1The Lord said to Noah, “Go into the ship with your whole family because I have seen that you alone are righteous among the people of today. 2Take with you seven pairs of every kind of clean animal (a male and a female of each) and one pair of every kind of unclean #7:2 “Clean” refers to anything that is presentable to God. “Unclean” refers to anything that is not presentable to God. animal (a male and a female). 3Also, take seven pairs of every kind of bird (a male and a female of each) to preserve animal life all over the earth after the flood. 4In seven days I will send rain to the earth for 40 days and 40 nights. I will wipe off the face of the earth every living creature that I have made.”

5So Noah did everything that the Lord commanded him.

6Noah was 600 years old when the flood came to the earth. 7Noah, his sons, his wife, and his sons’ wives went into the ship to escape the floodwaters. 8Clean and unclean animals, birds, and creatures that crawl on the ground 9came to Noah to go into the ship in pairs (a male and female of each) as God had commanded Noah.

10Seven days later the flood came on the earth. 11On the seventeenth day of the second month of the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, all the deep springs burst open. The sky opened, 12and rain came pouring down on the earth for 40 days and 40 nights.

13On that same day Noah and his sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth, as well as Noah’s wife and his three daughters-in-law went into the ship. 14They had with them every type of wild animal, every type of domestic animal, every type of creature that crawls on the earth, and every type of bird (every creature with wings). 15A pair of every living, breathing animal came to Noah to go into the ship. 16A male and a female of every animal went in as God had commanded Noah. Then the Lord closed the door behind them.

17The flood continued for 40 days on the earth. The water increased and lifted the ship so that it rose high above the ground. 18As the water rose and became very deep, the ship floated on top of the water. 19The water rose very high above the earth. It covered all the high mountains everywhere under the sky. 20It rose 23 feet above the mountaintops.

21Every creature that crawls on the earth died, including birds, domestic and wild animals, and everything that swarms over the earth, along with every human. 22Everything on dry land (every living, breathing creature) died. 23Every living creature on the face of the earth was wiped out. Humans, domestic animals, crawling creatures, and birds were wiped off the earth. Only Noah and those with him in the ship were left.

24The floodwaters were on the earth for 150 days.

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Genesis 7

The Flood Covers the Earth

1When everything was ready, the Lord said to Noah, “Go into the boat with all your family, for among all the people of the earth, I can see that you alone are righteous. 2Take with you seven pairs—male and female—of each animal I have approved for eating and for sacrifice,#7:2 Hebrew of each clean animal; similarly in 7:8. and take one pair of each of the others. 3Also take seven pairs of every kind of bird. There must be a male and a female in each pair to ensure that all life will survive on the earth after the flood. 4Seven days from now I will make the rains pour down on the earth. And it will rain for forty days and forty nights, until I have wiped from the earth all the living things I have created.”

5So Noah did everything as the Lord commanded him.

6Noah was 600 years old when the flood covered the earth. 7He went on board the boat to escape the flood—he and his wife and his sons and their wives. 8With them were all the various kinds of animals—those approved for eating and for sacrifice and those that were not—along with all the birds and the small animals that scurry along the ground. 9They entered the boat in pairs, male and female, just as God had commanded Noah. 10After seven days, the waters of the flood came and covered the earth.

11When Noah was 600 years old, on the seventeenth day of the second month, all the underground waters erupted from the earth, and the rain fell in mighty torrents from the sky. 12The rain continued to fall for forty days and forty nights.

13That very day Noah had gone into the boat with his wife and his sons—Shem, Ham, and Japheth—and their wives. 14With them in the boat were pairs of every kind of animal—domestic and wild, large and small—along with birds of every kind. 15Two by two they came into the boat, representing every living thing that breathes. 16A male and female of each kind entered, just as God had commanded Noah. Then the Lord closed the door behind them.

17For forty days the floodwaters grew deeper, covering the ground and lifting the boat high above the earth. 18As the waters rose higher and higher above the ground, the boat floated safely on the surface. 19Finally, the water covered even the highest mountains on the earth, 20rising more than twenty-two feet#7:20 Hebrew 15 cubits [6.9 meters]. above the highest peaks. 21All the living things on earth died—birds, domestic animals, wild animals, small animals that scurry along the ground, and all the people. 22Everything that breathed and lived on dry land died. 23God wiped out every living thing on the earth—people, livestock, small animals that scurry along the ground, and the birds of the sky. All were destroyed. The only people who survived were Noah and those with him in the boat. 24And the floodwaters covered the earth for 150 days.

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Genesis 7

Genesis 7