And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth. And fear of you and dread of you shall be upon every animal of the earth, and on every bird of heaven, and on everything that moves upon the ground, and on all the fish of the sea. Into your hand they shall be given. Every moving thing that lives shall be for you as food. As I gave the green plants to you, I have now given you everything. Only you shall not eat raw flesh with blood in it. And your lifeblood I will require; from every animal I will require it. And from the hand of humankind, from the hand of each man to his brother I will require the life of humankind.

"And you, be fruitful and multiply, swarm on the earth and multiply in it." And God said to Noah and to his sons with him, "As for me, behold, I am establishing my covenant with you and with your seed after you, and with every living creature that is with you—the birds, the animals, and every animal of the earth with you, from all that came out of the ark to all the animals of the earth. I am establishing my covenant with you, that never again will all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood, nor will there ever be a flood that destroys the earth." And God said, "This is the sign of the covenant that I am making between me and you, and between every living creature that is with you for future generations. My bow I have set in the clouds, and it shall be for a sign of the covenant between me and between the earth. And when I make clouds appear over the earth the bow shall be seen in the clouds. Then I will remember my covenant that is between me and you, and between every living creature, with all flesh. And the waters of a flood will never again cause the destruction of all flesh. The bow shall be in the clouds, and I will see it, so as to remember the everlasting covenant between God and between every living creature, with all flesh that is upon the earth." And God said to Noah, "This is the sign of the covenant which I am establishing between me and all flesh that is upon the earth.

Now the sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. (Ham was the father of Canaan.) These three were the sons of Noah, and from these the whole earth was populated. And Noah began to be a man of the ground, and he planted a vineyard. And he drank some of the wine and became drunk, and he exposed himself in the midst of his tent. And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and he told his two brothers outside. Then Shem and Japheth took a garment, and the two of them put it on their shoulders and, walking backward, they covered the nakedness of their father. And their faces were turned backward, so that they did not see the nakedness of their father. Then Noah awoke from his drunkenness, and he knew what his youngest son had done to him. And he said,

Then he said,

And Noah lived three hundred and fifty years after the flood. And all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years, and he died.

These are the generations of the sons of Noah—Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Children were born to them after the flood. The sons of Japheth: Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras. And the sons of Gomer: Ashkenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah. And the sons of Javan: Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim. From these the coastland peoples spread out through their lands, each according to his own language by their own families, in their nations.

And the sons of Ham: Cush, Egypt, Put, and Canaan. And the sons of Cush: Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, and Sabteca. The sons of Raamah: Sheba and Dedan. And Cush fathered Nimrod. He was the first on earth to be a mighty warrior. He was a mighty hunter before Yahweh. Therefore it was said, "Like Nimrod a mighty hunter before Yahweh." Now, the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, Erech, Akkad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. From that land he went out to Assyria, and he built Nineveh, Rehoboth-Ir, Calah, Resen between Nineveh and Calah; that is the great city. And Egypt fathered Ludim, Anamim, Lehabim, Naphtuhim, Pathrusim, and Casluhim (from whom the Philistines came), and Caphtorim.

Canaan fathered Sidon, his firstborn, and Heth, and the Jebusites, the Amorites, the Girgashites, the Hivites, the Arkites, the Sinites, the Arvadites, the Zemarites, and the Hamathites. Afterward the families of the Canaanites were spread abroad. And the territory of the Canaanites was from Sidon in the direction of Gerar as far as Gaza, and in the direction of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, as far as Lasha. These are the descendants of Ham, according to their families and their languages, in their lands, and in their nations.

And to Shem, the father of all the children of Eber, the older brother of Japheth, children were also born. The sons of Shem: Elam, Asshur, Arphaxad, Lud, and Aram. And the sons of Aram: Uz, Hul, Gether, and Mash. And Arphaxad fathered Shelah, and Shelah fathered Eber. And to Eber two sons were born. The name of the one was Peleg, for in his days the earth was divided, and the name of his brother was Joktan. And Joktan fathered Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah, Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah, Obal, Abimael, Sheba, Ophir, Havilah, and Jobab. All these were the sons of Joktan. And their dwelling place extended from Mesha in the direction of Sephar to the hill country of the east. These are the sons of Shem, according to their families, according to their languages, in their lands, and according to their nations.

These are the families of the sons of Noah, according to their generations and in their nations. And from these the nations spread abroad on the earth after the flood.

Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. And as people migrated from the east they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. And they said to each other, "Come, let us make bricks and burn them thoroughly." And they had brick for stone and they had tar for mortar. And they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower whose top reaches to the heavens. And let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered over the face of the whole earth."

Then Yahweh came down to see the city and the tower that humankind was building. And Yahweh said, "Behold, they are one people with one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. So now nothing that they intend to do will be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and confuse their language there, so that they will not understand each other’s language." So Yahweh scattered them from there over the face of the whole earth, and they stopped building the city. Therefore its name was called Babel, for there Yahweh confused the language of the whole earth, and there Yahweh scattered them over the face of the whole earth.

