Job's Affliction

The story of Job is generally thought of as a man that suffered much tribulation, through no fault of his own, but kept trusting and submitting to God. The end result is that God blessed him with much more than he lost in many ways.


The account of Job start off by describing Job's 
- Character: blameless, upright, feared God, shunned evil.
- Family: big family - 7 sons, 3 daughters
- Status: Wealthy. Described as "greatest of all the people of the East".
- Religious: Regularly gave offerings / sacrifices to God, for fear / concern that somehow his children had sinned and cursed God.


The last point about being religious, is not necessarily a good thing. It is something that humans do with all the good intentions, including Job, to please God. In Job's case, there is an element of fear, in the sense of not trusting God to protect or keep his children out of trouble. 


Verse 6-12 seems like a discussion between Satan and God about Job. It may be difficult to understand how two arch enemies like God and Satan, can come together and have a seemingly civilised conversation. But the difficulty may be in our human imagination. The reality is that God and Satan are spiritual beings and their interaction simply cannot be understood at our level.


In any case, it looks like Satan is living up to its name as the Accuser as he accuses Job of being faithful and upright simply because everything is going well for Job. The accuser correctly accused God of two things:
i) Hedge of protection - God has something like an invisible shield around Job and his family and possessions.
ii) God blessed Job's work and the fruits of his labour increases.


The two blessings which God blessed Job with are available to Believers and it is God's will for us, even though not all Believers would believe this. God supernaturally protects us and God help us to do well in our honest work activity. This goes against the belief that God brings disaster to teach us a lesson. In verse 11, Satan tempts God to strike Job in any way. In verse 12 God replies by not striking Job, but just removing His protection on Job. All God needs to do is to back away from protecting us and disasters will come naturally to us in this fallen world, or disasters can also come by the enemies of God.


Two interesting point at the end of this passage is:
1) The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away. This has been used by Christians and non-Christians alike to say that God takes the good things from us, even to the point of God taking away our loved ones. This interpretation is either a clever lie worthy of The Accuser himself, or shows our lack of knowledge of the character of our heavenly father. This verse is not a description of God, it is simply Job's own thinking that God takes away. It does not mean that Job's interpretation is correct. God is a provider and a restorer as shown over and over again.
2) In all this Job did not sin nor charge God with wrong. This is a credit to Job's character that despite all that has happened, and despite thinking God is responsible for the disaster, even though it was not, Job did not blame God.


One other interesting point is the use of sons of God in verse 6 which presented themselves, with Satan,  before God. In this context, it is quite apparent that the sons of God were the fallen angels. This would be the same reference to sons of God in Genesis 6:2 when they cross breed with humans.








Job 1


 ¹ There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was blameless and upright, and one who feared God and shunned evil. ² And seven sons and three daughters were born to him. ³ Also, his possessions were seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, five hundred female donkeys, and a very large household, so that this man was the greatest of all the people of the East.⁴ And his sons would go and feast in their houses, each on his appointed day, and would send and invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them. ⁵ So it was, when the days of feasting had run their course, that Job would send and sanctify them, and he would rise early in the morning and offer burnt offerings according tothe number of them all. For Job said, “It may be that my sons have sinned and cursed^[a] God in their hearts.” Thus Job did regularly.

Satan Attacks Job’s Character

   ⁶ Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan^[b] also came among them. ⁷ And the LORD said to Satan, “From where do you come?” 
So Satan answered the LORD and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking back and forth on it.” ⁸ Then the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job, that there isnone like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil?” ⁹ So Satan answered the LORD and said, “Does Job fear God for nothing? ¹⁰ Have You not made a hedge around him, around his household, and around all that he has on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. ¹¹ But now, stretch out Your hand and touch all that he has, and he will surely curse You to Your face!” ¹² And the LORD said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your power; only do not lay a hand on his person.” 
So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD.

