Genesis 8
King James Version
8 And God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the cattle that was with him in the ark: and God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters assuaged;
2 The fountains also of the deep and the windows of heaven were stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained;
3 And the waters returned from off the earth continually: and after the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters were abated.
4 And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat.
5 And the waters decreased continually until the tenth month: in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, were the tops of the mountains seen.
6 And it came to pass at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made:
7 And he sent forth a raven, which went forth to and fro, until the waters were dried up from off the earth.
8 Also he sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters were abated from off the face of the ground;
9 But the dove found no rest for the sole of her foot, and she returned unto him into the ark, for the waters were on the face of the whole earth: then he put forth his hand, and took her, and pulled her in unto him into the ark.
10 And he stayed yet other seven days; and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark;
11 And the dove came in to him in the evening; and, lo, in her mouth was an olive leaf pluckt off: so Noah knew that the waters were abated from off the earth.
12 And he stayed yet other seven days; and sent forth the dove; which returned not again unto him any more.
13 And it came to pass in the six hundredth and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried up from off the earth: and Noah removed the covering of the ark, and looked, and, behold, the face of the ground was dry.
14 And in the second month, on the seven and twentieth day of the month, was the earth dried.
15 And God spake unto Noah, saying,
16 Go forth of the ark, thou, and thy wife, and thy sons, and thy sons' wives with thee.
17 Bring forth with thee every living thing that is with thee, of all flesh, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth; that they may breed abundantly in the earth, and be fruitful, and multiply upon the earth.
18 And Noah went forth, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives with him:
19 Every beast, every creeping thing, and every fowl, and whatsoever creepeth upon the earth, after their kinds, went forth out of the ark.
20 And Noah builded an altar unto the Lord; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar.
21 And the Lord smelled a sweet savour; and the Lord said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake; for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done.
22 While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.
Genesis 8
Living Bible
8 God didn’t forget about Noah and all the animals in the boat! He sent a wind to blow across the waters, and the floods began to disappear, 2 for the subterranean water sources ceased their gushing, and the torrential rains subsided. 3-4 So the flood gradually receded until, 150 days after it began, the boat came to rest upon the mountains of Ararat. 5 Three months later,[a] as the waters continued to go down, other mountain peaks appeared.
6 After another forty days, Noah opened a porthole 7 and released a raven that flew back and forth[b] until the earth was dry. 8 Meanwhile he sent out a dove to see if it could find dry ground, 9 but the dove found no place to light, and returned to Noah, for the water was still too high. So Noah held out his hand and drew the dove back into the boat.
10 Seven days later Noah released the dove again, 11 and this time, toward evening, the bird returned to him with an olive leaf in her beak. So Noah knew that the water was almost gone. 12 A week later he released the dove again, and this time she didn’t come back.
13 Twenty-nine days after that,[c] Noah opened the door to look, and the water was gone. 14 Eight more weeks went by. Then at last the earth was dry. 15-16 Then God told Noah, “You may all go out. 17 Release all the animals, birds, and reptiles, so that they will breed abundantly and reproduce in great numbers.” 18-19 So the boat was soon empty. Noah, his wife, and his sons and their wives all disembarked, along with all the animals, reptiles, and birds—all left the ark in pairs and groups.
20 Then Noah built an altar and sacrificed on it some of the animals and birds God had designated[d] for that purpose. 21 And Jehovah was pleased with the sacrifice[e] and said to himself, “I will never do it again—I will never again curse the earth, destroying all living things, even though man’s bent is always toward evil from his earliest youth, and even though he does such wicked things. 22 As long as the earth remains, there will be springtime and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, day and night.”
Footnotes
- Genesis 8:5 Three months later, literally, “On the first day of the tenth month.”
- Genesis 8:7 a raven that flew back and forth. Apparently lighting from time to time upon carcasses of dead animals floating on the water. The dove that Noah next dispatched would not alight on such floating carrion and was thus a good indication of the water level.
- Genesis 8:13 Twenty-nine days after that, literally, “In the 601st year, in the first month, the first day of the month.”
- Genesis 8:20 some of the animals and birds God had designated, literally, “clean,” i.e., ritually approved by God.
- Genesis 8:21 And Jehovah was pleased with the sacrifice, literally, “And Jehovah smelled the delicious odor.”
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.