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.”
1اما خدا، نوح و حيوانات درون كشتی را فراموش نكرده بود. او بادی بر سطح آبها وزانيد و سيلاب كم‌كم كاهش يافت. 2آبهای زيرزمينی از فوران باز ايستادند و باران قطع شد. 3-4آب رفته‌رفته فرو نشست تا اينكه كشتی صد و پنجاه روز پس از شروع طوفان روی كوههای آرارات قرار گرفت. 5سه ماه بعد قله‌های كوهها نيز نمايان شدند. 6-7پس از گذشت چهل روز، نوح پنجرهٔ كشتی را گشود و كلاغی رها كرد، ولی كلاغ به داخل كشتی باز نگشت، بلكه به اين سو و آن سو پرواز كرد تا زمين خشک شد.8:6و7 احتمالاً کلاغ روی اجساد حيوانات شناور بر سطح آب می‌نشست در صورتی که کبوتری که بعداً از کشتی خارج شد روی اجساد حيوانات ننشست و اين می‌توانست نشان دهندهٔ ميزان کاهش آب باشد. 8پس از آن، كبوتری رها كرد تا ببيند آيا كبوتر می‌تواند زمين خشكی برای نشستن پيدا كند. 9اما كبوتر جايی را نيافت، زيرا هنوز آب بر سطح زمين بود. وقتی كبوتر برگشت، نوح دست خود را دراز كرد و كبوتر را گرفت و به داخل كشتی برد.
10نوح هفت روز ديگر صبر كرد و بار ديگر همان كبوتر را رها نمود. 11اين بار، هنگام غروب آفتاب، كبوتر در حالی كه برگ زيتون تازه‌ای به منقار داشت، نزد نوح بازگشت. پس نوح فهميد كه در بيشتر نقاط، آب فرو نشسته است. 12يک هفته بعد، نوح باز همان كبوتر را رها كرد، ولی اين بار كبوتر باز نگشت.
13يک ماه پس از رها كردن كبوتر، نوح پوشش كشتی را برداشت و به بيرون نگريست و ديد كه سطح زمين خشک شده است. 14هشت هفتهٔ ديگر هم گذشت و سرانجام همه جا خشک شد. 15-16در اين هنگام خدا به نوح فرمود: «اينک زمان آن رسيده كه همه از كشتی خارج شويد. 17تمام حيوانات، پرندگان و خزندگان را رها كن تا توليد مثل كنند و بر روی زمين زياد شوند.» 18-19پس نوح با همسر و پسران و عروسانش از كشتی بيرون آمد. تمام حيوانات و خزندگان و پرندگان نيز دسته‌دسته از كشتی خارج شدند.
20آنگاه نوح قربانگاهی برای خداوند ساخت و از هر حيوان و پرندهٔ حلال گوشت بر آن قربانی كرد. 21خداوند از اين عمل نوح خشنود گرديد و با خود گفت: «من بار ديگر زمين را به خاطر انسان كه دلش از كودكی به طرف گناه متمايل است، لعنت نخواهم كرد و اينچنين تمام موجودات زنده را از بين نخواهم برد. 22تا زمانی كه جهان باقی است، كشت و زرع، سرما و گرما، زمستان و تابستان، و روز و شب همچنان برقرار خواهد بود.»