Job Loses His Property and Children

   ¹³ Now there was a day when his sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house; ¹⁴ and a messenger came to Job and said, “The oxen were plowing and the donkeys feeding beside them, ¹⁵ when the Sabeans^[c] raided them and took them away—indeed they have killed the servants with the edge of the sword; and I alone have escaped to tell you!” ¹⁶ While he was still speaking, another also came and said, “The fire of God fell from heaven and burned up the sheep and the servants, and consumed them; and I alone have escaped to tell you!” ¹⁷ While he was still speaking, another also came and said, “The Chaldeans formed three bands, raided the camels and took them away, yes, and killed the servants with the edge of the sword; and I alone have escaped to tell you!” ¹⁸ While he was still speaking, another also came and said, “Your sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house, ¹⁹ and suddenly a great wind came from across^[d] the wilderness and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell on the young people, and they are dead; and I alone have escaped to tell you!” ²⁰ Then Job arose, tore his robe, and shaved his head; and he fell to the ground and worshiped. ²¹And he said: 

      “ Naked I came from my mother’s womb,
      And naked shall I return there.
      The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away;
      Blessed be the name of the LORD.” ²² In all this Job did not sin nor charge God with wrong.

Line from Seth to Abraham

The passage below shows the clear line of descent from Seth to Abraham. Here is a summary of that line:

Shem

Arphaxad

Salah

Eber

Peleg

Reu

Serug

Nahor

Terah

Abram, Nahor, and Haran.

Genesis 11:
This is the genealogy of Shem: Shem was one hundred years old, and begot Arphaxad two years after the flood.¹¹ After he begot Arphaxad, Shem lived five hundred years, and begot sons and daughters. ¹² Arphaxad lived thirty-five years, and begot Salah. ¹³After he begot Salah, Arphaxad lived four hundred and three years, and begot sons and daughters. ¹⁴ Salah lived thirty years, and begot Eber. ¹⁵ After he begot Eber, Salah lived four hundred and three years, and begot sons and daughters. ¹⁶ Eber lived thirty-four years, and begot Peleg. ¹⁷ After he begot Peleg, Eber lived four hundred and thirty years, and begot sons and daughters. ¹⁸ Peleg lived thirty years, and begot Reu. ¹⁹ After he begot Reu, Peleg lived two hundred and nine years, and begot sons and daughters. ²⁰ Reu lived thirty-two years, and begot Serug. ²¹ After he begot Serug, Reu lived two hundred and seven years, and begot sons and daughters. ²² Serug lived thirty years, and begot Nahor. ²³ After he begot Nahor, Serug lived two hundred years, and begot sons and daughters. ²⁴ Nahor lived twenty-nine years, and begot Terah. ²⁵ After he begot Terah, Nahor lived one hundred and nineteen years, and begot sons and daughters. ²⁶ Now Terah lived seventy years, and begot Abram, Nahor, and Haran.

²⁷ This is the genealogy of Terah: Terah begot Abram, Nahor, and Haran. Haran begot Lot. ²⁸ And Haran died before his father Terah in his native land, in Ur of the Chaldeans. ²⁹ Then Abram and Nahor took wives: the name of Abram’s wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor’s wife, Milcah, the daughter of Haran the father of Milcah and the father of Iscah. ³⁰ But Sarai was barren; she had no child. 

³¹ And Terah took his son Abram and his grandson Lot, the son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, his son Abram’s wife, and they went out with them from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to the land of Canaan; and they came to Haran and dwelt there. ³² So the days of Terah were two hundred and five years, and Terah died in Haran.

Tower of Babel - Shinar = Babylon

We revisit the Tower of Babel here in connection with Shinar. In Genesis 10:8 we see that Nimrod is the founder of Babel and other cities in the land of Shinar. Various sources agree that Shinar is also the location for Babylon. Perhaps Babylon was at the same site as Babel which existed before it. It was the arrogance of man that led to the Babel project, which led God to destroy the project by dispersing them. One way that God dispersed the people building Babel is to confuse their language. It is ineresting to note that at the Day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came, and the people shared the same language again.

