Chapter 8

People begin to live on the earth again, 8:1-22

v1 But God remembered Noah. And God remembered all the wild animals and *cattle that were with Noah. They were with Noah in the *ark. And God made a wind blow over the earth. And the waters went down. v2 God stopped the waters that were rushing up from the seas. He stopped the waters that were pouring down from the sky. He stopped the rain. v3 All the time, the waters were going down. After 150 days, the waters had gone down. v4 On the 17th day in the 7th month, the *ark rested. It rested on the mountains called Ararat. v5 The waters were still going down until the 10th month. Then Noah could see the tops of the mountains. That was on the 1st day in the 10th month. v6 After 40 days, Noah opened the window. That is, the window of the *ark that he had made. v7 He sent out a raven (a fairly large black bird). The raven continued to fly about until later, when the waters had gone. It flew about until the earth was dry. v8 Then Noah sent out a *dove. Noah needed to know whether the waters had gone down. He needed to know whether the earth was dry. v9 However, the *dove did not find any dry place to settle on. It came back to the *ark because the waters still covered all the earth. Noah put out his hand and he brought the *dove back into the *ark. v10 Noah waited for 7 more days and then again he sent out the *dove from the *ark. v11 The *dove came back to Noah in the evening. It had a fresh leaf in its mouth. It had picked the leaf from an *olive tree. Then Noah knew that the waters had gone down from the earth. v12 Then he waited for 7 more days and he sent the *dove out again. The *dove did not come back again. v13 In Noahs 601st year, the waters had dried off the earth. That was on the 1st day in the 1st month. Noah took the cover off the *ark and he looked. Look! The grounds surface was dry. v14 On the 27th day in the 2nd month, the earth was completely dry. v15 Then God said to Noah, v16 Go out of the *ark. I say that to you and your wife. And I say it to your sons and your sons wives. v17 Take with you all the *creatures that live. Take all the kinds of *creatures that are with you. Take the birds and animals. And take every *creature that crawls on the earth. Then they will have large families and those will give birth to very many young *creatures. So then they will live everywhere on the earth. v18 So Noah went out, with his sons, his wife and his sons wives. v19 Every animal went out. Every *creature that crawls went out. And every bird went out. Everything that moves on the earth went out. They all went out as families from the *ark. v20 Then Noah built an *altar for the *Lords honour. Noah took some animals out of every kind of *clean animal. He took some birds out of every kind of *clean bird. And he offered *sacrifices that he burned on the *altar. v21 When the *Lord smelled the smell, the *Lord was pleased. And the *Lord said in himself, I will never again *curse the ground because of people. People are evil even when they are young. People want bad things and they think bad things. I punished every *creature that lived. But I will never again do that, as I did then. v22 While the earth exists, these things will not stop. People will sow and they will harvest. It will be cold and hot. There will be summer and winter. There will be day and night. It will always be so. This is a beautiful chapter. The terrible flood had destroyed the world that Noah knew. And Noahs *ark (boat) was floating on the water. Noah might have been afraid. But this is not a story of despair. It is a story of hope. God had not forgotten the *ark and its inhabitants. God remembered Noah. And Noah trusted God.

At last, the rain stopped. And slowly, the level of the water went down. First, Noah felt that the *arks movement stopped. After some time, Noah could see the tops of the mountains. The mountains seemed bare, without any plants. But then plants started to grow again. It was as if God was creating a new world. Each week, Noah carefully recorded the progress of the waters. He sent out birds so that he would know the situation. At last, God told Noah to leave the *ark. God would be kind to Noah and his family. And God would be kind to the animals and birds that left the *ark. They were few in number. But their numbers would increase. Noah was grateful to God. Although there were only a few animals, Noah gave some animals as *sacrifices to God. Noah wanted to please God, like Abel in Genesis 4:4. And God was pleased with Noah. God knew that people were still *sinful (Genesis 8:21). Gods plan was that Jesus would die in order to forgive their *sins. But God made a promise to Noah. God promised to protect the earth. He will make sure that seasons and days continue. And this promise lasts until the end of the world.

Notes on the verses

Verse 1 Remembered Noah means took care of Noah. Many things in this story remind us about Gods *creation. Before God created the earth, Gods Spirit moved gently over the water. And here God made a wind blow over the water. In *Hebrew, the same word means both spirit and wind. In *creation, God had gathered waters together above the earth. He had gathered waters together in the seas. And here, after the flood, God collected water together again. Verse 3 The writer of this story tells us the days when things happened. He tells us how long things took. He often tells us that the water was going down. That reminds us that there was a lot of water. It was a very big flood. Verse 5 The waters were going down all the time. But at first, Noah could not see this. Noah was only able to see this after several weeks passed. God does things to help us. But he is often doing them for a long time before we know it. Verse 7 A raven is a fairly large black bird. It can fly for a long time before it gets tired. One raven went out and it did not come back. We believe that the first raven lived outside until its companion came out later. Ravens eat meat from dead animals. Many animals died in the flood. So, there was plenty of food for the raven. Verse 8 Noah probably waited seven days before he sent out the *dove. He did wait 7 more days before he sent it out again. The writer says that in verse 10. Unlike ravens, *doves do not eat meat from dead animals. *Doves need plants. So we can see that the plants had not yet grown. Verse 9 In the original *Hebrew story, some words sound like the name Noah. Those are the words for *dove and place to rest. Noah had so many *creatures to look after. But even so, he still cared about the *dove. Verse 10 Noah may have considered the 7th day in a week as special. There is some evidence for that. He sent the birds out at certain times. The interval between those times was 7 days. An *olive tree has a special meaning. If something is like an *olive tree, that thing is beautiful and *fruitful. We can read in the Bible that Israel will be like an *olive tree (Hosea 14:6). It seems that this *olive tree did not die during the flood. And now it was growing again. Verse 14 The earth had to be dry enough for all the *creatures to live there. Noah had to make sure that it was dry enough.

Verse 17 When God created everything, he also gave this command. He said that *creatures should have large families. And they should grow in number. It was very necessary at that time, when only a few *creatures were living on the earth. And when God created people, he said the same thing to them. But today the situation is different. God allows some people to have large families. But this is not Gods plan for everyone. Today, very many people live on the earth. Verse 20 The writer does not tell us that Noah built *altars before the flood. And he does not tell us that Noah *sacrificed animals then. But Noah had probably done those things already. He did them immediately after he came out from the *ark. He knew which animals he should *sacrifice to please the *Lord. In other religions, too, there are stories about a flood. Some things in those stories are the same as they are in Genesis. But the important things are very different. We can read these things in Genesis only. There is one God, who has power over everything. He is good and he is a fair judge. And he loves people. Noah, the man that stayed alive after the flood, was a good man. He obeyed God. Only the writer of the Book of Genesis tells us about those things. Verse 21 It seemed like a new world. But people were still evil. Everybody does evil things. Only God can forgive us, because of Jesus. See Romans 3:23-24. Verse 22 God gave a wonderful promise. Because Noah obeyed God, God changed the world.