XV.

But when the sons of God began to seek brides among the race of Cain, the accursed folk, and chose wives 1250 from among them against the will of God, the children of men from among the sinful maidens, beautiful and bright, then the Ruler of the heavens pronounced his wrath against mankind and spoke these words: 

“The men of Cain’s race have not been absent from 1255 my mind, but that stock has sorely offended me.  Now the sons of Seth renew my wrath and take to themselves the maidens of my enemies as wives:  the fairness of the 1260 women, the maidens’ faces, and the eternal Fiend have shamefully captivated the multitude of men who were formerly in peace.”

After that, for 120 winters, duly numbered, exile afflicted the accursed race in this world; then the Lord 1265 wished to inflict punishment upon the covenant-breakers, and to smite with death the doers of evil, the giant folk unloved by God, the great and sinful foes hateful to the Lord, when the Wielder of Victory himself saw what 1270 was man’s wickedness on earth, and how they all were bold in crime and utterly vicious.  He thought to punish rigorously the races of men, to seize upon the 1275 peoples grimly and sorely, with cruel might:  he repented exceedingly that he had ever created the author of the nations, the source of the peoples, when he fashioned Adam.  He said that on account of the sins of men he would utterly blot out all that there was on earth, 1280 destroy every one of the bodies in whose bosom the breath of life was concealed:  all that came near to the sons of men, the Lord determined to annihilate.

Noe, the son of Lamech, just and honorable, was dear 1285 to God, the Preserver.  The Lord knew that the virtue of the true man prevailed in the innermost thoughts of his breast; therefore the Lord, holy in helpfulness, Pro- 1290 tector of all men, told him by revelation what he pur-posed inflicting upon the wicked ones:  for he saw the earth full of unrighteousness, the broad plains laden with sin, polluted with foulness.  Then spoke the Al- 1295 mighty, our Saviour, and said to Noe: 

“I am resolved to destroy humanity by means of a deluge, and also every kind of living thing that the air and waters produce and support, both beast and bird:  but thou shalt have shelter, with thy sons, when the 1300 dark waters, the black floods of death, destroy mankind, the vile sinners.  Begin to build thee a ship, a mighty sea-house, in which thou shalt give a place of refuge to many a one and a safe home to every species on earth, 1305 after thine own.  Build partitions in the midst of the ship.  Make the boat fifty cubits wide, thirty high, three hundred long, and joint it stoutly against the 1310 assault of the waves.  There shall be a creature of every living species, a scion of every race on earth, led within that wooden fortress; so must the Ark be the greater!”