In the Daniel passage below, it clearly identifies Shinar with Babylon when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon brought the plunder from Isreal back to Shinar.

In the Isaiah passage below, Shinar is also mentioned. The passage appears to be the fulfilment of the return of Jews from all over the world to Isreal which was created 60 years ago.

The passage in Zechariah seems to be a vision. In particular one interpretation may be the preparation for the future rebuilding of Babylon (To build a house for it in the land of Shinar) as the opposite of God's Holy city of Jerusalem.




Genesis 10

8 Cush begot Nimrod; he began to be a mighty one on the earth. 9 He was a mighty hunter before the LORD; therefore it is said, “Like Nimrod the mighty hunter before the LORD.” 10And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. 11 From that land he went to Assyria and built Nineveh, Rehoboth Ir, Calah, 12 and Resen between Nineveh and Calah (that is the principal city).


Genesis 11:1-9

 1 Now the whole earth had one language and one speech. 2 And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar, and they dwelt there. 3 Then they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They had brick for stone, and they had asphalt for mortar. 4 And they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.”
5 But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. 6 And the LORD said, “Indeed the people are one and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them. 7 Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.” 8 So the LORD scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they ceased building the city. 9 Therefore its name is called Babel, because there the LORD confused the language of all the earth; and from there the LORD scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth.



Daniel 1:
 1 In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it. 2 And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, with some of the articles of the house of God, which he carried into the land of Shinar to the house of his god; and he brought the articles into the treasure house of his god.


Isaiah 11:
 11 It shall come to pass in that day
      That the Lord shall set His hand again the second time
      To recover the remnant of His people who are left,
      From Assyria and Egypt,
      From Pathros and Cush,
      From Elam and Shinar,
      From Hamath and the islands of the sea.
       12 He will set up a banner for the nations,
      And will assemble the outcasts of Israel,
      And gather together the dispersed of Judah
      From the four corners of the earth.


Zechariah 5

5 Then the angel who talked with me came out and said to me, “Lift your eyes now, and see what this is that goes forth.”
6 So I asked, “What is it?” And he said, “It is a basket[a] that is going forth.”
He also said, “This is their resemblance throughout the earth: 7 Here is a lead disc lifted up, and this is a woman sitting inside the basket”; 8 then he said, “This is Wickedness!” And he thrust her down into the basket, and threw the lead cover[b] over its mouth. 9 Then I raised my eyes and looked, and there were two women, coming with the wind in their wings; for they had wings like the wings of a stork, and they lifted up the basket between earth and heaven.
10 So I said to the angel who talked with me, “Where are they carrying the basket?”
11 And he said to me, “To build a house for it in the land of Shinar;[c] when it is ready, the basket will be set there on its base.”

The Nations of the Earth

In Genesis 10, the descendants of Noah's three sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth are listed. From these three branches will come all the races in the world we have today. It is commonly believe that the line of Ham became the Africans, the line of Shem are the Middle Eastern and Central Asian peoples. The line of Japheth is thought by some to be the origins of the European people while others believe they are the origins of the Asian peoples.

In prophecy in Ezekiel 38, we see that it is the descendants of Japheth, that will come against God's people in His Land. It could be a confederation of the Europeans and / or Asians. But it will not likely be the Africans.

In v9, Nimrod was mentioned as a descendant of Ham. Nimrod was founder of Bablyon, Assyria and other cities / civilisations in the valley of Shinar. This was also where the Tower of Babel was built, either by Nimrod or his kin. In prophecy, Babylon is mentioned several times in the Book of Revelation. Some believe the literal re-building of Babylon so that events in the Revelation will come to pass literally.

Ezekiel 38
 ¹ Now the word of the LORD came to me, saying, ² “Son of man, set your face against Gog, of the land of Magog, the prince of Rosh,^[a] Meshech, and Tubal, and prophesy against him,³ and say, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “Behold, I am against you, O Gog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal. ⁴ I will turn you around, put hooks into your jaws, and lead you out, with all your army, horses, and horsemen, all splendidly clothed, a great company withbucklers and shields, all of them handling swords. ⁵ Persia, Ethiopia,^[b] and Libya^[c] are with them, all of them with shield and helmet; ⁶ Gomer and all its troops; the house of Togarmah from the far north and all its troops—many people are with you.


