Chronological Plan

¹Now Adam had sexual relations with his wife, Eve, and she became pregnant. When she gave birth to Cain, she said, “With the LORD’s help, I have produced a man!”

²Later she gave birth to his brother and named him Abel. When they grew up, Abel became a shepherd, while Cain cultivated the ground.

³When it was time for the harvest, Cain presented some of his crops as a gift to the LORD.

⁴Abel also brought a gift — the best portions of the firstborn lambs from his flock. The LORD accepted Abel and his gift,

⁵but he did not accept Cain and his gift. This made Cain very angry, and he looked dejected.

⁶“Why are you so angry?” the LORD asked Cain. “Why do you look so dejected?

⁷You will be accepted if you do what is right. But if you refuse to do what is right, then watch out! Sin is crouching at the door, eager to control you. But you must subdue it and be its master.”

⁸One day Cain suggested to his brother, “Let’s go out into the fields.” And while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother, Abel, and killed him.

⁹Afterward the LORD asked Cain, “Where is your brother? Where is Abel?” “I don’t know,” Cain responded. “Am I my brother’s guardian?”

¹⁰But the LORD said, “What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground!

¹¹Now you are cursed and banished from the ground, which has swallowed your brother’s blood.

¹²No longer will the ground yield good crops for you, no matter how hard you work! From now on you will be a homeless wanderer on the earth.”

¹³Cain replied to the LORD, “My punishment is too great for me to bear!

¹⁴You have banished me from the land and from your presence; you have made me a homeless wanderer. Anyone who finds me will kill me!”

¹⁵The LORD replied, “No, for I will give a sevenfold punishment to anyone who kills you.” Then the LORD put a mark on Cain to warn anyone who might try to kill him.

¹⁶So Cain left the LORD’s presence and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden.

¹⁷Cain had sexual relations with his wife, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Enoch. Then Cain founded a city, which he named Enoch, after his son.

¹⁸Enoch had a son named Irad. Irad became the father of Mehujael. Mehujael became the father of Methushael. Methushael became the father of Lamech.

¹⁹Lamech married two women. The first was named Adah, and the second was Zillah.

²⁰Adah gave birth to Jabal, who was the first of those who raise livestock and live in tents.

²¹His brother’s name was Jubal, the first of all who play the harp and flute.

²²Lamech’s other wife, Zillah, gave birth to a son named Tubal-cain. He became an expert in forging tools of bronze and iron. Tubal-cain had a sister named Naamah.

²³One day Lamech said to his wives, “Adah and Zillah, hear my voice; listen to me, you wives of Lamech. I have killed a man who attacked me, a young man who wounded me.

²⁴If someone who kills Cain is punished seven times, then the one who kills me will be punished seventy-seven times!”

²⁵Adam had sexual relations with his wife again, and she gave birth to another son. She named him Seth, for she said, “God has granted me another son in place of Abel, whom Cain killed.”

²⁶When Seth grew up, he had a son and named him Enosh. At that time people first began to worship the LORD by name.

¹This is the written account of the descendants of Adam. When God created human beings, he made them to be like himself.

²He created them male and female, and he blessed them and called them “human.”

³When Adam was 130 years old, he became the father of a son who was just like him — in his very image. He named his son Seth.

⁴After the birth of Seth, Adam lived another 800 years, and he had other sons and daughters.

⁵Adam lived 930 years, and then he died.

⁶When Seth was 105 years old, he became the father of Enosh.

⁷After the birth of Enosh, Seth lived another 807 years, and he had other sons and daughters.

⁸Seth lived 912 years, and then he died.

⁹When Enosh was 90 years old, he became the father of Kenan.

¹⁰After the birth of Kenan, Enosh lived another 815 years, and he had other sons and daughters.

¹¹Enosh lived 905 years, and then he died.

¹²When Kenan was 70 years old, he became the father of Mahalalel.

¹³After the birth of Mahalalel, Kenan lived another 840 years, and he had other sons and daughters.

¹⁴Kenan lived 910 years, and then he died.

¹⁵When Mahalalel was 65 years old, he became the father of Jared.

¹⁶After the birth of Jared, Mahalalel lived another 830 years, and he had other sons and daughters.

¹⁷Mahalalel lived 895 years, and then he died.

¹⁸When Jared was 162 years old, he became the father of Enoch.

¹⁹After the birth of Enoch, Jared lived another 800 years, and he had other sons and daughters.

²⁰Jared lived 962 years, and then he died.

²¹When Enoch was 65 years old, he became the father of Methuselah.

²²After the birth of Methuselah, Enoch lived in close fellowship with God for another 300 years, and he had other sons and daughters.

²³Enoch lived 365 years,

²⁴walking in close fellowship with God. Then one day he disappeared, because God took him.

²⁵When Methuselah was 187 years old, he became the father of Lamech.

²⁶After the birth of Lamech, Methuselah lived another 782 years, and he had other sons and daughters.

²⁷Methuselah lived 969 years, and then he died.

