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The Antiquities of the Jews - Table of Contents
The Antiquities of the Jews
Written by Flavius Josephus
Translated by William Whiston
Book One
Chapter 3
Concerning The Flood; And After What Manner
Noah Was Saved In An Ark, With His Kindred, And Afterwards Dwelt
In The Plain Of Shinar.
1. Now this posterity of Seth continued to esteem God as the
Lord of the universe, and to have an entire regard to virtue,
for
seven generations; but in process of time they were perverted,
and forsook the practices of their forefathers; and did neither
pay those honors to God which were appointed them, nor had they
any concern to do justice towards men. But for what degree of
zeal they had formerly shown for virtue, they now showed by
their actions a double degree of wickedness, whereby they made
God to be their enemy. For many angels(11) of God accompanied
with women, and begat sons that proved unjust, and despisers of
all
that was good, on account of the confidence they had in their
own strength; for the tradition is, that these men did what
resembled
the acts of those whom the Grecians call giants. But Noah was
very uneasy at what they did; and being displeased at their
conduct, persuaded them to change their dispositions and their
acts for the better: but seeing they did not yield to him, but
were slaves to their wicked pleasures, he was afraid they would
kill him, together with his wife and children, and those they
had
married; so he departed out of that land.
2. Now God loved this man for his righteousness: yet he not only
condemned those other men for their wickedness, but determined
to
destroy the whole race of mankind, and to make another race that
should be pure from wickedness; and cutting short their lives,
and making their years not so many as they formerly lived, but
one hundred and twenty only,(12) he turned the dry land into
sea;
and thus were all these men destroyed: but Noah alone was saved;
for God suggested to him the following contrivance and way of
escape : - That he should make an ark of four stories high,
three hundred cubits(13) long, fifty cubits broad, and thirty
cubits
high. Accordingly he entered into that ark, and his wife, and
sons, and their wives, and put into it not only other
provisions,
to support their wants there, but also sent in with the rest all
sorts of living creatures, the male and his female, for the
preservation of their kinds; and others of them by sevens. Now
this ark had firm walls, and a roof, and was braced with cross
beams, so that it could not be any way drowned or overborne by
the violence of the water. And thus was Noah, with his family,
preserved. Now he was the tenth from Adam, as being the son of
Lamech, whose father was Mathusela; he was the son of Enoch, the
son of Jared; and Jared was the son of Malaleel, who, with many
of his sisters, were the children of Cainan, the son of Enos.
Now
Enos was the son of Seth, the son of Adam.
3. This calamity happened in the six hundredth year of Noah's
government, [age,] in the second month, (14) called by the
Macedonians Dius, but by the Hebrews Marchesuan: for so did they
order their year in Egypt. But Moses appointed that รบ Nisan,
which is the same with Xanthicus, should be the first month for
their festivals, because he brought them out of Egypt in that
month: so that this month began the year as to all the
solemnities they observed to the honor of God, although he
preserved the original order of the months as to selling and
buying, and other ordinary affairs. Now he says that this flood
began on the twenty-seventh [seventeenth] day of the
forementioned month; and this was two thousand six hundred and
fifty-six [one thousand six hundred and fifty-six] years from
Adam, the first man; and the time is written down in our sacred
books, those who then lived having noted down,(15) with great
accuracy, both the births and deaths of illustrious men.
4. For indeed Seth was born when Adam was in his two hundred and
thirtieth year, who lived nine hundred and thirty years. Seth
begat Enos in his two hundred and fifth year; who, when he had
lived nine hundred and twelve years, delivered the government to
Cainan his son, whom he had in his hundred and ninetieth year.
He lived nine hundred and five years. Cainan, when he had lived
nine
hundred and ten years, had his son Malaleel, who was born in his
hundred and seventieth year. This Malaleel, having lived eight
hundred and ninety-five years, died, leaving his son Jared, whom
he begat when he was in his hundred and sixty-fifth year. He
lived nine hundred and sixty-two years; and then his son Enoch
succeeded him, who was born when his father was one hundred and
sixty-two years old. Now he, when he had lived three hundred and
sixty-five years, departed and went to God; whence it is that
they have not written down his death. Now Mathusela, the son of
Enoch, who was born to him when he was one hundred and
sixty-five years old, had Lamech for his son when he was one
hundred and eighty-seven years of age; to whom he delivered the
government, when he had retained it nine hundred and sixty-nine
years. Now Lamech, when he had governed seven hundred and
seventy-seven years, appointed Noah, his son, to be ruler of the
people, who was born to Lamech when he was one hundred and
eighty-two years old, and retained the government nine hundred
and fifty years.These years collected together make up the sum
before set down. But let no one inquire into the deaths of these
men; for they extended their lives along together with their
children and grandchildren; but let him have regard to their
births only.
5. When God gave the signal, and it began to rain, the water
poured down forty entire days, till it became fifteen cubits
higher than the earth; which was the reason why there was no
greater number preserved, since they had no place to fly to.
When
the rain ceased, the water did but just begin to abate after one
hundred and fifty days, (that is, on the seventeenth day of the
seventh month,) it then ceasing to subside for a little while.
