Genesis 6
The giants
1There were more and more people on earth and they also had daughters. 2Some of the angels saw that these daughters were beautiful and they married the daughters that they wanted.’ 3Then the Lord said: ‘I will not let men and women live forever. When they get too old, they will die. I will let them live for 120 years, and then they will die.’
4In that time there were giants on earth. The giants were the children of the angels who had married the people's daughters. The giants were very strong soldiers and everyone knew about them.
The Lord wants to kill all the people and animals
5The Lord saw that the people had become very bad. They always wanted to do things that were wrong. 6The Lord felt sorry that He had made people 7and the Lord said: ‘I will kill all the people that I have made. I will destroy them. I will also destroy all the animals and birds that I have made. I am sorry that I have made them.’
God calls Noah
8-9The Lord was pleased with Noah.
Here is the story of Noah. He was the only man who was good and righteous. He listened to God and served Him. 10Noah had 3 sons. Their names were Shem, Ham and Japheth.
11-12God saw that the people on earth were bad, and everything they did was bad. People started to hurt and kill each other. Everything they did was wrong. God looked at the people on earth and He saw that they were all very bad. 13Then God said to Noah: ‘I am going to destroy all the people. They are bad and they have made the earth bad. 14Noah, you must cut down cypress trees. Take the wood and build an ark. You must build rooms in the ark and put tar over the wood on the inside and the outside. 15The ark must be 300 cubits long, 50 cubits wide and 30 cubits high. 16Build a roof over the ark. Make openings like windows of 1 cubit between the roof and the sides. You must put a door on one side and make 3 floors on top of each other, a bottom floor, a middle floor and a top floor.’
17I am going to send lots of rain and a big flood of water that will kill and destroy everyone on earth. All the people and all the animals will die. 18But Noah, I will make a covenant with you. You must go into the ark with your sons, your wife and the wives of your sons. 19-20Take a male and a female of every kind of animal into the ark with you. You must also take a male and a female of every bird and every small creeping animal. I do not want to destroy them. 21Get enough food for yourselves and for all the animals and take the food with you.’
22Noah did what God told him to do.
English Bible for the Deaf © Bible Society of South Africa 2019. Used with permission. All rights reserved.