1. Then Noah said to his sons Shem, Ham and Japheth: ‘We will leave the ark, according to the will of the Lord, we, and our wives, and all the animals. The ark will come to rest on top of a mountain; there we will disembark.
2. ‘Because the Lord hath kept his promise, when he said unto me: I have resolved to blot out all living flesh; evil rules the earth, and I wish to make all men perish. Make a wooden ark; enter into it yourself, your wife, and your sons.
3. ‘And your sons’ wives, and a pair of all the animals.
4. ‘Now, therefore, the Lord’s promise has been fulfilled, and all men have perished, and the fountains of the heavens have closed; we will disembark on the earth again, to live in peace and harmony.’
5. Thus said Noah, and Noah’s sons were very happy to hear their father’s words; and Noah left them alone, retiring to one of the rooms in the ark.
6. Then Japheth lifted up his voice and said: ‘Our life will be full of delight. The fig tree will give us its fruit, the sheep its wool, the cow its milk, the sun its light and the night its awning.
7. ‘For we will be the only people on earth, and all the earth will be ours, and no one will disturb the peace of a family preserved from the punishment which afflicted all men.
8. ‘For ever and ever.’ Then Shem, when he heard his brother speak, said: ‘I have an idea.’ To which Japheth and Ham answered: ‘Let us hear your idea, Shem.’
9. And Shem spoke from his heart, saying: ‘My father has his family; each one of us has his family; we could live in separate tents. Each one of us will do what seems good: whether that be to plant, hunt, or carve wood, or spin flax.’
10. And Japheth replied: ‘I think Shem’s idea is good; we can live in separate tents. The ark will come to rest on the top of a mountain; my father and Ham will disembark on the side of the rising sun; Shem and I on the side of the setting sun. Shem will occupy two hundred cubits of land, and I another two hundred.’
11. But when Shem spoke, saying: ‘I think two hundred cubits is too little,’ Japheth retorted: ‘Then let it be five hundred cubits each. Between my land and your land will be a river to divide us, so that our property will be clearly differentiated. I will stay on the left bank and you on the right bank;
12. ‘And my land will be called the land of Japheth, and yours will be called the land of Shem; and we will go to each other’s tents, and share the bread of happiness and harmony.’
13. And when Shem had approved the division, he asked Japheth: ‘But the river? who will the water of the river, its current, belong to?
14. ‘For we possess the banks, and have established nothing concerning the current.’ And Japheth replied, that each could fish from either side; but his brother disagreed, and proposed that they should divide the river in two, putting a post in the middle. Japheth, however, said that the current would carry the post away.
15. And Japheth having replied thus, his brother answered: ‘Since the post is not good in your eyes, I’ll have the river, and its two banks; and so that there shall be no conflict, you can build a wall, ten or twelve cubits away from your old bank.
16. ‘And if you lose something by this, the difference is not great, and it is right, after all, so that harmony between us shall never be disturbed, according to the Lord’s will.’
17. Japheth however replied: ‘Get knotted! What right have you to take the bank, which is mine, and rob a piece of my land? Are you better than me,
18. ‘Or more handsome or more beloved of my father? What right have you so monstrously to violate another’s property?
19. ‘Now I say unto you that the river will stay on my side, and if you dare to enter my land, I will slay you as Cain slew his brother.’
20. Hearing this, Ham was very afraid, and began to calm his two brothers,
21. Who had eyes the size of figs and the colour of hot coals, and looked at each other full of anger and contempt.
22. The ark, however, floated on the waters of the abyss.
1. Now Japheth, afflicted by anger, began to foam at the mouth, and Ham spoke soothing words to him,
2. Saying: ‘Let us find a way of reconciling everything; I will call your wife and Shem’s wife.’
3. Each of them, however, refused, saying that it was a question of rights, and persuasion was of no avail.
4. And Shem proposed to Japheth that he should make up for the ten lost cubits, measuring out an equal quantity at the other side of his land. But Japheth answered:
5. ‘Why not send me once and for all to the ends of the earth? Now you’re no longer contented with five hundred cubits; you want five hundred and ten, and I shall be left with four hundred and ninety.
6. ‘Have you no moral feelings? Don’t you know what justice is? Can’t you see this is barefaced robbery? Don’t you know I’ll defend what’s mine, even at the risk of my own life?
7. ‘And that, if blood must flow, blood will flow, now, this minute,
8. ‘To punish your pride and wash away your iniquity?’
9. Then Shem advanced on Japheth; but Ham put himself between them, putting a hand on the breast of each one;
10. While the wolf and the lamb, who during the days of the deluge had lived in the sweetest of harmony, hearing the noise of voices, came to watch the fight between the two brothers, and began to keep a close eye on each other.
11. And Ham said: ‘Look, I have a marvellous idea, which will settle everything,
12. ‘And which is inspired by the love I have for my brothers. I will sacrifice the land which is due to me, next to that of my father, and will take the river and its two banks, and you will give me some twenty cubits each.’
13. And Shem and Japheth laughed with contempt and sarcasm, saying: ‘Go and stuff dates! Keep your idea for the days of your old age.’ And they pulled Ham’s nose and ears; and Japheth, putting two fingers in his mouth, imitated the hiss of the serpent, taunting him.
14. Then Ham, ashamed and irritated, stretched out his hands, saying: ‘Leave it be!’ and went to see his father and the wives of the two brothers.