²⁸When Lamech was 182 years old, he became the father of a son.

²⁹Lamech named his son Noah, for he said, “May he bring us relief from our work and the painful labor of farming this ground that the LORD has cursed.”

³⁰After the birth of Noah, Lamech lived another 595 years, and he had other sons and daughters.

³¹Lamech lived 777 years, and then he died.

³²After Noah was 500 years old, he became the father of Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

¹Then the people began to multiply on the earth, and daughters were born to them.

²The sons of God saw the beautiful women and took any they wanted as their wives.

³Then the LORD said, “My Spirit will not put up with humans for such a long time, for they are only mortal flesh. In the future, their normal lifespan will be no more than 120 years.”

⁴In those days, and for some time after, giant Nephilites lived on the earth, for whenever the sons of God had intercourse with women, they gave birth to children who became the heroes and famous warriors of ancient times.

⁵The LORD observed the extent of human wickedness on the earth, and he saw that everything they thought or imagined was consistently and totally evil.

⁶So the LORD was sorry he had ever made them and put them on the earth. It broke his heart.

⁷And the LORD said, “I will wipe this human race I have created from the face of the earth. Yes, and I will destroy every living thing — all the people, the large animals, the small animals that scurry along the ground, and even the birds of the sky. I am sorry I ever made them.”

⁸But Noah found favor with the LORD.

⁹This is the account of Noah and his family. Noah was a righteous man, the only blameless person living on earth at the time, and he walked in close fellowship with God.

¹⁰Noah was the father of three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

¹¹Now God saw that the earth had become corrupt and was filled with violence.

¹²God observed all this corruption in the world, for everyone on earth was corrupt.

¹³So God said to Noah, “I have decided to destroy all living creatures, for they have filled the earth with violence. Yes, I will wipe them all out along with the earth!

¹⁴“Build a large boat from cypress wood and waterproof it with tar, inside and out. Then construct decks and stalls throughout its interior.

¹⁵Make the boat 450 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet high.

¹⁶Leave an 18-inch opening below the roof all the way around the boat. Put the door on the side, and build three decks inside the boat — lower, middle, and upper.

¹⁷“Look! I am about to cover the earth with a flood that will destroy every living thing that breathes. Everything on earth will die.

¹⁸But I will confirm my covenant with you. So enter the boat — you and your wife and your sons and their wives.

¹⁹Bring a pair of every kind of animal — a male and a female — into the boat with you to keep them alive during the flood.

²⁰Pairs of every kind of bird, and every kind of animal, and every kind of small animal that scurries along the ground, will come to you to be kept alive.

²¹And be sure to take on board enough food for your family and for all the animals.”

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

¹When everything was ready, the LORD said to Noah, “Go into the boat with all your family, for among all the people of the earth, I can see that you alone are righteous.

²Take with you seven pairs — male and female — of each animal I have approved for eating and for sacrifice, and take one pair of each of the others.

³Also take seven pairs of every kind of bird. There must be a male and a female in each pair to ensure that all life will survive on the earth after the flood.

⁴Seven days from now I will make the rains pour down on the earth. And it will rain for forty days and forty nights, until I have wiped from the earth all the living things I have created.”

⁵So Noah did everything as the LORD commanded him.

⁶Noah was 600 years old when the flood covered the earth.

⁷He went on board the boat to escape the flood — he and his wife and his sons and their wives.

⁸With them were all the various kinds of animals — those approved for eating and for sacrifice and those that were not — along with all the birds and the small animals that scurry along the ground.

⁹They entered the boat in pairs, male and female, just as God had commanded Noah.

¹⁰After seven days, the waters of the flood came and covered the earth.

¹¹When Noah was 600 years old, on the seventeenth day of the second month, all the underground waters erupted from the earth, and the rain fell in mighty torrents from the sky.

¹²The rain continued to fall for forty days and forty nights.

¹³That very day Noah had gone into the boat with his wife and his sons — Shem, Ham, and Japheth — and their wives.

¹⁴With them in the boat were pairs of every kind of animal — domestic and wild, large and small — along with birds of every kind.

¹⁵Two by two they came into the boat, representing every living thing that breathes.

¹⁶A male and female of each kind entered, just as God had commanded Noah. Then the LORD closed the door behind them.

¹⁷For forty days the floodwaters grew deeper, covering the ground and lifting the boat high above the earth.

¹⁸As the waters rose higher and higher above the ground, the boat floated safely on the surface.

¹⁹Finally, the water covered even the highest mountains on the earth,

²⁰rising more than twenty-two feet above the highest peaks.

²¹All the living things on earth died — birds, domestic animals, wild animals, small animals that scurry along the ground, and all the people.

²²Everything that breathed and lived on dry land died.

²³God wiped out every living thing on the earth — people, livestock, small animals that scurry along the ground, and the birds of the sky. All were destroyed. The only people who survived were Noah and those with him in the boat.

²⁴And the floodwaters covered the earth for 150 days.