Genesis 10
¹ Now this is the genealogy of the sons of Noah: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. And sons were born to them after the flood.
² The sons of Japheth were Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras. ³ The sons of Gomer were Ashkenaz, Riphath,^[a] and Togarmah. ⁴ The sons of Javan were Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim.^[b] 5 From these the coastland peoples of the Gentiles were separated into their lands, everyone according to his language, according to their families, into their nations. 
⁶ The sons of Ham were Cush, Mizraim, Put,^[c] and Canaan. ⁷ The sons of Cush were Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, and Sabtechah; and the sons of Raamah were Sheba and Dedan. 
⁸ Cush begot Nimrod; he began to be a mighty one on the earth. ⁹ He was a mighty hunter before the LORD; therefore it is said, “Like Nimrod the mighty hunter before the LORD.” ¹⁰And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. ¹¹ From that land he went to Assyria and built Nineveh, Rehoboth Ir, Calah, ¹² and Resen between Nineveh and Calah (that is the principal city). 
¹³ Mizraim begot Ludim, Anamim, Lehabim, Naphtuhim, ¹⁴ Pathrusim, and Casluhim (from whom came the Philistines and Caphtorim). 
¹⁵ Canaan begot Sidon his firstborn, and Heth; ¹⁶ the Jebusite, the Amorite, and the Girgashite; ¹⁷ the Hivite, the Arkite, and the Sinite; ¹⁸ the Arvadite, the Zemarite, and the Hamathite. Afterward the families of the Canaanites were dispersed. ¹⁹ And the border of the Canaanites was from Sidon as you go toward Gerar, as far as Gaza; then as you go toward Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, as far as Lasha. ²⁰ These were the sons of Ham, according to their families, according to their languages, in their lands and in their nations. 
²¹ And children were born also to Shem, the father of all the children of Eber, the brother of Japheth the elder. ²² The sons of Shem were Elam, Asshur, Arphaxad, Lud, and Aram. ²³ The sons of Aram were Uz, Hul, Gether, and Mash.^[d] 24 Arphaxad begot Salah,^[e] and Salah begot Eber. ²⁵ To Eber were born two sons: the name of one was Peleg, for in his days the earth was divided; and his brother’s name was Joktan. ²⁶ Joktan begot Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah, ²⁷ Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah, ²⁸ Obal,^[f] Abimael, Sheba, ²⁹ Ophir, Havilah, and Jobab. All these were the sons of Joktan. ³⁰ And their dwelling place was from Mesha as you go toward Sephar, the mountain of the east. ³¹ These were the sons of Shem, according to their families, according to their languages, in their lands, according to their nations. 
³² These were the families of the sons of Noah, according to their generations, in their nations; and from these the nations were divided on the earth after the flood.

A Brave New World

The world was ready for a new beginning after the Great Flood. Noah and his family and all the animals in the Ark were all the creatures needed to repopulate the Earth. In v1, God commanded them to "be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth". This is the same command when God first Created Man and he creatures. However, the significant difference is in v2 and v3, where God caused the animals to fear Man, (presumably before this, the animals and man lived together without fear for each other) and God now allows man to eat other animals. 


In v9, we also see God establishing his covenant with Noah and his sons. Presumably before the Flood, there was an understanding between God and those that walked with Him, that they will be God's people and would enjoy God's favour and protection. However, just after the Flood, it is understandable that God would need to re-affirm his commitment to His chose line of people. The sign of the covenant is the Rainbow. The covenant also included the promise that future judgement would not be brought by another world wide flood.




