Genesis 8
1 But God hadn't forgotten about Noah and all the wild animals and livestock with him in the ark. God sent a wind to blow over the earth, and the floodwaters started to drop.
Kodwa uNkulunkulu wamkhumbula uNowa lazozonke izinyamazana zeganga lezifuyo ezazilaye emkhunjini, wasethumela umoya emhlabeni, amanzi asesentsha.
2 The subterranean waters were closed off, and the heavy rainfall was stopped.
Manje imithombo yolwandle lamasango amanzi asemazulwini kwasekuvaliwe, lezulu laselisile emkhathini.
3 The floodwaters steadily receded from the earth. They had gone down so much that by 150 days after the flood began
Amanzi entsha kancanekancane emhlabeni. Ekupheleni kwensuku ezilikhulu lamatshumi amahlanu amanzi ayesentshile,
4 the ark grounded on the mountains of Ararat. This happened on the seventeenth day of the seventh month.
kwathi ngosuku lwetshumi lesikhombisa lwenyanga yesikhombisa umkhumbi wayakuma phezu kwezintaba zase-Ararathi.
5 The waters continued to drop so that by the first day of the tenth month the tops of mountains could be seen.
Amanzi aqhubeka esentsha kwaze kwaba yinyanga yetshumi, kwathi ngosuku lokuqala lwenyanga yetshumi iziqongo zezintaba zaqala ukubonakala.
6 Forty days later Noah opened the window he'd made in the ark,
Ngemva kwensuku ezingamatshumi amane uNowa wavula iwindi ayelenzile emkhunjini
7 and sent a raven out. It flew back and forth until the water on the earth had dried up.
wathuma iwabayi, lazulazula emoyeni amanzi aze atsha emhlabeni.
8 Then he sent a dove out to see if the waters had gone down enough to expose dry ground.
Wasethuma ijuba ukuthi abone ingabe amanzi ayesephelile emhlabathini.
9 But the dove couldn't find anywhere to land. So it came back to Noah in the ark because water was still covering the whole earth. He reached out his hand, picked up the dove, and took it back into the ark with him.
Kodwa ijuba laswela indawo yokubeka unyawo ngoba kwakulamanzi yonke indawo phezu komhlaba; ngakho labuyela kuNowa emkhunjini. Wakhupha isandla walamukela ijuba walibuyisa kuye emkhunjini.
10 He waited another seven days and sent the dove out from the ark again.
Walinda okwezinye insuku eziyisikhombisa waphinda walithuma ijuba lisuka emkhunjini.
11 When it came back to him in the evening it had a freshly-picked olive leaf in its beak, so Noah knew the floodwaters were mainly gone from the earth.
Kwathi ijuba selibuya kuye ntambama, laliphethe ngomlomo walo ihlamvu lesihlahla se-oliva elalisanda kukhiwa! UNowa wahle wazi ukuthi amanzi ayesehlile kakhulu emhlabeni.
12 Again he waited another seven days and sent the dove out again, but this time it didn't return to him.
Walinda okwezinye insuku eziyisikhombisa walithuma ijuba njalo, kodwa ngalesi isikhathi kalisabuyanga kuye.
13 By now Noah was 601, and by the first day of the first month, the floodwaters on the earth were gone. Noah pulled back the ark's covering and saw that the ground was drying out.
Ngosuku lokuqala lwenyanga yokuqala yomnyaka wamakhulu ayisithupha lanye wokuphila kukaNowa, amanzi ayesomile emhlabeni. Ngakho uNowa wasesusa uphahla lomkhumbi esebona ukuthi iphansi lomhlabathi laselomile.
14 By the twenty-seventh day of the second month the earth was dry.
Ngosuku lwamatshumi amabili lesikhombisa lwenyanga yesibili umhlabathi wawusuwome qha.
15 Then God told Noah,
UNkulunkulu wasesithi kuNowa,
16 “Leave the ark, you and your wife, your sons and their wives.
“Phuma emkhunjini, wena lomkakho, lamadodana akho labomkabo.
17 Let all the animals go—the birds, the wild animals, the creatures that run along the ground—so that they can breed and increase their numbers on the earth.”
Khupha yonke into ephilayo olayo, izinyoni, izinyamazana lazozonke izinanakazana ezihuquzela emhlabathini ukuze zande emhlabeni, zizale zande ngobunengi bazo.”
18 So Noah and his wife, his sons and their wives, left the ark.
Ngakho uNowa wasephuma lamadodana akhe, lomkakhe kanye labomalukazana bakhe.
19 All the animals, all the creatures that run along the ground, all the birds—everything that lives on land—also left, each kind leaving together.
Zonke izinyamazana kanye lezinanakazana ezihuquzela emhlabathini lazozonke izinyoni, yonke into enyakazayo emhlabeni, kwaphuma emkhunjini, ngemihlobo kulandelana.
20 Noah built an altar, and sacrificed some of the clean animals and birds as a burnt offering.
UNowa wasesakhela uThixo i-alithari, wathatha ezinye izinyamazana lezinyoni ezihlanzekileyo wanikela iminikelo yokutshiswa phezu kwalo.
21 The Lord accepted the sacrifice, and said to himself, “I won't ever again curse the ground because of human beings, even though every single thought in their minds is evil from childhood. I won't ever destroy all life again as I have just done.
UThixo wahotsha iphunga elimnandi wathi enhliziyweni yakhe: “Kangisayikuphinda ngiwuqalekise njalo umhlaba ngenxa yabantu, ngoba imicabango yenhliziyo yomuntu mibi kusukela ebuntwaneni bakhe. Njalo kangisoze lanini ngiphinde ngibhubhise zonke izidalwa eziphilayo, njengalokhu engikwenzileyo.
22 As long as the earth exists, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, will never come to an end.”
Nxa umhlaba ulokhu usekhona, isikhathi sokuhlanyela lesokuvuna, umqando lokutshisa, ihlobo lobusika, imini lobusuku kakusoze kwacina.”
A Dove is Sent Forth from the Ark
