The Story of Noah according to J (RSV)

Taken from Frank Frick, A Journey Through the Hebrew Scriptures, who is in turn following Friedman.

6.1 When men began to multiply on the face of the ground, and daughters were born to them, 6.2 the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were fair; and they took to wife such of them as they chose. 6.3 Then the LORD said, "My spirit shall not abide in man for ever, for he is flesh, but his days shall be a hundred and twenty years." 6.4 The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men, and they bore children to them. These were the mighty men that were of old, the men of renown.

6.5 The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6.6 And the LORD was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. 6.7 So the LORD said, "I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the ground, man and beast and creeping things and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them." 6.8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD.

7.1 Then the LORD said to Noah, "Go into the ark, you and all your household, for I have seen that you are righteous before me in this generation. 7.2 Take with you seven pairs of all clean animals, the male and his mate; and a pair of the animals that are not clean, the male and his mate; 7.3 and seven pairs of the birds of the air also, male and female, to keep their kind alive upon the face of all the earth. 7.4 For in seven days I will send rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights; and every living thing that I have made I will blot out from the face of the ground." 7.5 And Noah did all that the LORD had commanded him.

7.7 And Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons' wives with him went into the ark, to escape the waters of the flood. 7.10 And after seven days the waters of the flood came upon the earth. [1] 7.12 And rain fell upon the earth forty days and forty nights. 7.16b and the LORD shut him in.

7.17 The flood continued forty days upon the earth; and the waters increased, and bore up the ark, and it rose high above the earth. 7.18 The waters prevailed and increased greatly upon the earth; and the ark floated on the face of the waters. 7.19 And the waters prevailed so mightily upon the earth that all the high mountains under the whole heaven were covered; 7.20 the waters prevailed above the mountains, covering them fifteen cubits deep. 7.22 everything on the dry land in whose nostrils was the breath of life died. 7.23 He blotted out every living thing that was upon the face of the ground, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the air; they were blotted out from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those that were with him in the ark. 8.2b the rain from the heavens was restrained, 8.3a and the waters receded from the earth continually.

8.6 At the end of forty days Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made, 8.8 Then he sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters had subsided from the face of the ground; 8.9 but the dove found no place to set her foot, and she returned to him to the ark, for the waters were still on the face of the whole earth. So he put forth his hand and took her and brought her into the ark with him. 8.10 He waited another seven days, and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark; 8.11 and the dove came back to him in the evening, and lo, in her mouth a freshly plucked olive leaf; so Noah knew that the waters had subsided from the earth. 8.12 Then he waited another seven days, and sent forth the dove; and she did not return to him any more.

8.13b and Noah removed the covering of the ark, and looked, and behold, the face of the ground was dry. 8.20 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. 8.21 And when the LORD smelled the pleasing odor, the LORD said in his heart, "I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; neither will I ever again destroy every living creature as I have done. 8.22 While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease."

9.18 The sons of Noah who went forth from the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Ham was the father of Canaan. 9.19 These three were the sons of Noah; and from these the whole earth was peopled.

9.20 Noah was the first tiller of the soil. He planted a vineyard; 9.21 and he drank of the wine, and became drunk, and lay uncovered in his tent. 9.22 And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brothers outside. 9.23 Then Shem and Japheth took a garment, laid it upon both their shoulders, and walked backward and covered the nakedness of their father; their faces were turned away, and they did not see their father's nakedness. 9.24 When Noah awoke from his wine and knew what his youngest son had done to him, 9.25 he said,
"Cursed be Canaan;
a slave of slaves shall he be to his brothers."
9.26 He also said,
"Blessed by the LORD my God be Shem;
and let Canaan be his slave."
9.27 God enlarge Japheth,
and let him dwell in the tents of Shem;
and let Canaan be his slave."


[1] Frick includes verse 7.10 in both 'J' and 'P'. [AH]
prepared for Intro. to the Old Testament

Last Modified Sep. 28, 1995

Alan Humm