Genesis 9


¹ So God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them: “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth.^[a] 2 And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be on every beast of the earth, on every bird of the air, on all that move on the earth, and on all the fish of the sea. They are given into your hand. ³ Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. I have given you all things, even as the green herbs. ⁴ But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. ⁵ Surely for your lifeblood I will demand a reckoning; from the hand of every beast I will require it, and from the hand of man. From the hand of every man’s brother I will require the life of man.
 ⁶ “ Whoever sheds man’s blood,
      By man his blood shall be shed;
      For in the image of God
      He made man.
 ⁷ And as for you, be fruitful and multiply;
      Bring forth abundantly in the earth
      And multiply in it.” 
⁸ Then God spoke to Noah and to his sons with him, saying: ⁹ “And as for Me, behold, I establish My covenant with you and with your descendants^[b] after you, ¹⁰ and with every living creature that is with you: the birds, the cattle, and every beast of the earth with you, of all that go out of the ark, every beast of the earth. ¹¹ Thus I establish My covenant with you: Never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood; never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.” 
¹² And God said: “This is the sign of the covenant which I make between Me and you, and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: ¹³ I set My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be for the sign of the covenant between Me and the earth. ¹⁴ It shall be, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the rainbow shall be seen in the cloud; ¹⁵ and I will remember My covenant which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. ¹⁶ The rainbow shall be in the cloud, and I will look on it to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” ¹⁷ And God said to Noah, “Thisis the sign of the covenant which I have established between Me and all flesh that is on the earth.”

After the Flood

A few time frame to note about the Great Flood. Incidentally, other cultures also have the legend of the Great Flood in them. In some Bible commentary, the Great Flood is believed to occur around 2319BC. From the Scripture, the Flood consisted of non-stop rain for 40 days and 40 nights. Then it took another 150 days for most of the water to recede. And it was a little time more before it was dry enough for Noah to come out.

The Flood was so great that it covered the Earth and took almost more than half a year to dry. Also Noah had to sent some birds out to see if there was dry land, imagine the view from the Ark is essentially looking out into the ocean, and Noah may not know there was dry land over the horizon. If we ask how could 40 days of rain produced so much water, then in v2, the answer is that the Flood is caused by rain (windows from heaven) as well as water coming out from underground (fountains of the deep).

One of the very first thing Noah did was to worship God. Noah also sacrificed some of the animals he brought into the Ark. Perhaps this explains God asked him to take 7 pairs of some animals while only one pair of others.

God was so moved by His actions on the magnitude of the Flood that he promised that there will never be such an event again. So in the tribulation, armageddon and other end times events, God will not try to destroy people, but rather His Will is to save as many people as possible before that Great Day (see 2 Peter 3 below).

Genesis 8

Noah’s Deliverance

 ¹ Then God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the animals that were with him in the ark. And God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters subsided. ² The fountains of the deep and the windows of heaven were also stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained.³ And the waters receded continually from the earth. At the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters decreased. ⁴ Then the ark rested in the seventh month, the seventeenth day of the month, on the mountains of Ararat. ⁵ And the waters decreased continually until the tenth month. In the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains were seen.
⁶ So it came to pass, at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made. ⁷ Then he sent out a raven, which kept going to and fro until the waters had dried up from the earth. ⁸ He also sent out from himself a dove, to see if the waters had receded from the face of the ground. ⁹ But the dove found no resting place for the sole of her foot, and she returned into the ark to him, for the waters were on the face of the whole earth. So he put out his hand and took her, and drew her into the ark to himself. ¹⁰ And he waited yet another seven days, and again he sent the dove out from the ark. ¹¹ Then the dove came to him in the evening, and behold, a freshly plucked olive leaf was in her mouth; and Noah knew that the waters had receded from the earth. ¹² So he waited yet another seven days and sent out the dove, which did not return again to him anymore. 
¹³ And it came to pass in the six hundred and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, that the waters were dried up from the earth; and Noah removed the covering of the ark and looked, and indeed the surface of the ground was dry. ¹⁴ And in the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dried. 
¹⁵ Then God spoke to Noah, saying, ¹⁶ “Go out of the ark, you and your wife, and your sons and your sons’ wives with you. ¹⁷ Bring out with you every living thing of all flesh that is with you: birds and cattle and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, so that they may abound on the earth, and be fruitful and multiply on the earth.” ¹⁸ So Noah went out, and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives with him. ¹⁹ Every animal, every creeping thing, every bird, and whatever creeps on the earth, according to their families, went out of the ark.

