Genesis 7:1–8:19

Entering the Ark

7Then the Lord said to Noah, “Enter the ark, you and all your household, for I have seen that you alone are righteous before Me in this generation. ^t2You are to take with you seven pairs, a male and its female, of all the clean animals, ^uand two of the animals that are not clean, a male and its female, ³and seven pairs, male and female, of the birds of the sky—in order to keep offspring alive on the face of the whole earth. ⁴Seven days from now I will make it rain on the earth 40 days and 40 nights, and I will wipe off from the face of the earth every living thing I have made.” ⁵And Noah did everything that the Lord commanded him. ^v

⁶Noah was 600 years old when the flood came and water covered the earth. ⁷So Noah, his sons, his wife, and his sons’ wives entered the ark because of the waters of the flood. ⁸From the clean animals, unclean animals, birds, and every creature that crawls on the ground, ⁹two of each, male and female, entered the ark with Noah, just as God had commanded him. ¹⁰Seven days later the waters of the flood came on the earth.

The Flood

¹¹In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the sources of the watery depths burst open, ^wthe floodgates of the sky were opened, ^x12and the rain fell on the earth 40 days and 40 nights. ¹³On that same day Noah along with his sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth, Noah’s wife, and his three sons’ wives entered the ark with him. ¹⁴They entered it with all the wildlife according to their kinds, all livestock according to their kinds, the creatures that crawl on the earth according to their kinds, all birds, every fowl, and everything with wings according to their kinds. ¹⁵Two of all flesh that has the breath of life in it entered the ark with Noah. ¹⁶Those that entered, male and female of all flesh, entered just as God had commanded him. Then the Lord shut him in.

¹⁷The flood continued for 40 days on the earth; the waters increased and lifted up the ark so that it rose above the earth. ¹⁸The waters surged and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the water. ¹⁹Then the waters surged even higher on the earth, and all the high mountains under the whole sky were covered. ²⁰The mountains were covered as the waters surged above them more than 20 feet. ^y21Every creature perished—those that crawl on the earth, birds, livestock, wildlife, and those that swarm ^zon the earth, as well as all mankind. ²²Everything with the breath of the spirit of life in its nostrils ^a—everything on dry land died. ²³He wiped out every living thing that was on the surface of the ground, from mankind to livestock, to creatures that crawl, to the birds of the sky, and they were wiped off the earth. Only Noah was left, and those that were with him in the ark. ^b24And the waters surged on the earth 150 days.

The Flood Recedes

8God remembered Noah, ^cas well as all the wildlife and all the livestock that were with him in the ark. God caused a wind ^dto pass over the earth, ^eand the water began to subside. ²The sources of the watery depths and the floodgates of the sky were closed, and the rain from the sky stopped. ^f3The water steadily receded from the earth, and by the end of 150 days the waters had decreased significantly. ^g4The ark came to rest in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on the mountains of Ararat. ^hi

⁵The waters continued to recede until the tenth month; in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains were visible. ⁶After 40 days Noah opened the window of the ark that he had made, ⁷and he sent out a raven. It went back and forth until the waters had dried up from the earth. ⁸Then he sent out a dove to see whether the water on the earth’s surface had gone down, ⁹but the dove found no resting place for her foot. She returned to him in the ark because water covered the surface of the whole earth. He reached out and brought her into the ark to himself. ¹⁰So Noah waited seven more days and sent out the dove from the ark again. ¹¹When the dove came to him at evening, there was a plucked olive leaf in her beak. So Noah knew that the water on the earth’s surface had gone down. ¹²After he had waited another seven days, he sent out the dove, but she did not return to him again. ¹³In the six hundred and first year, ^jin the first month, on the first day of the month, the water that had covered the earth was dried up. Then Noah removed the ark’s cover and saw that the surface of the ground was drying. ¹⁴By the twenty-seventh day of the second month, the earth was dry.

The Lord’s Promise

¹⁵Then God spoke to Noah, ¹⁶“Come out of the ark, you, your wife, your sons, and your sons’ wives with you. ¹⁷Bring out all the living creatures ^kthat are with you—birds, livestock, those that crawl on the ground—and they will spread over the earth and be fruitful and multiply on the earth.” ^l18So Noah, along with his sons, his wife, and his sons’ wives, came out. ¹⁹All wildlife, all livestock, every bird, and every creature that crawls on the earth came out of the ark by their groups.