Noach (, ) is the second weekly Torah portion (, parashah) in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading. It constitutes Genesis 6:9–11:32. The parashah tells the stories of the Flood and Noah's Ark, of Noah's subsequent drunkenness and cursing of Canaan, and of the Tower of Babel.
The parashah has the most verses of any weekly Torah portion in the Book of Genesis (but not the most letters or words). It is made up of 6,907 Hebrew letters, 1,861 Hebrew words, 153 verses, and 230 lines in a Torah Scroll (, Sefer Torah). (In the Book of Genesis, Parashat Miketz has the most letters, Parashat Vayeira has the most words, and Parashat Vayishlach has an equal number of verses as Parashat Noach.)
Jews read it on the second Sabbath after Simchat Torah, generally in October or early November.
Readings In traditional Sabbath Torah reading, the parashah is divided into seven readings, or , aliyot, and a shorter, concluding reading called the maftir (). In the Masoretic Text of the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible), Parashat Noach has five "open portion" (, petuchah) divisions (roughly equivalent to paragraphs, often abbreviated with the Hebrew letter (peh)). Parashat Noach has several further subdivisions, called "closed portion" (, setumah) divisions (abbreviated with the Hebrew letter (samekh)) within the open portion divisions. The first open portion is from the first reading through the fifth readings. The second and third open portion divisions divide the sixth reading. And the fourth and fifth open portion divisions divide the seventh reading. Closed portion divisions divide the first reading, set off the third and fourth readings, and further divide the sixth and seventh readings.See, e.g., Menachem Davis, editor, The Schottenstein Edition Interlinear Chumash: Bereishis/Genesis (Brooklyn: Mesorah Publications, 2006), pages 32–59.
First reading—Genesis 6:9–22 In the first reading, the Torah tells that Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his age, who walked with God. This assessment is repeated in . Noah had three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.. God saw that all flesh on earth had become corrupt and lawless.. The first closed portion ends here.See, e.g., Menachem Davis, editor, Schottenstein Edition Interlinear Chumash: Bereishis/Genesis, page 33.
In the continuation of the reading, God told Noah that God had decided to bring a flood to destroy all flesh.. God directed Noah to make an ark of gopher wood and cover it with pitch inside and outside.. The Ark was to be 300 cubits long, 50 cubits wide, and 30 cubits high. It was to have an opening for daylight near the top, an entrance on its side, and three decks.. God told Noah that God would establish a covenant with Noah, and that he, his sons, his wife, his sons' wives, and two of each kind of beast—male and female—would survive in the Ark.. Noah did everything that God commanded him to do.. The first reading ends here with the end of chapter 6.See, e.g., Menachem Davis, editor, Schottenstein Edition Interlinear Chumash: Bereishis/Genesis, page 35.
Second reading—Genesis 7:1–16 In the second reading, in chapter 7, seven days before the Flood, God told Noah to go into the Ark with his household, and to take seven pairs of every clean animal and every bird, and two pairs of every other animal, to keep their species alive.. When Noah was 600 years old, the Flood came, and that same day, Noah, his family and the beasts went into the Ark, and God shut him in.. The second reading ends here.See, e.g., Menachem Davis, editor, Schottenstein Edition Interlinear Chumash: Bereishis/Genesis, page 38.
Third reading—Genesis 7:17–8:14 In the third reading, the rains fell 40 days and 40 nights, the waters swelled 15 cubits above the highest mountains, and all flesh with the merest breath of life died, except for Noah and those with him on the Ark.. When the waters had swelled 150 days, God remembered Noah and the beasts, and God caused a wind to blow and the waters to recede steadily from the earth, and the Ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat..
Forty days after the tops of the mountains were seen, Noah opened the window and sent out a raven, and it went to and fro.. Then he sent out a dove to see if the waters had decreased from the ground, but the dove could not find a resting place, and returned to the Ark.. He waited another seven days, and again sent out the dove, and the dove came back toward evening with an olive leaf.. He waited another seven days and sent out the dove, and it did not return.. When Noah removed the covering of the Ark, he saw that the ground had dried.. The third reading and a closed portion end here.See, e.g., Menachem Davis, editor, Schottenstein Edition Interlinear Chumash: Bereishis/Genesis, page 42.
Fourth reading—Genesis 8:15–9:7 In the fourth reading, God told Noah to come out of the Ark with his family and to free the animals.. Then Noah built an altar to God and offered burnt offerings of every clean animal and of every clean bird.. God smelled the pleasing odor and vowed never again to doom the earth because of humankind, as human imaginings are evil from their youth, but God would preserve the seasons so long as the earth endured.. God blessed Noah and his sons, telling them to be fertile and increase, and put the fear of them into all the beasts, which God gave into their hands to eat.. God prohibited eating flesh with its life-blood in it.. God would require a reckoning of every person's and beast's life-blood, and whoever shed the blood of a human would have their blood shed by humans, for in God's image did God make humankind.. God told them again to be fertile and increase.. The fourth reading and a closed portion end here.See, e.g., Menachem Davis, editor, Schottenstein Edition Interlinear Chumash: Bereishis/Genesis, page 46.