After this, the ark rested on the top of a certain mountain in
Armenia; which, when Noah understood, he opened it; and seeing a
small piece of land about it, he continued quiet, and conceived
some cheerful hopes of deliverance. But a few days afterward,
when the water was decreased to a greater degree, he sent out a
raven, as desirous to learn whether any other part of the earth
were left dry by the water, and whether he might go out of the
ark with safety; but the raven, finding all the land still
overflowed, returned to Noah again. And after seven days he sent
out a dove, to know the state of the ground; which came back to
him covered with mud, and bringing an olive branch: hereby Noah
learned that the earth was become clear of the flood. So after
he had staid seven more days, he sent the living creatures out
of
the ark; and both he and his family went out, when he also
sacrificed to God, and feasted with his companions. However, the
Armenians call this place, (GREEK) (16) The Place of Descent;
for the ark being saved in that place, its remains are shown
there by
the inhabitants to this day.
6. Now all the writers of barbarian histories make mention of
this flood, and of this ark; among whom is Berosus the Chaldean.
For when he is describing the circumstances of the flood, he
goes on thus: "It is said there is still some part of this ship
in
Armenia, at the mountain of the Cordyaeans; and that some people
carry off pieces of the bitumen, which they take away, and use
chiefly as amulets for the averting of mischiefs." Hieronymus
the Egyptian also, who wrote the Phoenician Antiquities, and
Mnaseas,
and a great many more, make mention of the same. Nay, Nicolaus
of Damascus, in his ninety-sixth book, hath a particular
relation
about them; where he speaks thus: "There is a great mountain in
Armenia, over Minyas, called Baris, upon which it is reported
that many who fled at the time of the Deluge were saved; and
that one who was carried in an ark came on shore upon the top of
it;
and that the remains of the timber were a great while preserved.
This might be the man about whom Moses the legislator of the
Jews
wrote."
7. But as for Noah, he was afraid, since God had determined to
destroy mankind, lest he should drown the earth every year; so
he
offered burnt-offerings, and besought God that nature might
hereafter go on in its former orderly course, and that he would
not bring on so great a judgment any more, by which the whole
race of creatures might be in danger of destruction: but that,
having now punished the wicked, he would of his goodness spare
the remainder, and such as he had hitherto judged fit to be
delivered from so severe a calamity; for that otherwise these
last must be more miserable than the first, and that they must
be
condemned to a worse condition than the others, unless they be
suffered to escape entirely; that is, if they be reserved for
another deluge; while they must be afflicted with the terror and
sight of the first deluge, and must also be destroyed by a
second. He also entreated God to accept of his sacrifice, and to
grant that the earth might never again undergo the like effects
of 'his wrath; that men might be permitted to go on cheerfully
in cultivating the same; to build cities, and live happily in
them;
and that they might not be deprived of any of those good things
which they enjoyed before the Flood; but might attain to the
like
length of days, and old age, which the ancient people had
arrived at before.
8. When Noah had made these supplications, God, who loved the
man for his righteousness, granted entire success to his
prayers, and said, that it was not he who brought the
destruction on a polluted world, but that they underwent that
vengeance on account
of their own wickedness; and that he had not brought men into
the world if he had himself determined to destroy them, it being
an
instance of greater wisdom not to have granted them life at all,
than, after it was granted, to procure their destruction; "But
the injuries," said he, "they offered to my holiness and virtue,
forced me to bring this punishment upon them. But I will leave
off for the time to come to require such punishments, the
effects of so great wrath, for their future wicked actions, and
especially on account of thy prayers. But if I shall at any time
send tempests of rain, in an extraordinary manner, be not
affrighted at the largeness of the showers; for the water shall
no more overspread the earth. However, I require you to abstain
from shedding the blood of men, and to keep yourselves pure from
murder; and to punish those that commit any such thing. I permit
you to make use of all the other living creatures at your
pleasure, and as your appetites lead you; for I have made you
lords of them all, both of those that walk on the land, and
those that swim in the waters, and of those that fly in the
regions of
the air on high, excepting their blood, for therein is the life.
But I will give you a sign that I have left off my anger by my
bow [whereby is meant the rainbow, for they determined that the
rainbow was the bow of God]. And when God had said and promised
thus, he went away.
9. Now when Noah had lived three hundred and fifty years after
the Flood, and that all that time happily, he died, having lived
the number of nine hundred and fifty years. But let no one, upon
comparing the lives of the ancients with our lives, and with the
few years which we now live, think that what we have said of
them is false; or make the shortness of our lives at present an
argument, that neither did they attain to so long a duration of
life, for those ancients were beloved of God, and [lately] made
by God himself; and because their food was then fitter for the
prolongation of life, might well live so great a number of
years:
and besides, God afforded them a longer time of life on account
of their virtue, and the good use they made of it in
astronomical
and geometrical discoveries, which would not have afforded the
time of foretelling [the periods of the stars] unless they had
lived six hundred years; for the great year is completed in that
interval. Now I have for witnesses to what I have said, all
those
that have written Antiquities, both among the Greeks and
barbarians; for even Manetho, who wrote the Egyptian History,
and
Berosus, who collected the Chaldean Monuments, and Mochus, and
Hestieus, and, besides these, Hieronymus the Egyptian, and those
who composed the Phoenician History, agree to what I here say:
Hesiod also, and Hecatseus, Hellanicus, and Acusilaus; and,
besides these, Ephorus and Nicolaus relate that the ancients
lived a thousand years. But as to these matters, let every one
look upon them as he thinks fit.
Continue on to
Book One,
Chapter 4, The Antiquities of the Jews by
Flavius Josephus
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The Antiquities of the Jews - Table of Contents
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