The Watchers and the Growth of Evil

1 And when the human beings began to multiply on the face of the earth and daughters were born to them, the angels of God saw them in a certain year of this jubilee, that they were beautiful to look at; and they married whichever women they chose,⁠a and they bore them sons and they were giants.⁠b 2 And lawlessness increased on the earth and all flesh corrupted its way, alike men and cattle and wild animals and birds and everything that walks on the earth — all of them corrupted their ways and their proper order,⁠c and they began to devour each other, and lawlessness increased on the earth and everything all people imagined and thought (was) thus evil continually. 3 And God looked at the earth, and it was corrupt, and all flesh had corrupted its orders, and all that were upon the earth had done every kind of evil before His eyes. 4 And He said that He would destroy man and all flesh upon the face of the earth which He had created. 5 But Noah found grace before the eyes of the Lord. 6 And against the angels whom He had sent upon the earth, He was extremely angry, and He gave orders to root them out of all their authority, and He told us to bind them in the depths of the earth, and they are bound within them, and are (kept) separate.⁠d 7 And against their sons He issued a command that they should be struck down with the sword, and be removed from under heaven. 8 And He said 'My spirit shall not always remain with human beings; for they also are flesh and their days shall be one hundred and twenty years'. 9 And He sent His sword into their midst that each should kill his neighbor, and they began to kill each other until they all fell by the sword and were destroyed from the earth. 10 And their fathers were witnesses (of their destruction), and after this they were bound in the depths of the earth forever, until the day of the great condemnation,⁠e when judgment is executed on all those who have corrupted their ways and their works before the Lord. 11 And He destroyed all from their places, and there was not one of them left whom He did not judge according to all their wickedness. 12 And he made for all his works a new and righteous nature, so that they should not sin in their whole nature forever, but should be all righteous each in his kind always.

Divine Justice and Human Judgment

13 And the judgment of all is ordained and written on the heavenly tablets in righteousness — even (the judgment of) all who depart from the path which is ordained for them to walk in; and if they do not walk in it, judgment is written down for every creature and for every kind. 14 And there is nothing in heaven or on earth, or in light or in darkness, or in Sheol or in the depth, or in the place of darkness (which is not judged); and all their judgments are ordained and written and engraved. 15 In regard to all He will judge, the great according to his greatness, and the small according to his smallness, and each according to his way. 16 And He is not one who will show favoritism (to anyone), nor is He one who will accept bribes, if He says that He will execute judgment on each: if one gave everything that is on the earth, He will not accept the bribes or show favoritism (to anyone), nor accept anything from him, for He is a righteous judge. 17 [And of the children of Israel it has been written and ordained: If they turn to him in righteousness He will forgive all their transgressions and pardon all their sins. 18 It is written and ordained that He will show mercy to all who turn from all their guilt once each year.] 19 And as for all those who corrupted their ways and their thoughts before the flood, no one received favor except Noah alone; for he received favor on behalf of his sons, whom (God) saved from the waters of the flood on his account; for his heart was righteous in all his ways, according as it was commanded regarding him, and he had not departed from anything that was ordained for him.

Preparations for the Flood

20 And the Lord said that he would destroy everything which was upon the earth, both men and cattle, and wild animals, and birds of the sky, and that which moves on the earth. 21 And He commanded Noah to make himself an ark, that he might save himself from the waters of the flood. 22 And Noah made the ark in all respects as He commanded him, in the twenty-seventh jubilee of years, in the fifth week in the fifth year (on the new moon of the first month) [1307]. 23 And he entered in its sixth (year), [1308] in the second month, on the new moon of the second month, till the sixteenth; and he entered, and all that we brought to him, into the ark, and the Lord closed it from the outside on the seventeenth evening.

The Flood

24 And the Lord opened seven floodgates of heaven, And the mouths of the fountains of the great deep, seven mouths in number. 25 And the floodgates began to pour down water from the heaven forty days and forty nights, And the fountains of the deep also sent up waters, until the whole world was full of water. 26 And the waters increased upon the earth: The waters rose fifteen cubits above all the high mountains, And the ark was lifted up above the earth, And it moved upon the surface of the waters. 27 And the water covered the surface of the earth five months — one hundred and fifty days. 28 And the ark went and rested on the top of Lubar, one of the mountains of Ararat. 29 And (on the new moon) in the fourth month the fountains of the great deep were closed and the floodgates of heaven were restrained; and on the new moon of the seventh month all the mouths of the abysses of the earth were opened, and the water began to descend into the deep below. 30 And on the new moon of the tenth month the tops of the mountains were seen, and on the new moon of the first month the earth became visible. 31 And the waters disappeared from above the earth in the fifth week in its seventh year [1309], and on the seventeenth day in the second month the earth was dry. 32 And on its twenty-seventh (day) he opened the ark, and sent out from it wild animals, and cattle, and birds, and every moving thing.