The Story of Noah according to P (RSV)

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

6.9 These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation; Noah walked with God. 6.10 And Noah had three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

6.11 Now the earth was corrupt in God's sight, and the earth was filled with violence. 6.12 And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way upon the earth. 6.13 And God said to Noah, "I have determined to make an end of all flesh; for the earth is filled with violence through them; behold, I will destroy them with the earth. 6.14 Make yourself an ark of gopher wood; make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and out with pitch. 6.15 This is how you are to make it: the length of the ark three hundred cubits, its breadth fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits. 6.16 Make a roof for the ark, and finish it to a cubit above; and set the door of the ark in its side; make it with lower, second, and third decks.

6.17 For behold, I will bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life from under heaven; everything that is on the earth shall die. 6.18 But I will establish my covenant with you; and you shall come into the ark, you, your sons, your wife, and your sons' wives with you. 6.19 And of every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring two of every sort into the ark, to keep them alive with you; they shall be male and female. 6.20 Of the birds according to their kinds, and of the animals according to their kinds, of every creeping thing of the ground according to its kind, two of every sort shall come in to you, to keep them alive. 6.21 Also take with you every sort of food that is eaten, and store it up; and it shall serve as food for you and for them."

6.22 Noah did this; he did all that God commanded him. 7.8 Of clean animals, and of animals that are not clean, and of birds, and of everything that creeps on the ground, 7.9 two and two, male and female, went into the ark with Noah, as God had commanded Noah. 7.10 And after seven days the waters of the flood came upon the earth. [1]

7.11 In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the windows of the heavens were opened. 7.13 On the very same day Noah and his sons, Shem and Ham and Japheth, and Noah's wife and the three wives of his sons with them entered the ark, 7.14 they and every beast according to its kind, and all the cattle according to their kinds, and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth according to its kind, and every bird according to its kind, every bird of every sort. 7.15 They went into the ark with Noah, two and two of all flesh in which there was the breath of life. 7.16a And they that entered, male and female of all flesh, went in as God had commanded him; 7.21 And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, birds, cattle, beasts, all swarming creatures that swarm upon the earth, and every man; 7.24 And the waters prevailed upon the earth a hundred and fifty days.

8.1 But God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the cattle that were with him in the ark. And God made a wind blow over the earth, and the waters subsided; 8.2a the fountains of the deep and the windows of the heavens were closed. 8.3b At the end of a hundred and fifty days the waters had abated; 8.4 and in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, the ark came to rest upon the mountains of Ar'arat. 8.5 And the waters continued to abate until the tenth month; in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains were seen. 8.7 And [he] sent forth a raven; and it went to and fro until the waters were dried up from the earth.

8.13a In the six hundred and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried from off the earth;8.14 In the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dry. 8.15 Then God said to Noah, 8.16 "Go forth from the ark, you and your wife, and your sons and your sons' wives with you. 8.17 Bring forth with you every living thing that is with you of all flesh -- birds and animals and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth -- that they may breed abundantly on the earth, and be fruitful and multiply upon the earth." 8.18 So Noah went forth, and his sons and his wife and his sons' wives with him. 8.19 And every beast, every creeping thing, and every bird, everything that moves upon the earth, went forth by families out of the ark.

9.1 And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth. 9.2 The fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every bird of the air, upon everything that creeps on the ground and all the fish of the sea; into your hand they are delivered. 9.3 Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you; and as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything. 9.4 Only you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. 9.5 For your lifeblood I will surely require a reckoning; of every beast I will require it and of man; of every man's brother I will require the life of man. 9.6 Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for God made man in his own image. 9.7 And you, be fruitful and multiply, bring forth abundantly on the earth and multiply in it."

9.8 Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him, 9.9 "Behold, I establish my covenant with you and your descendants after you, 9.10 and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the cattle, and every beast of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark. 9.11 I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth." 9.12 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 all future generations: 9.13 I set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. 9.14 When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, 9.15 I will remember my covenant which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. 9.16 When the bow is in the clouds, I will look upon it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth." 9.17 God said to Noah, "This is the sign of the covenant which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth."

[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
humm@ccat.sas.upenn.edu