6 When people began to multiply on the earth’s surface, and they were having daughters,[ref] 2 God’s sons saw that men’s daughters were beautiful, and they took any that they wanted for themselves as wives. 3 Then Yahweh said, “My Spirit won’t tolerate people forever, because they are physical beings, therefore their remaining time will be 120 years.” 4 The NEFILIM were on the earth in those days and also after that, when the sons of God went to the daughters of humankind and they bore children for them. INVESTIGATE They were the mighty warriors of long ago—those famous men.[ref]

5 Then Yahweh saw that the humankind’s wickedness on the earth was extensive, and that every inclination of their inner thoughts was only evil all day long.[ref] 6 So Yahweh regretted that he had made humankind on the earth and he was deeply saddened, 7 so he said, “This humankind that I created, I will completely destroy them from the surface of the ground, along with the animals, and crawling creatures and the birds of the sky, because I regret that I made them.” 8 However, Yahweh noticed Noah and was pleased with him.

9 This is the account of Noah: He was a man who obeyed God, blameless among the people of his time and he walked around with God.[ref] 10 Noah had three sons: Yafet (Japheth), Shem, and Ham.

11 Now God noticed that humankind was corrupt and very violent. 12 Yes, God looked at the earth, and wow, all the living creatures on the earth had corrupted their behaviour.

13 So God told Noah, “I’ve decided to put an end to all people on earth because the earth is filled with violence because of them. So listen, I myself am going to destroy all of them, along with the earth. 14 Make yourself a wooden chest[fn] out of cypress. Build rooms inside it, and seal it both inside and outside with resin. 15 These are the dimensions for it: 140m long, 23m wide, and 14m high. 16 It must have a roof, but the last half a metre between the sides and the roof should remain open. Put the door in its side, and build lower, middle, and upper decks. 17 You see, I’m going to flood the earth with water to destroy every creature that breathes. Everything that’s on the earth will die. 18 But I’ll make an agreement with you, so you must go into this chest along with your wife and sons and their wives, 19 and you must take a pair, male and female, of everything that lives into the chest to keep alive with you. 20 Pairs of every kind of bird and animal, including every kind of creature that moves on the ground, will come to you so that you keep them alive, 21 and you must take with you some of every different kind of food and store it in there for you and them to eat. 22 So Noah did that exactly as God had specified.[ref]

7 Then Yahweh said to Noah, “Go into the ark, you and all your household, because I’ve seen that you’re the only one who obeys me in this generation. 2 Take in seven male and female pairs of every kind of ‘clean’ animal, and one male and female pair of the ‘unclean’ animals, 3 as well as seven male and female pairs of every kind of flying bird in order to preserve their kinds on the earth. 4 Seven days from now I’ll send forty days and nights of rain on the earth, and I’ll eliminate every living thing that I’ve made that’s still on the ground. 5 So Noah did everything that Yahweh had instructed him to do.

6 Noah was 600 years old when the flood covered the earth, 7 and he went into the wooden chest along with his wife, his three sons and their wives, in order to escape from the floodwaters.[ref] 8 ‘Clean’ and ‘unclean’ animals, the birds, and everything that lived on the ground 9 came to Noah in male and female pairs and went into the chest, just like God had instructed Noah. 10 Then when the seven days were up, water started to flood the earth.

11 When Noah was 600 years old (and around the beginning of May), deep underwater geysers in the ocean started spouting out water, and the skies began to drop heavy rain[ref] 12 that continued day and night for forty days. 13 That was the very day that Noah and Yafet and Shem and Ham and their wives had all entered the wooden chest. 14 They had with them every kind of living creature, including every kind of livestock and every other kind of creature that lives on the land, and every kind of bird and everything else that flies. 15 They had come to Noah in order to enter the chest—two by two of every creature with the breath of life. 16 So pairs of males and females of every creature entered just as God had instructed Noah, then Yahweh closed the door and they were shut in.

17 Then the flood came onto the earth for forty days, and the water rose so that the wooden chest was lifted up right off the land. 18 The water continued to rise and get deeper on the earth, and the chest floated along on top of the water. 19 Eventually the water on the earth got so deep that all the high mountains everywhere under the sky were under water— 20 in fact the water rose over seven metres above the tops of them. 21 By then every living creature that lived on the earth had drowned—birds, livestock, animals, every creature that swarms upon the earth, and all humankind. 22 Everything that had the breath of the spirit of life in its nostrils, everything that lived on dry land, died. 23 That’s how Yahweh completely annihilated every living creature off the earth, including humankind and livestock and crawling creatures and even the birds. Everything was annihilated except for Noah and those with him in the floating chest, 24 and the earth remained in full flood for 150 days.