Corruption on the Earth

¹ Now when men began to multiply on the face of the earth and daughters were born to them, ² the sons of God^* saw that the daughters of men were beautiful, and they took as wives whomever they chose.

³ So the LORD said, “My Spirit will not contend^* with man^* forever, for he is mortal; his days shall be 120 years.”

⁴ The Nephilim^* were on the earth in those days— and afterward as well— when the sons of God had relations with^* the daughters of men. And they bore them children who became the mighty men^* of old, men of renown.

⁵ Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great upon the earth, and that every^* inclination^* of the thoughts of his heart was altogether evil all^* the time. ⁶ And the LORD regretted that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. ⁷ So the LORD said, “I will blot out man, whom I have created, from the face of the earth — every man and beast and crawling creature and bird of the air — for I am grieved that I have made them.”

Noah’s Favor with God

⁸ Noah, however, found favor^* in the eyes of the LORD.

⁹ This is the account of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless^* in his generation; Noah walked with God. ¹⁰ And Noah had three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

¹¹ Now the earth was corrupt in the sight of God, and full of violence. ¹² And God looked upon the earth and saw that it was corrupt; for all living creatures on the earth had corrupted their ways.

Preparing the Ark

¹³ Then God said to Noah, “The end of all living creatures has come before Me, because through them the earth is full of violence. Now behold, I will destroy both them and^* the earth.

¹⁴ Make for yourself an ark of gopher wood; make rooms in the ark and coat^* it with pitch inside^* and out. ¹⁵ And this is how you are to build it: The ark is to be 300 cubits long, 50 cubits wide, and 30 cubits high.¹⁶ You are to make a roof^* for the ark, finish its walls a cubit from the top, place a door in the side of the ark, and build lower, middle, and upper decks.

¹⁷ And behold, I will bring floodwaters upon the earth to destroy every creature under the heavens that has the breath of life. Everything on the earth will perish. ¹⁸ But I will establish My covenant with you, and you will enter the ark — you and your sons and your wife and your sons’ wives with you.

¹⁹ And you are to bring two of every living creature into the ark — male and female — to keep them alive with you. ²⁰ Two of every kind of bird and animal and crawling creature will come to you to be kept alive. ²¹ You are also to take for yourself every kind of food that is eaten and gather it as food for yourselves and for the animals.”

²² So Noah did everything precisely as God had commanded him.