創世記 8

1 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；

Then God remembered Noah, and all living things, and all the cattle, which were with him in the ark, and he brought a wind across the earth, and the waters were diminished.

2 深淵的泉源和天上的水閘已關閉，雨也由天上停止降落，

And the fountains of the abyss and the floodgates of heaven were closed. And the rain from heaven was restrained.

3 於是水逐漸由地上退去；過了一百五十天，水就低落了。

And the waters were restored to their coming and going from the earth. And they began to diminish after one hundred and fifty days.

4 七月十七日，方舟停在阿辣辣特山上。

And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, upon the mountains of Armenia.

5 洪水繼續減退，直到十月；十月一日，許多山頂都露出來。

Yet in truth, the waters were departing and decreasing until the tenth month. For in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tips of the mountains appeared.

6 過了四十天，諾厄開了在方舟上做的窗戶，

And when forty days had passed, Noah, opening the window that he had made in the ark, sent forth a raven,

7 放了一隻烏鴉；烏鴉飛去又飛回，直到地上的水都乾了。

which went forth and did not return, until the waters were dried up across the earth.

8 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。

Likewise, he sent forth a dove after him, in order to see if the waters had now ceased upon the face of the earth.

9 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。

But when she did not find a place where her foot might rest, she returned to him in the ark. For the waters were upon the whole earth. And he extended his hand and caught her, and he brought her into the ark.

10 再等了七天，他由方舟中又放出一隻鴿子，

And then, having waited a further seven days, he again sent forth the dove out of the ark.

11 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。

And she came to him in the evening, carrying in her mouth an olive branch with green leaves. Noah then understood that the waters had ceased upon the earth.

12 諾厄又等了七天再放出一隻鴿子；這隻鴿子沒有回來。

And nevertheless, he waited another seven days. And he sent forth the dove, which no longer returned to him.

13 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。

Therefore, in the six hundred and first year, in the first month, on the first day of the month, the waters were diminished upon the earth. And Noah, opening the cover of the ark, gazed out and saw that the surface of the earth had become dry.

14 二月二十七日，大地全乾了。

In the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was made dry.

15 天主於是吩咐諾厄說：「

Then God spoke to Noah, saying:

16 你和你的妻子、兒子及兒媳，同你由方舟出來；

“Go out of the ark, you and your wife, your sons and the wives of your sons with you.

17 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。」

Bring out with you all the living things that are with you, all that is flesh: as with the birds, so also with the wild beasts and all the animals that move upon the earth. And enter upon the land: increase and multiply upon it.”

18 諾厄遂同他的兒子、妻子及兒媳出來；

And so Noah and his sons went out, and his wife and the wives of his sons with him.

19 所有的爬蟲、飛禽和地上所有的動物，各依其類出了方舟。

Then also all living things, and the cattle, and the animals that move upon the earth, according to their kinds, departed from the ark.

20 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。

Then Noah built an altar to the Lord. And, taking from each of the cattle and birds that were clean, he offered holocausts upon the altar.

21 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，

And the Lord smelled the sweet odor and said: “I will no longer curse the earth because of man. For the feelings and thoughts of the heart of man are prone to evil from his youth. Therefore, I will no longer pierce every living soul as I have done.

22 只願大地存在之日，稼穡寒暑，冬夏晝夜，循環不息。」

All the days of the earth, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, night and day, will not cease.”

A Dove is Sent Forth from the Ark