God’s Covenant with Creation

   
²⁰ Then Noah built an altar to the LORD, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. ²¹ And the LORD smelled a soothing aroma. Then the LORD said in His heart, “I will never again curse the ground for man’s sake, although the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; nor will I again destroy every living thing as I have done. ²² “While the earth remains,
      Seedtime and harvest,
      Cold and heat,
      Winter and summer,
      And day and night
      Shall not cease.”

2 Peter 3

⁵ For this they willfully forget: that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water, ⁶ by which the worldthat then existed perished, being flooded with water. ⁷ But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.
⁸ But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. ⁹ The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us,^[b] not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.

The Great Flood

Interesting to see the Movie 2012, that the best solution to save humanity was to build the Arks. Of course this was God's idea to save mankind during the Great Flood. We have to keep two things in mind when reading this. God's resolve to destroy all living things, even man which he created personally and was described as "All in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit". God is a just God and he had just reasons for such a devastating judgement, even on man whom he loved dearly.


However, we see that God also keeps His promise in Genesis, that out of a woman would come the saviour of the world. And in his perfect timing, he found his perfect man in Noah (not that he was 100% perfect) who walked with God and different to the rest of the others. In contrast to His terrifying judgement, we also see his truly loving side in wanting to preserve His Creation which included man as well as the animals.




Genesis 7 
 ¹ Then the LORD said to Noah, “Come into the ark, you and all your household, because I have seen that you are righteous before Me in this generation. ² You shall take with you seven each of every clean animal, a male and his female; two each of animals that are unclean, a male and his female; ³ also seven each of birds of the air, male and female, to keep the species alive on the face of all the earth. ⁴ For after seven more days I will cause it to rain on the earth forty days and forty nights, and I will destroy from the face of the earth all living things that I have made.” ⁵ And Noah did according to all that the LORD commanded him. ⁶Noah was six hundred years old when the floodwaters were on the earth.
⁷ So Noah, with his sons, his wife, and his sons’ wives, went into the ark because of the waters of the flood. ⁸ Of clean animals, of animals that are unclean, of birds, and of everything that creeps on the earth, ⁹ two by two they went into the ark to Noah, male and female, as God had commanded Noah. ¹⁰ And it came to pass after seven days that the waters of the flood were on the earth. ¹¹ In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened. ¹² And the rain was on the earth forty days and forty nights. 
¹³ On the very same day Noah and Noah’s sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and Noah’s wife and the three wives of his sons with them, entered the ark— ¹⁴ they and every beast after its kind, all cattle after their kind, every creeping thing that creeps on the earth after its kind, and every bird after its kind, every bird of every sort. ¹⁵ And they went into the ark to Noah, two by two, of all flesh in which isthe breath of life. ¹⁶ So those that entered, male and female of all flesh, went in as God had commanded him; and the LORD shut him in. 
¹⁷ Now the flood was on the earth forty days. The waters increased and lifted up the ark, and it rose high above the earth. ¹⁸ The waters prevailed and greatly increased on the earth, and the ark moved about on the surface of the waters. ¹⁹And the waters prevailed exceedingly on the earth, and all the high hills under the whole heaven were covered. ²⁰ The waters prevailed fifteen cubits upward, and the mountains were covered. ²¹ And all flesh died that moved on the earth: birds and cattle and beasts and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, and every man. ²² All in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit^[a] of life, all that was on the dry land, died. ²³ So He destroyed all living things which were on the face of the ground: both man and cattle, creeping thing and bird of the air. They were destroyed from the earth. Only Noah and those who were with him in the ark remained alive. ²⁴ And the waters prevailed on the earth one hundred and fifty days.