Adam and Eve got a son instead of Abel. He was called Seth. Seth and his descendants were pious and were called the children of God; but they were not innocent; for all have sinned in Adam. One of them was called Enoch; he walked with God and did not die; the Lord took him, when he was 365 years old. Methuselah lived 969 years, and is the oldest of all men. His grandson was Noah. (Gen. 5.)
[6. The Flood]
Men multiplied on the earth, and the sons of Seth mingled with the descendants of Cain and took their daughters for wives. Thereby wickedness became great over all the earth, and it repented God that he had made man. But Noah found favor in the eyes of God. Therefore He said to Noah: Make thee an ark, three hundred cubits[[1]] long, fifty cubits wide and thirty cubits high, and pitch it within and without with pitch; for I will bring a flood of waters upon the earth to destroy everything that lives. Noah built the ship which is called the ark, and went into it with his wife and his three sons, Shem, Ham and Japhet, and their wives, and a male and a female of all the animals that cannot live in the water. Then God let it rain for 40 days and 40 nights, and the waters rose 15 cubits over the highest mountains. And every living thing was destroyed upon the earth. Noah only, and those that were with him in the ark, were left alive.
God remembered Noah and caused a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters sank, and the ark rested upon the mountains of Ararat. Noah opened the window, and he sent forth a raven, and it went forth to and fro, until the waters were dried up from off the earth. Then he sent forth a dove, but as she found no rest for her foot, she returned to the ark, and Noah put forth his hand and took her unto him. And he stayed yet seven days, and he sent forth the dove again. And she came back to him again at eventide, and in her mouth she had a fresh olive leaf. And he stayed yet seven days and sent forth the dove again, and she returned not; then Noah knew that the earth must be dry. The waters had then covered the earth for more than one year.
Now Noah went out of the ark and made a thank offering unto the Lord. And the Lord said in His heart: I will not again curse the ground for man’s sake, for man is evil from his youth. While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night shall not cease. And God set the rainbow in the heavens as a token that He would remember His covenant. Noah lived till he was 950 years old, and is the second father of the human race. (Gen. 6-9.)
[7. The Tower of Babel]
The whole earth was of one speech. When men journeyed eastward, they found a large plain, and they dwelt there. And they said one to another: Come, let us build a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven, lest we be scattered over the whole earth. But the Lord came down and confounded their language, so the one did not understand the other. Thus the Lord scattered them over all the earth, and they left off building. Therefore the place is called Babel, that is, Confusion.—The descendants of Shem remained in Asia, the descendants of Ham went southwest to Africa, and the descendants of Japhet went westward to Europe. (Gen. 11:1-9.)
[8. Abraham Journeys to Canaan]
Terah descended from Shem. He dwelt in Mesopotamia and had three sons, Abraham, Nahor and Haran. Terah served strange gods. And the Lord said unto Abraham: Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto the land that I will show thee. I will make of thee a great nation, and in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed. So Abraham took Sarah, his wife, and his brother’s son Lot, and all that he had, and went to the land of Canaan. And the Lord appeared unto Abraham and said: Unto thy seed will I give this land; and there he builded an altar unto the Lord, who appeared unto him.
Abraham was very rich in cattle, in silver and in gold; and Lot also, who went with Abraham, had flocks and herds. And there was a strife between the herdsmen of Abraham and the herdsmen of Lot about the pastures. And Abraham said unto Lot: Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between thee and me, and between my herdsmen and thy herdsmen; for we are brethren. Is not the land before thee? If thou wilt take the left hand, then I will go to the right; or if thou take the right hand, then I will go to the left. Lot saw that the plain of Jordan was well watered, that it was like the land of Egypt, even as the garden of Jehovah. So Lot chose the plain for himself, and pitched his tents toward Sodom. But the inhabitants of Sodom were wicked, and sinners against the Lord exceedingly. (Gen. 12-13.)