7 The Lord said to Noah, “Come into the ark, you and all your household, for I consider you godly among this generation. 1 2 You must take with you seven 2 of every kind of clean animal, 3 the male and its mate, 4 two of every kind of unclean animal, the male and its mate, 3 and also seven 5 of every kind of bird in the sky, male and female, 6 to preserve their offspring 7 on the face of the earth. 4 For in seven days 8 I will cause it to rain 9 on the earth for forty days and forty nights, and I will wipe from the face of the ground every living thing that I have made.”
5 And Noah did all 10 that the Lord commanded him.
6 Noah 11 was 600 years old when the floodwaters engulfed 12 the earth. 7 Noah entered the ark along with his sons, his wife, and his sons’ wives because 13 of the floodwaters. 8 Pairs 14 of clean animals, of unclean animals, of birds, and of everything that creeps along the ground, 9 male and female, came into the ark to Noah, 15 just as God had commanded him. 16 10 And after seven days the floodwaters engulfed the earth. 17
11 In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month – on that day all the fountains of the great deep 18 burst open and the floodgates of the heavens 19 were opened. 12 And the rain fell 20 on the earth forty days and forty nights.
13 On that very day Noah entered the ark, accompanied by his sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth, along with his wife and his sons’ three wives. 21 14 They entered, 22 along with every living creature after its kind, every animal after its kind, every creeping thing that creeps on the earth after its kind, and every bird after its kind, everything with wings. 23 15 Pairs 24 of all creatures 25 that have the breath of life came into the ark to Noah. 16 Those that entered were male and female, 26 just as God commanded him. Then the Lord shut him in.
17 The flood engulfed the earth for forty days. As the waters increased, they lifted the ark and raised it above the earth. 18 The waters completely overwhelmed 27 the earth, and the ark floated 28 on the surface of the waters. 19 The waters completely inundated 29 the earth so that even 30 all the high mountains under the entire sky were covered. 20 The waters rose more than twenty feet 31 above the mountains. 32 21 And all living things 33 that moved on the earth died, including the birds, domestic animals, wild animals, all the creatures that swarm over the earth, and all humankind. 22 Everything on dry land that had the breath of life 34 in its nostrils died. 23 So the Lord 35 destroyed 36 every living thing that was on the surface of the ground, including people, animals, creatures that creep along the ground, and birds of the sky. 37 They were wiped off the earth. Only Noah and those who were with him in the ark survived. 38 24 The waters prevailed over 39 the earth for 150 days.
8 But God remembered 1 Noah and all the wild animals and domestic animals that were with him in the ark. God caused a wind to blow over 2 the earth and the waters receded. 2 The fountains of the deep and the floodgates of heaven were closed, 3 and the rain stopped falling from the sky. 3 The waters kept receding steadily 4 from the earth, so that they 5 had gone down 6 by the end of the 150 days. 4 On the seventeenth day of the seventh month, the ark came to rest on one of the mountains of Ararat. 7 5 The waters kept on receding 8 until the tenth month. On the first day of the tenth month, the tops of the mountains became visible. 9
6 At the end of forty days, 10 Noah opened the window he had made in the ark 11 7 and sent out a raven; it kept flying 12 back and forth until the waters had dried up on the earth.
8 Then Noah 13 sent out a dove 14 to see if the waters had receded 15 from the surface of the ground. 9 The dove could not find a resting place for its feet because water still covered 16 the surface of the entire earth, and so it returned to Noah 17 in the ark. He stretched out his hand, took the dove, 18 and brought it back into the ark. 19 10 He waited seven more days and then sent out the dove again from the ark. 11 When 20 the dove returned to him in the evening, there was 21 a freshly plucked olive leaf in its beak! Noah knew that the waters had receded from the earth. 12 He waited another seven days and sent the dove out again, 22 but it did not return to him this time. 23
13 In Noah’s six hundred and first year, 24 in the first day of the first month, the waters had dried up from the earth, and Noah removed the covering from the ark and saw that 25 the surface of the ground was dry. 14 And by the twenty-seventh day of the second month the earth 26 was dry.
15 Then God spoke to Noah and said, 16 “Come out of the ark, you, your wife, your sons, and your sons’ wives with you. 17 Bring out with you all the living creatures that are with you. Bring out 27 every living thing, including the birds, animals, and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. Let them increase 28 and be fruitful and multiply on the earth!” 29
18 Noah went out along with his sons, his wife, and his sons’ wives. 19 Every living creature, every creeping thing, every bird, and everything that moves on the earth went out of the ark in their groups.
20 Noah built an altar to the Lord. He then took some of every kind of clean animal and clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar. 30 21 And the Lord smelled the soothing aroma 31 and said 32 to himself, 33 “I will never again curse 34 the ground because of humankind, even though 35 the inclination of their minds 36 is evil from childhood on. 37 I will never again destroy everything that lives, as I have just done.
22 “While the earth continues to exist, 38
planting time 39 and harvest,
cold and heat,
summer and winter,
and day and night will not cease.”
