Genesis 8
1 But God (did not forget/thought) about Noah and all the wild animals and all the kinds of livestock that were with him in the boat. So one day God sent a wind to blow across the earth, and the wind caused the water [to begin] to recede.
天主想起了諾厄和同他在方舟內的一切野獸和牲畜，遂使風吹過大地，水漸漸退落；
2 God caused the water that was under the earth to stop bursting forth, and he caused the floodgates of water from the sky to close so that it stopped raining.
深淵的泉源和天上的水閘已關閉，雨也由天上停止降落，
3 The water on the earth gradually receded. 150 days after the flood began,
於是水逐漸由地上退去；過了一百五十天，水就低落了。
4 (on the 17th day of the seventh month [of that year/late in March]), the boat came to rest on one of the mountains in the Ararat region.
七月十七日，方舟停在阿辣辣特山上。
5 The water continued to recede until, on the first day of the tenth month [of that year], the tops of other mountains became visible.
洪水繼續減退，直到十月；十月一日，許多山頂都露出來。
6 40 days later, Noah opened the window that he had made in the side of the boat, and sent out a raven.
過了四十天，諾厄開了在方舟上做的窗戶，
7 The raven flew back and forth [to and from the boat] until the water was completely gone.
放了一隻烏鴉；烏鴉飛去又飛回，直到地上的水都乾了。
8 Then Noah sent out a dove to find out if the water had all receded on the ground.
諾厄等待了七天，又放出了一隻鴿子，看看水是否已由地面退盡。
9 But the dove did not find any place to perch, so it flew back to Noah in the boat, because there was still water all over the surface of the earth. So Noah reached out his hand and took the dove back inside the boat.
但是，因為全地面上還有水，鴿子找不著落腳的地方，遂飛回方舟；諾厄伸手將牠接入方舟內。
10 Noah waited seven more days. Then he sent the dove out of the boat again.
再等了七天，他由方舟中又放出一隻鴿子，
11 This time the dove returned to him in the evening and, [surprisingly], in its beak there was a leaf from an olive tree that the dove had just plucked. Then Noah knew that the water had truly receded from the surface of the ground.
傍晚時，那隻鴿子飛回他那裏，看，嘴裏啣著一根綠的橄欖樹枝；諾厄於是知道，水已由地上退去。
12 Noah waited seven more days. Then he sent the dove out again, but this time it did not return to him.
諾厄又等了七天再放出一隻鴿子；這隻鴿子沒有回來。
13 Noah was now 601 years old. By the first day of the first month [of the Jewish year], the water had completely drained away from the ground. Noah removed the covering on top of the ark, and he was surprised to see that the surface of the ground was drying.
諾厄六百零一歲，正月初一，地上的水都乾了，諾厄就撤開方舟的頂觀望，看見地面已乾。
14 By the 27th day of the next month, the ground was completely dry.
二月二十七日，大地全乾了。
15 Then God said to Noah,
天主於是吩咐諾厄說：「
16 “Leave the boat, along with your wife and your sons and their wives.
你和你的妻子、兒子及兒媳，同你由方舟出來；
17 Bring out with you all the birds, the animals, and all the creatures that scurry across the ground, in order that they can spread all over the earth and become very numerous.”
所有同你在方舟內的有血肉的生物：飛禽、牲畜和各種地上的爬蟲，你都帶出來，叫他們在地上滋生，在地上生育繁殖。」
18 So Noah left the boat, along with his wife and his sons and their wives.
諾厄遂同他的兒子、妻子及兒媳出來；
19 And every kind of creature, including all those that scurry across the ground, all the birds, every creature that moves on the earth, left the boat. They left the boat in groups of their own species.
所有的爬蟲、飛禽和地上所有的動物，各依其類出了方舟。
20 Then Noah built a (stone altar/place for offering sacrifices) to Yahweh. Then he took some of the animals that Yahweh had said were acceptable as sacrifices and killed them. Then he burned them whole on the altar.
諾厄給上主築了一座祭壇，拿各種潔淨的牲畜和潔淨的飛禽，獻在祭壇上，作為全燔祭。
21 When Yahweh smelled the pleasant odor, he was pleased with the sacrifice. Then he said to himself, “I will never again devastate everything on the earth because of the sinful things people do. Even though everything that people think is evil from the time they are young, I will not destroy all the living creatures again, as I did this time.
上主聞到了馨香，心裏說：「我再不為人的緣故咒罵大地，因為人心的思念從小就邪惡；我也再不照我所作的打擊一切生物了，
22 As long as the earth exists, each year there will be seasons for planting seeds and seasons for harvesting crops. Each year there will be times when it is cold and times when it is hot, summer and winter (OR, rainy season and dry season). Each day there will be daytime and nighttime.”
只願大地存在之日，稼穡寒暑，冬夏晝夜，循環不息。」
A Dove is Sent Forth from the Ark
