Study Desk

So Kayin left the presence of Adonai and lived in the land of Nod [wandering], east of ‘Eden.

But Noach found grace in the sight of Adonai . Haftarah B'resheet: Yesha‘yahu (Isaiah) 42:5–43:10 (A); 42:5–21 (S) B'rit Hadashah suggested readings for Parashah B'resheet: Mattityahu (Matthew) 1:1–17; 19:3–9; Mark 10:1–12; Luke 3:23–38; Yochanan (John) 1:1–18; 1 Corinthians 6:15–20; 15:35–58; Romans 5:12–21; Ephesians 5:21–32; Colossians 1:14–17; 1 Timothy 2:11–15; Messianic Jews (Hebrews) 1:1–3; 3:7–4:11; 11:1–7; 2 Kefa (2 Peter) 3:3–14; Revelation 21:1–5; 22:1–5 Here is the history of Noach. In his generation, Noach was a man righteous and wholehearted; Noach walked with God. Noach fathered three sons, Shem, Ham and Yefet. The earth was corrupt before God, the earth was filled with violence. God saw the earth, and, yes, it was corrupt; for all living beings had corrupted their ways on the earth. God said to Noach, "The end of all living beings has come before me, for because of them the earth is filled with violence. I will destroy them along with the earth. Make yourself an ark of gofer-wood; you are to make the ark with rooms and cover it with pitch both outside and inside. Here is how you are to build it: the length of the ark is to be 450 feet, its width seventy-five feet and its height forty-five feet. You are to make an opening for daylight in the ark eighteen inches below its roof. Put a door in its side; and build it with lower, second and third decks. "Then I myself will bring the flood of water over the earth to destroy from under heaven every living thing that breathes; everything on earth will be destroyed. But I will establish my covenant with you; you will come into the ark, you, your sons, your wife and your sons' wives with you. "From everything living, from each kind of living being, you are to bring two into the ark, to keep them alive with you; they are to be male and female. Of each kind of bird, each kind of livestock, and each kind of animal creeping on the ground, two are to come to you, so that they can be kept alive. Also take from all the kinds of food that are eaten, and collect it for yourself; it is to be food for you and for them." This is what Noach did; he did all that God ordered him to do.

Of each kind of bird, each kind of livestock, and each kind of animal creeping on the ground, two are to come to you, so that they can be kept alive.

(iii) The flood was forty days on the earth; the water grew higher and floated the ark, so that it was lifted up off the earth.

God remembered Noach, every living thing and all the livestock with him in the ark; so God caused a wind to pass over the earth, and the water began to go down.

But the dove found no place for her feet to rest, so she returned to him in the ark, because the water still covered the whole earth. He put out his hand, took her and brought her in to him in the ark.

The dove came in to him in the evening, and there in her mouth was a freshly plucked olive leaf, so Noach knew that the water had cleared from the earth.

By the first day of the first month of the 601st year the water had dried up from off the earth; so Noach removed the covering of the ark and looked; and, yes, the surface of the ground was dry.

Bring out with you every living thing you have with you — birds, livestock and every animal that creeps on the earth — so that they can swarm on the earth, be fruitful and multiply on the earth."

So Noach went out with his sons, his wife and his sons' wives;

So long as the earth exists, sowing time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, and day and night will not cease."

Every moving thing that lives will be food for you; just as I gave you green plants before, so now I give you everything —

The rainbow will be in the cloud; so that when I look at it, I will remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of any kind on the earth."

He drank so much of the wine that he got drunk and lay uncovered in his tent.

Shem and Yefet took a cloak, put it over both their shoulders, and, walking backward, went in and covered their naked father. Their faces were turned away, so that they did not see their father lying there shamefully exposed.

They said to one another, "Come, let's make bricks and bake them in the fire." So they had bricks for building-stone and clay for mortar.

Then they said, "Come, let's build ourselves a city with a tower that has its top reaching up into heaven, so that we can make a name for ourselves and not be scattered all over the earth."

Come, let's go down and confuse their language, so that they won't understand each other's speech."

So from there Adonai scattered them all over the earth, and they stopped building the city.

So Avram went, as Adonai had said to him, and Lot went with him. Avram was 75 years old when he left Haran.