7
The Flood Begins
1Then the Lord said to Noah, “I have seen that you are a good man, even among the evil people of this time. So gather your family, and all of you go into the boat. 2Get seven pairs (seven males and seven females) of every kind of clean animal. And get one pair (one male and one female) of every other animal on the earth. Lead all these animals into the boat with you. 3Get seven pairs (seven males and seven females) of all the birds. This will allow all these animals to continue living on the earth after the other animals are destroyed. 4Seven days from now, I will send much rain on the earth. It will rain for 40 days and 40 nights, and I will wipe everything off the face of the earth. I will destroy everything I made.” 5Noah did everything the Lord told him to do.
6Noah was 600 years old at the time the rains came. 7He and his family went into the boat to be saved from the flood. His wife and his sons and their wives were on the boat with him. 8All the clean animals, all the other animals on the earth, the birds, and everything that crawls on the earth 9went into the boat with Noah. These animals went into the boat in groups of two, male and female, just as God commanded. 10Seven days later the flood started. The rain began to fall on the earth.
11-13On the 17th day of the second month, when Noah was 600 years old, the springs under the earth broke through the ground, and water flowed out everywhere. The sky also opened like windows and rain poured down. The rain fell on the earth for 40 days and 40 nights. That same day Noah went into the boat with his wife, his sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and their wives. 14They and every kind of animal on the earth were in the boat. Every kind of cattle, every kind of animal that crawls on the earth, and every kind of bird were in the boat. 15All these animals went into the boat with Noah. They came in groups of two from every kind of animal that had the breath of life. 16All these animals went into the boat in groups of two, just as God had commanded Noah. Then the Lord closed the door behind Noah.
17Water flooded the earth for 40 days. The water began rising and lifted the boat off the ground. 18The water continued to rise, and the boat floated on the water high above the earth. 19The water rose so much that even the highest mountains were covered by the water. 20The water continued to rise above the mountains. The water was more than 20 feet#7:20 20 feet Literally, “15 cubits” which would be 21' 10 3/16" (6.66 m) if this was the short cubit or 25' 6 1/16" (7.77 m) if it was the long cubit. above the highest mountain.
21-22Every living thing on earth died—every man and woman, every bird, and every kind of animal. All the many kinds of animals and all the things that crawl on the ground died. Every living, breathing thing on dry land died. 23In this way God wiped the earth clean—he destroyed every living thing on the earth—every human, every animal, everything that crawls, and every bird. All that was left was Noah and his family and the animals that were with him in the boat. 24The water continued to cover the earth for 150 days.