< Genesis 8 >
1 And God remembered Noah, and all the wild animals, and all the tame animals, and all the flying creatures, and all the crawling creatures that were with him in the ship; and God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters began to recede.
上帝記念挪亞和挪亞方舟裏的一切走獸牲畜。上帝叫風吹地,水勢漸落。
2 And the fountains of the deep and the floodgates of the sky were closed, and the rain from the sky was restrained.
淵源和天上的窗戶都閉塞了,天上的大雨也止住了。
3 And the waters receded steadily from the land. And after the end of one hundred fifty days the waters had decreased significantly.
水從地上漸退。過了一百五十天,水就漸消。
4 And in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, the ship came to rest on the mountains of Ararat.
七月十七日,方舟停在亞拉臘山上。
5 The waters receded continually to the tenth month. In the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains became visible.
水又漸消,到十月初一日,山頂都現出來了。
6 It happened at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ship which he had made,
過了四十天,挪亞開了方舟的窗戶,
7 and he sent forth a raven. It went back and forth, until the waters had dried up from the earth.
放出一隻烏鴉去;那烏鴉飛來飛去,直到地上的水都乾了。
8 Then he sent forth a dove from it, to see if the waters had abated from the surface of the ground,
他又放出一隻鴿子去,要看看水從地上退了沒有。
9 but the dove found no place to rest her foot, and she returned to him into the ship; for the waters were on the surface of the whole earth. He put forth his hand, and took her, and brought her to him into the ship.
但遍地上都是水,鴿子找不着落腳之地,就回到方舟挪亞那裏,挪亞伸手把鴿子接進方舟來。
10 And he waited yet another seven days; and again he sent forth the dove out of the ship.
他又等了七天,再把鴿子從方舟放出去。
11 The dove came back to him at evening, and, look, in her mouth was an olive leaf plucked off. So Noah knew that the waters had abated from the earth.
到了晚上,鴿子回到他那裏,嘴裏叼着一個新擰下來的橄欖葉子,挪亞就知道地上的水退了。
12 He stayed yet another seven days, and sent forth the dove; and she did not return to him any more.
他又等了七天,放出鴿子去,鴿子就不再回來了。
13 And it happened in the six hundred first year of Noah's life, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters had dried up from the earth. And Noah removed the covering of the ship and looked out. And look, the surface of the ground was dry.
到挪亞六百零一歲,正月初一日,地上的水都乾了。挪亞撤去方舟的蓋觀看,便見地面上乾了。
14 In the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dry.
到了二月二十七日,地就都乾了。
15 God spoke to Noah, saying,
上帝對挪亞說:
16 "Go out of the ship, you, and your wife, and your sons, and your sons' wives with you.
「你和你的妻子、兒子、兒婦都可以出方舟。
17 Bring out with you every living thing that is with you of all flesh, of flying creatures, and animals, and every creature that crawls on the earth, that they may swarm on the earth, and be fruitful and multiply on the earth."
在你那裏凡有血肉的活物,就是飛鳥、牲畜,和一切爬在地上的昆蟲,都要帶出來,叫牠在地上多多滋生,大大興旺。」
18 And Noah went forth, with his sons, his wife, and his sons' wives with him.
於是挪亞和他的妻子、兒子、兒婦都出來了。
19 And every wild animal, and every tame animal, and every flying creature, and every creature that crawls on the earth, after their families, went out of the ship.
一切走獸、昆蟲、飛鳥,和地上所有的動物,各從其類,也都出了方舟。
20 Noah built an altar to God, and took of every clean animal, and of every clean flying creature, and offered burnt offerings on the altar.
挪亞為耶和華築了一座壇,拿各類潔淨的牲畜、飛鳥獻在壇上為燔祭。
21 And God smelled the pleasing aroma, and God said in his heart, "I will never again curse the ground because of humankind, even though the inclination of his heart is evil from his youth, nor will I again destroy every living thing, as I have done.
耶和華聞那馨香之氣,就心裏說:「我不再因人的緣故咒詛地(人從小時心裏懷着惡念),也不再按着我才行的滅各種的活物了。
22 While the earth remains, seed time and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease."
地還存留的時候,稼穡、寒暑、冬夏、晝夜就永不停息了。」
A Dove is Sent Forth from the Ark