CHAPTER 8
1 Forsooth the Lord had mind of Noah, and of all living beasts, and of all work beasts, that were with him in the ship; and [he] brought a wind on the earth. And [the] waters were decreased, or assuaged,
2 and the wells of the sea were closed, and the windows of heaven were closed, and rains of heaven were ceased.
3 And [the] waters turned again from off the earth, and went again, and began to be decreased, or assuaged, after an hundred and fifty days.
4 And the ship rested in the seventh month, in the seven and twentieth day of the month, on the hills [or mounts] of Armenia.
5 And soothly the waters went and decreased till to the tenth month, for in the tenth month, in the first day of the month, the tops of [the] hills appeared.
6 And when forty days had passed, Noah opened the window of the ship which he had made,
7 and sent out a crow, which went out, and turned not again till the waters were dried on [the] earth.
8 Also Noah sent out a culver after him, to see if the waters had ceased then on the face of the earth;
9 and when the culver found not where her foot should rest, she turned again to him into the ship, for the waters were on all [the] earth; and Noah held forth his hand, and brought the culver taken into the ship.
10 Soothly when other seven days were abided afterward, again he sent out a culver from the ship;
11 and she came to him at eventide, and bare in her mouth a branch of an olive tree with green leaves. There-fore Noah understood that the waters had ceased or abated on earth;
12 and nevertheless he abode seven other days, and sent out a culver, which turned not again to him.
13 Therefore in the six hundred and one year of the life of Noah, in the first month, in the first day of the month, [the] waters were decreased on earth; and Noah opened the roof of the ship, and beheld, and saw that the face of the earth was dried.
14 In the second month, in the seven and twentieth day of the month, the earth was made dry.
15 Soothly the Lord spake to Noah; and said,
16 Go out of the ship, thou, and thy wife, and thy sons, and the wives of thy sons with thee;
17 and lead out with thee all living beasts that be with thee of each flesh, as well in volatiles, as in unreason-able beasts, and all reptiles or all creeping beasts that creep on [the] earth; and enter ye on the earth, increase ye, and be ye multiplied on earth.
18 Therefore Noah went out, and his sons, and his wife, and the wives of his sons with him;
19 but also all living beasts, and work beasts, and birds, and reptiles that creep on [the] earth, by their kind, went out of the ship.
20 Forsooth Noah builded an altar to the Lord, and he took of all clean beasts and birds, and offered burnt sacrifices on the altar.
21 And the Lord savoured the odour of sweetness, and said to him, I shall no more curse the earth for men, for the wit and thought of man’s heart be ready, either prone, into evil from young waxing age; therefore I shall no more smite each living soul, as I did;
22 in all the days of [the] earth, seed and ripe corn, cold and heat, summer and winter, night and day, shall not rest.