Genesis 7:1–8:19

Then the Lord said to Noah, “Go into the ark with your whole family. I know that you are a godly man among the people of today.

²“Take seven of every kind of ‘clean’ animal with you. Take male and female of them. Take two of every kind of animal that is not ‘clean.’ Take male and female of them. ³Also take seven of every kind of bird. Take male and female of them. That will keep every kind alive. Then they can spread out again over the whole earth.

⁴“Seven days from now I will send rain on the earth. It will rain for 40 days and 40 nights. I will destroy from the face of the earth every living thing I have made.”

⁵Noah did everything the Lord commanded him to do.

⁶Noah was 600 years old when the flood came on the earth. ⁷He and his sons entered the ark. His wife and his sons’ wives went with them. They entered the ark to escape the waters of the flood.

⁸Pairs of “clean” animals and pairs of animals that were not “clean” came to Noah. So did pairs of birds and pairs of all of the creatures that move along the ground. ⁹Male and female of all of them came to Noah and entered the ark.

Everything happened exactly as God had commanded Noah. ¹⁰After seven days the flood came on the earth.

¹¹Noah was 600 years old. It was the 17th day of the second month of the year. On that day all of the springs at the bottom of the oceans burst open. God opened the windows of the skies. ¹²Rain fell on the earth for 40 days and 40 nights.

¹³On that same day Noah entered the ark together with Shem, Ham and Japheth. Noah’s wife and the wives of his three sons also entered it.

¹⁴They had every kind of wild animal with them. They had every kind of livestock. They had every kind of creature that moves along the ground. And they had every kind of bird that flies. ¹⁵Pairs of all living creatures that breathe came to Noah and entered the ark. ¹⁶The animals going in were male and female of every living thing.

Everything happened exactly as God had commanded Noah. Then the Lord shut him in.

¹⁷For 40 days the flood kept coming on the earth. As the waters rose higher, they lifted the ark high above the earth. ¹⁸The waters rose higher and higher on the earth. And the ark floated on the water.

¹⁹The waters rose on the earth until all of the high mountains under the entire sky were covered. ²⁰The waters continued to rise until they covered the mountains by more than 20 feet.

²¹Every living thing that moved on the earth died. The birds, the livestock and the wild animals died. All of the creatures that fill the earth also died. And so did every human being. ²²Everything on dry land that had the breath of life in it died. ²³Every living thing on the earth was wiped out. People and animals were destroyed. The creatures that move along the ground and the birds of the air were wiped out.

Everything was destroyed from the earth. Only Noah and those who were with him in the ark were left.

²⁴The waters flooded the earth for 150 days.

8But God showed concern for Noah. He also showed concern for all of the wild animals and livestock that were with Noah in the ark.

So God sent a wind over the earth. And the waters began to go down. ²The springs at the bottom of the oceans had been closed. The windows of the skies had been closed. And the rain had stopped falling from the sky.

³The water continued to go down from the earth. At the end of the 150 days the water had gone down. ⁴On the 17th day of the seventh month, the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat. ⁵The waters continued to go down until the tenth month. On the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains could be seen.

⁶After 40 days Noah opened the window he had made in the ark. ⁷He sent a raven out. It kept flying back and forth until the water had dried up from the earth.

⁸Then Noah sent a dove out. He wanted to see if the water had gone down from the surface of the ground. ⁹But the dove couldn’t find any place to put its feet down. There was still water over the whole surface of the earth. So the dove returned to Noah in the ark. Noah reached out his hand and took the dove in. He brought it back to himself in the ark.

¹⁰He waited seven more days. Then he sent the dove out from the ark again. ¹¹In the evening the dove returned to him. There in its beak was a freshly picked olive leaf! So Noah knew that the water on the earth had gone down.

¹²He waited seven more days. Then he sent the dove out again. But that time it didn’t return to him.

¹³It was the first day of the first month of Noah’s 601st year. The water had dried up from the earth. Then Noah removed the covering from the ark. He saw that the surface of the ground was dry. ¹⁴By the 27th day of the second month the earth was completely dry.

¹⁵Then God said to Noah, ¹⁶“Come out of the ark. Bring your wife and your sons and their wives with you.

¹⁷“Bring out every kind of living thing that is with you. Bring the birds, the animals, and all of the creatures that move along the ground. Then they can multiply on the earth. They can have little ones and increase their numbers.”

¹⁸So Noah came out of the ark. His sons and his wife and his sons’ wives were with him. ¹⁹All of the animals came out of the ark. The creatures that move along the ground also came out. So did all of the birds. Everything that moves on the earth came out of the ark. One kind after another came out.