These are the generations of Shem. When Shem was one hundred years old, he fathered Arphaxad, two years after the flood. And Shem lived five hundred years after he fathered Arphaxad, and he fathered other sons and daughters. When Arphaxad had lived thirty-five years, he fathered Shelah. And Arphaxad lived four hundred and three years after he fathered Shelah, and he fathered other sons and daughters. When Shelah had lived thirty years, he fathered Eber. And Shelah lived four hundred and three years after he fathered Eber, and he fathered other sons and daughters. When Eber had lived thirty-four years, he fathered Peleg. And Eber lived four hundred and thirty years after he fathered Peleg, and he fathered other sons and daughters. When Peleg had lived thirty years, he fathered Reu. And Peleg lived two hundred and nine years after he fathered Reu, and he fathered other sons and daughters. When Reu had lived thirty-two years, he fathered Serug. And Reu lived two hundred and seven years after he fathered Serug, and he fathered other sons and daughters. When Serug had lived thirty years, he fathered Nahor. And Serug lived two hundred years after he fathered Nahor, and he fathered other sons and daughters. When Nahor had lived twenty-nine years, he fathered Terah. And Nahor lived one hundred and nineteen years after he fathered Terah, and he fathered other sons and daughters. When Terah had lived seventy years, he fathered Abram, Nahor, and Haran.

Now these are the generations of Terah. Terah fathered Abram, Nahor, and Haran, and Haran fathered Lot. And Haran died in the presence of Terah his father in the land of his birth, in Ur of the Chaldeans. And Abram and Nahor took wives for themselves. The name of the wife of Abram was Sarai, and the name of the wife of Nahor was Milcah, the daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah and Iscah. And Sarai was barren; she had no child. And Terah took Abram his son, and Lot, the son of Haran, his grandson, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, the wife of Abram his son, and went out with them from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to the land of Canaan. And they went to Haran, and they settled there. And the days of Terah were two hundred and five years, and Terah died in Haran.

And again he began to teach beside the sea, and a very large crowd was gathered to him, so that he got into a boat and sat on the sea, and the whole crowd was at the sea on the land. And he began to teach them many things in parables, and was saying to them in his teaching, "Listen! Behold, the sower went out to sow. And it happened that while he was sowing, some seed fell on the side of the path, and the birds came and devoured it. And other seed fell on the rocky ground where it did not have much soil, and it sprang up at once, because it did not have any depth of soil. And when the sun rose it was scorched, and because it did not have enough root, it withered. And other seed fell among the thorn plants, and the thorn plants came up and choked it, and it did not produce grain. And other seed fell on the good soil, and produced grain, coming up and increasing, and it bore a crop—one thirty and one sixty and one a hundred times as much. And he said, "Whoever has ears to hear, let him hear!"

And when he was alone, those around him together with the twelve began asking him about the parables. And he said to them, "To you has been granted the secret of the kingdom of God, but to those who are outside everything is in parables, so that

And he said to them, "Do you not understand this parable? And how will you understand all the parables? The sower sows the word. And these are the ones beside the path where the word is sown, and whenever they hear it, immediately Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them. And these are like the ones sown on the rocky ground, who whenever they hear the word immediately receive it with joy. And they have no root in themselves, but are temporary. Then when affliction or persecution comes because of the word, immediately they fall away. And others are the ones sown among the thorn plants—these are the ones who hear the word, and the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word and it becomes unproductive. And those are the ones sown on the good soil, who hear the word and receive it and bear fruit—one thirty and one sixty and one a hundred times as much."

And he said to them, "Surely a lamp is not brought so that it may be put under a bushel basket or under a bed, is it? Is it not so that it may be put on a lampstand? For nothing is secret except so that it may be revealed, nor has become hidden except so that it will come to light. If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear!" And he said to them, "Take care what you hear! With the measure by which you measure out, it will be measured out to you, and will be added to you. For whoever has, more will be given to him, and whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him."

And he said, "The kingdom of God is like this: like a man scatters seed on the ground. And he sleeps and gets up, night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows—he does not know how. By itself the soil produces a crop: first the grass, then the head of grain, then the full grain in the head. But when the crop permits, he sends in the sickle right away, because the harvest has come."

And he said, "With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or by what parable can we present it? It is like a mustard seed that when sown on the ground, although it is the smallest of all the seeds that are on the ground, but when it is sown it grows up and becomes the largest of all the garden herbs, and sends out large branches so that the birds of the sky are able to nest in its shade." And with many parables such as these he was speaking the word to them, as they were able to hear it. And he did not speak to them without a parable, but in private he explained everything to his own disciples.

And on that day, when it was evening, he said to them, "Let us cross over to the other side." And leaving the crowd, they took him along, as he was, in the boat. And other boats were with him. And a great storm of wind developed, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already being filled with water. And he was in the stern sleeping on the cushion, and they woke him up and said to him, "Teacher, is it not a concern to you that we are perishing?" And he woke up and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, "Be quiet! Be silent!" And the wind abated and there was a great calm. And he said to them, "Why are you fearful? Do you not yet have faith?" And they were terribly frightened and began to say to one another, "Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?"