞再把鴿子放出去。 11到了黃昏，鴿子飛回來，嘴裡啣著一片新擰下來的橄欖葉，挪亞便知道地上的水已經退了。 12等了七天，他又放出鴿子，這一次，鴿子沒有回來。
13挪亞六百零一歲那年的一月一日，地上的水乾了。挪亞打開方舟的蓋觀望，看見地面都乾了。 14到了二月二十七日，大地完全乾了。 15上帝對挪亞說： 16「你與妻子、兒子和兒媳可以出方舟了。 17你要把方舟裡的飛禽走獸及爬蟲等所有動物都帶出來，讓牠們在地上多多繁殖。」 18於是，挪亞與妻子、兒子和兒媳都出了方舟。 19方舟裡的飛禽走獸和爬蟲等所有地上的動物，都按種類出了方舟。
挪亞獻祭
20挪亞為耶和華築了一座壇，在上面焚燒各種潔淨的牲畜和飛鳥作為燔祭。 21耶和華聞到這燔祭的馨香，心想：「雖然人從小就心存惡念，但我再不會因為人的緣故而咒詛大地，再不會毀滅一切生靈。 22只要大地尚存，播種收割、夏熱冬寒、白晝黑夜必永不停息。」
