The first of the sons of Adam was called Cain, and the second was Abel. Cain worked the land, and Abel was a shepherd. Once they both offered sacrifice to the Lord: Cain from the fruits of the earth, and Abel from the firstlings of his flock. But the Lord God was pleased to accept Abel's sacrifice, and to reject Cain's, because Abel offered his sacrifice in faith, but Cain's heart was unclean, and envy nestled in it. Then Cain felt annoyed, and his face changed with anger. But the Lord said to Cain: "Why are you vexed? And why is thy face distorted? Look, sin is already at the door! But do not give him free rein over you, and you will cope with him!"

Then God said to Cain: "Where is your brother Abel?" Cain answered: "I do not know! Am I my brother's keeper?" God said to him, "What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood cries out to me from the earth. Cursed be thou from the earth, which hath opened its mouth to receive thy brother's blood at thy hands. No matter how much you cultivate the land, it will not give you fruit. You will be an exile and a stranger on earth." To this Cain says to the Lord: "My sin is too great before Thee, and it cannot be forgiven. The first one who meets me will kill me." But the Lord said: "No!" – and put a sign on Cain, so that no one would kill him.

Then Cain departed from the Face of God with his wife. Soon his son Enoch was born. And when Cain built the city, he called it, after the name of this son, Enoch. Meanwhile, when Adam was two hundred and thirty years old, God consoled him in the loss of Abel by the birth of another son, whom Adam named Seth. After this, Adam lived another seven hundred years and had many sons and daughters. Finally, he died, having lived on earth for 930 years.

4. The Flood

Adam's descendants quickly multiplied on the earth. The longevity of the first people especially contributed to this. Some of them lived up to nine hundred years or more; the longest life on earth was Methuselah, who died at the age of 969. But as the human race multiplied, evil on earth also increased. The wicked descendants of Cain soon infected the good tribe of Seth, and the people began to think only of evil, forgetting the God who had created them. Then God said: "My Spirit will no longer abide with this generation, for they have become carnal. I will give them another period of one hundred and twenty years, and then I will destroy on earth the people whom I have created."

Noah alone found grace with the Lord, because he was a pious man and led a good life. Therefore God said to Noah, Thou shalt make thee an ark 300 cubits long, 50 cubits wide, and 30 cubits high, and make compartments therein: for I will bring a flood upon the earth, and thou shalt enter into the ark with thy sons, and with thy wife, and with thy sons' wives, and thou shalt take with thee into the ark all kinds of beasts, two by two; lest their seed perish in all the earth; take with you also all food, so that you and them may have sustenance."

Noah was six hundred years old when he entered the ark and when the waters of the flood rushed to the earth. Then all the springs of the earth were opened, and the springs of heaven were opened; rain poured down on the earth, which fell for forty days and forty nights. The water lifted up the ark, and it began to be carried about on the waves; and the waters multiplied more and more, so that at last it covered all the mountains under the heavens. Then all that lives on the earth perished; only Noah and those who were with him in the ark remained.

It had been a hundred and fifty days since Noah had entered the ark, and the waters of the flood were still rising. At last everything was covered with water, which rose 15 cubits higher than the highest mountains on earth. Then God had mercy on His creatures that remained alive: He brought the wind upon the earth, and the flood stopped. The water began to subside, and the ark stopped on the top of the mountains of Ararat. Another two months passed, and the tops of the mountains began to appear from under the water. Forty days after this, Noah opened the window at the top of the ark and sent out a raven to see if the earth was dried up by the water. But the raven flew and did not return. Then he released a dove, which, flying and not finding a dry place on the ground, returned back to the ark. Seven days later, he released the pigeon again. This time she returned, carrying in her mouth an olive branch with fresh leaves. Seven days passed, and Noah again let the dove out of the ark, but it did not return. On the first day of the first month, Noah opened the mercy seat of his ark and saw that the earth was dried up of water. However, it was still necessary to wait until the 27th day of the second month, until the earth dried up to such an extent that it was possible to leave the ark completely. Finally, at the voice of God, Noah and his family left the ark and brought out all the animals from it. His first act now was to offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving to the Lord. And the sacrifice of Noah was pleasing to the Lord, for the Lord God said: "I will no longer curse the earth for man's sake, because the heart of man from youth strives for evil. Henceforth, as long as the earth stands, there will be no crops and harvests, cold and heat, summer and winter, days and nights." God blessed Noah and made a covenant with him, and as a sign of His covenant He placed a beautiful seven-colored rainbow in the clouds and said: "This is the sign of the covenant that I have made between Me and every soul that dwells on the earth!"

And Noah began to cultivate the land again, and planted grapes. Once, drunk with wine, he got drunk and lay at home drunk. And when his son Ham saw this, he brought his brethren to laugh at his father. But they, taking the garment, covered him, and would not even look at the shame of their father. When Noah woke up and learned what Ham had done to him, he cursed him, and blessed the other two sons, saying that the descendants of Ham would be enslaved by the descendants of Shem and Japheth.

5. The Tower of Babel

Noah lived after the flood for another 350 years, and in total his life on earth was 950 years. He was the last to reach such a deep old age. His son Shem had already lived 600 years, and his grandson Arphaxad had only reached the age of 465; but the son of Arphaxades, Cainan, was only 460 years old. Then Noah's great-grandson, Eber, lived 504 years. But from now on, human strength began to dwindle, and so rapidly that none of the men who followed had reached the age of four hundred. Nahor, the grandfather of Abraham, lived only 208 years, and Terah, the father of Abraham, 245 years.

However, with such an extremely long life of people, the human race multiplied rapidly. Strong people began to appear, who began to subdue others under their power. One of these was Nemrod, the grandson of Hams and the great-grandson of Noah, who established his dominion in Babylon.

At that time, all people spoke the same language and crowded together on the same strip of land, reluctantly moving away from each other. But it pleased God to scatter the human race over all the face of the earth. This happened precisely at a time when people were plotting to protect themselves forever from the danger of being scattered to all the corners of the world, and for this purpose they began to build a huge tower in the valley of Shinar, near the Euphrates River, which would touch the sky with its top. The desire to glorify their name with such a monument further encouraged them to this work. But God destroyed their foolish enterprise by confusing their languages. Not understanding each other, they were forced to stop building the city and the tower. In this way, the Lord scattered them from there to all the countries of the earth.

6. The Story of Job