15. Japheth however said to Shem: ‘Now that we are alone, let’s decide this serious matter, whether it be with tongue or fists. Either you give me both banks, or I’ll break one of your ribs.’
16. Saying this, Japheth threatened Shem with clenched fists, while Shem, arching his body, said in an angry voice: ‘I’ll give you nothing, you thief!’
17. To which Japheth replied angrily: ‘It’s you that’s the thief!’
18. This said, they advanced on one another and grappled. Japheth had a forceful, skilful arm; Shem was strong in resistance. Then Japheth, holding his brother by the waist, squeezed him tightly, crying: ‘Whose river is it?’
19. And Shem replied: ‘It’s mine!’ Japheth made a move to fling him to the ground, but Shem, who was strong, shook his body and threw his brother some distance off; Japheth, however, foaming with rage, gripped his brother again, and the two fought hand to hand,
20. Sweating and snorting like bulls.
21. In the struggle, they fell and rolled over, punching one another; blood flowed out of their nostrils, their lips, their cheeks; first Japheth had the upper hand,
22. Then Shem; for anger spurred them on equally, and they fought with their hands, their feet, their teeth and nails; and the ark trembled as if the fountains of heaven had opened up again.
23. Then the cries and shouts reached the ears of Noah, at the same time as his son Ham, who came to him crying: ‘My father, my father, if Cain will be avenged seven times, and Lamech seventy times seven, what will happen to Shem and Japheth?’
24. And when Noah asked him to explain what he had said, Ham told him of the brothers’ disagreement, and the anger that spurred them, and said: ‘Run to quieten them.’ Noah said: ‘Let us go.’
25. The ark, however, floated on the waters of the abyss.
1. And lo, Noah came to the place where his two sons were fighting,
2. And found them still grappling with one another, and Shem under the knee of Japheth, who with his clenched fist was punching his brother’s face, which was purple and bloodied.
3. Then, Shem, lifting his hands, managed to grip his brother by the throat, and Japheth began to shout: ‘Let me go, let me go!’
4. Hearing the shouts, Shem and Japheth’s wives also came to the place where the struggle was, and seeing them thus, began to sob and say: ‘What is to become of us? A curse has befallen us and our husbands.’
5. Noah, however, said to them: ‘Be still, O wives of my sons, and I will see what the matter is, and order whatever is just.’ And going towards the two combatants,
6. He cried: ‘Stop the fight. I, Noah, your father, command and order it.’ And the two brothers, hearing their father, came to a sudden halt, and were silent and stopped in their tracks; neither of them got up from the ground.
7. Noah went on: ‘Rise up, O men unworthy of salvation and deserving of the punishment which befell all other men.’
8. Shem and Japheth got up. Both had wounds on their cheeks, their necks and hands, and their clothes were spattered with blood, for they had fought with nails and teeth, spurred on by mortal hatred.
9. The floor too was awash with blood, and each man’s sandals, and his hair,
10. As if their sin had marked them with the seal of iniquity.
11. Their two wives, however, came up to them, weeping and caressing them, and the pain in their hearts could be seen. Shem and Japheth paid no attention to anything, and their eyes were fixed on the ground, fearful of looking their father in the eye.
12. And their father said: ‘Well then, I want to know what the cause of the fight is.’
13. These words kindled hatred in the heart of each. Japheth, however, was the first to speak and said:
14. ‘Shem invaded my land, the land I had chosen to pitch my tent, when the waters have disappeared and the ark will descend, according to the Lord’s promise;
15. ‘And since no one can usurp my inheritance, I said to my brother: ‘Are you not happy with five hundred cubits, that you want ten more?’
16. Noah, hearing his son, had his eyes on Shem; and when Japheth had finished, he asked his brother: ‘What answer have you?’
17. And Shem said: ‘Japheth lies, for I only took the ten cubits of land after he refused to divide the river in two parts; and when I proposed that I should take both banks, I also consented that he should measure ten more cubits at the back of his lands,
18. To make up for what he was losing; but the iniquity of Cain spoke in him, and he wounded my head, face and hands.’
19. And Japheth interrupted him, saying: ‘And did you not wound me too, perchance? Am I not bloodied like you? Look at my face and neck; look at my cheeks, which you have ripped with your nails like the tiger’s.’
20. As Noah began to speak, he saw that his two sons seemed to defy each other with their eyes. Then he said: ‘Hear me!’ But the two sons, blind with rage, grappled with each other again, shouting: ‘Whose is the river?’ – ‘The river’s mine.’
21. And only with great difficulty could Noah, Ham and the wives of Shem and Japheth hold back the two combatants, whose blood began to flow in great abundance.
22. Noah, however, raising his voice, shouted: ‘Cursed be he who does not obey me. He will be cursed, not seven times, nor seventy times seven, but seven hundred times seventy.
23. ‘Now, therefore, I say unto you that, before the ark descends to earth, I want no agreements about the place where you will pitch your tents.’
24. Then he became pensive.
25. And lifting his eyes up to heaven, for the porthole in the deck was open, he shouted with a sad voice:
26. ‘They do not yet possess the earth and already they are fighting over frontiers. What will happen when it’s the turn of Turkey and Russia?’
27. And none of Noah’s sons could understand these words of their father.
28. The ark, however, still floated on the waters of the abyss.