Fifth reading—Genesis 9:8–17 In the fifth reading, God made a covenant with Noah, his sons, and every living thing that never again would a flood destroy the earth.. God set the rainbow in the clouds as the sign of God's covenant with earth, so that when the bow appeared in the clouds, God would remember God's covenant and the waters would never again flood to destroy all flesh.. The fifth reading and the first open portion end here.See, e.g., Menachem Davis, editor, Schottenstein Edition Interlinear Chumash: Bereishis/Genesis, pages 47–48.
Sixth reading—Genesis 9:18–10:32 In the sixth reading, Noah became the first to plant a vineyard, and he drank himself drunk, and was uncovered within his tent.. Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father's nakedness and told his two brothers.. Shem and Japheth placed a cloth against both their backs and, walking backward, covered their father, without seeing their father's nakedness.. When Noah woke up and learned what Ham had done to him, he cursed Ham's son Canaan to become the lowest of slaves to Japheth and Shem, prayed that God enlarge Japheth, and blessed the God of Shem.. Noah lived to the age of 950 and then died.. The second open portion ends here.See, e.g., Menachem Davis, editor, Schottenstein Edition Interlinear Chumash: Bereishis/Genesis, page 50.
As the reading continues, chapter 10 sets forth the descendants of Shem, Ham, and Japheth, from whom the nations branched out over the earth after the Flood, a section known as the table of nations. Among Japheth's descendants were the Japhetites, which are the maritime nations.. Ham's son Cush had a son named Nimrod, who became the first man of might on earth, a mighty hunter, king in Babylon and the land of Shinar.. From there Asshur went and built Nineveh.. Ham's son Mizraim had sons from whom came the Philistines and Caphtorim.. A closed portion ends here.See, e.g., Menachem Davis, editor, Schottenstein Edition Interlinear Chumash: Bereishis/Genesis, page 51.
In the continuation of the reading, Canaan's descendants—Sidon, Heth, the Jebusites, the Amorites, the Girgashites, the Hivites, the Arkites, the Sinites, the Arvadites, the Zemarites, and the Hamathites—spread out from Sidon as far as Gerar, near Gaza, and as far as Sodom and Gomorrah.. Another closed portion ends here.See, e.g., Menachem Davis, editor, Schottenstein Edition Interlinear Chumash: Bereishis/Genesis, page 52.
The continuation of the reading set forth Shem's descendants, among whom was Eber.. The sixth reading and the third open portion end here with the end of chapter 10.See, e.g., Menachem Davis, editor, Schottenstein Edition Interlinear Chumash: Bereishis/Genesis, page 53.
Seventh reading—Genesis 11:1–32
In the seventh reading, in chapter 11, everyone on earth spoke the same language.. As people migrated from the east, they settled in the land of Shinar.. People there sought to make bricks and build a city and a tower with its top in the sky, to make a name for themselves, so that they not be scattered over the world.. God came down to look at the city and tower, and remarked that as one people with one language, nothing that they sought would be out of their reach.. God went down and confounded their speech, so that they could not understand each another, and scattered them over the face of the earth, and they stopped building the city.. Thus the city was called Babel.. The fourth open portion ends here.
The continuation of the reading sets forth the descendants of Shem.. Eight closed portion divisions separate each generation.See, e.g., Menachem Davis, editor, Schottenstein Edition Interlinear Chumash: Bereishis/Genesis, pages 56–57.
As the reading continues, eight generations after Shem, Terah had three sons: Abram (who would become Abraham), Nahor, and Haran.. Haran had a son Lot and two daughters Milcah and Iscah, and then died in Ur during the lifetime of his father Terah..
In the maftir () reading that concludes the parashah,See, e.g., Menachem Davis, editor, Schottenstein Edition Interlinear Chumash: Bereishis/Genesis, pages 57–58. Abram married Sarai, and Nahor married Haran's daughter Milcah.. Sarai was barren.. Terah took Abram, Sarai, and Lot and set out together from Ur for the land of Canaan, but when they had come as far as Haran, they settled there, and there Terah died.. The seventh reading, the fifth open portion, chapter 11, and the parashah end here.See, e.g., Menachem Davis, editor, Schottenstein Edition Interlinear Chumash: Bereishis/Genesis, page 58.
Readings according to the triennial cycle Jews who read the Torah according to the triennial cycle of Torah reading read the parashah according to the following schedule:See, e.g., Richard Eisenberg, "A Complete Triennial Cycle for Reading the Torah," Proceedings of the Committee on Jewish Law and Standards of the Conservative Movement: 1986–1990 (New York: Rabbinical Assembly, 2001), pages 383–418. Year 1Year 2Year 32025, 2028, 2031 . . .2026, 2029, 2032 . . .2027, 2030, 2033 . . .Reading6:9–8:148:15–10:3211:1–11:3216:9–168:15–2211:1–426:17–199:1–711:5–936:20–229:8–1711:10–1347:1–99:18–2911:14–1757:10–1610:1–1411:18–2167:17–2410:15–2011:22–2578:1–1410:21–3211:26–32Maftir8:12–1410:26–3211:29–32
In ancient parallels The parashah has parallels in these ancient sources:
Genesis chapters 6–8