Then Noe left him, as our Preserver commanded, in order to lead his children on board the Ark, men and their wives together on the great ship; and all that God Al- mighty wished to preserve for perpetuating their spe- cies, went on board to their food-giver, as the Almighty 1360 Lord of Hosts bade them through his word. With his own hands, the Guardian of Heaven, Wielder of Victory, locked the entrance of the sea-house behind them, and 1365 our Saviour blessed [all] within the Ark with his own grace. Noe, the son of Lamech, had 600 winters when he embarked with his sons, at God's command,--that 1370 wise man, with the young people, his dear kinsfolk.
The Lord sent rain from heaven, and likewise let the springs from every source rush upon the world far and wide, [let] the dark ocean-streams burst forth in 1375 tumult: the seas rose up over the boundaries of the shore. Strong and stern was He who ruled the waters, for he covered and shrouded with wan waters the accursed wickedness of the sons of the earth and devastated the 1380 land and homes of men: the Lord wreaked [his fury] upon men for their offences. The sea cruelly gripped the wretched folk for forty days, and nights as many bitter was the suffering then, cruelly fateful to men. The waves of the King of Glory drove the souls of the 1385 vicious ones forth from their bodies. The flood covered everything; turbid under the sky [it covered] the high mountains over the broad earth, and on its crest raised the Ark aloft from the ground, and its noble crew with it, [the Ark] which the Lord Himself, our Creator, blessed, 1390 when he locked the ship. Thereafter this best of ships rode widely under the skies over the circle of the sea, fared [forth] with its freight: the terrors of the flood 1395 would have seized them with violence in the sea-traver- sing vessel, but the Holy God led and preserved them. Fifteen ells deep, by man's measure, stood the deluge over the hills. That is a memorable occurrence: there 1400 was nothing at hand for [the Ark] but destruction, except that it was raised aloft into the upper air when the inundation killed all creatures upon earth other than those whom the Lord of Heaven saved on board the Ark, when the Holy God everlasting, the steadfast King, let 1405 [the flood] rise up with ever-increasing[18] stream.