The Flood Subsides

8 But ^(A)God remembered Noah and all the animals and all the livestock that were with him in the ark; and ^(B)God caused a wind to pass over the earth, and the water subsided. ² Also ^(C)the fountains of the deep and the ^[a]floodgates of the sky were closed, and ^(D)the rain from the sky was restrained; ³ and the water receded steadily from the earth, and at the end ^(E)of 150 days the water decreased. ⁴ Then in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, ^(F)the ark rested upon the mountains of Ararat. ⁵ And the water decreased steadily until the tenth month; in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains became visible.

⁶ Then it came about at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the ^(G)window of the ark which he had made; ⁷ and he sent out a raven, and it ^[b]flew here and there until the water was dried up ^[c]from the earth. ⁸ Then he sent out a ^[d]dove, to see if the water was low on the ^[e]surface of the land; ⁹ but the dove found no resting place for the sole of its foot, so it returned to him in the ark, for the water was on the ^[f]surface of all the earth. Then he put out his hand and took it, and brought it into the ark to himself. ¹⁰ So he waited another seven days longer; and again he sent out the dove from the ark. ¹¹ And the dove came to him in ^[g]the evening, and behold, in its ^[h]beak was a fresh olive leaf. So Noah knew that the water was low on the earth. ¹² Then he waited another seven days longer, and sent out ^(H)the dove; but it did not return to him again.

¹³ Now it came about in the ^(I)six hundred and first year, in the first month, on the first of the month, that the water was dried up ^[i]from the earth. Then Noah removed the covering of the ark, and looked, and behold, the ^[j]surface of the ground had dried up. ¹⁴ And in the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dry. ¹⁵ Then God spoke to Noah, saying, ¹⁶ “Go out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons and your sons’ wives with you. ¹⁷ Bring out with you every living thing of all flesh that is with you, birds and animals and every crawling thing that crawls on the earth, that they may ^[k](J)breed abundantly on the earth, and ^(K)be fruitful and multiply on the earth.” ¹⁸ So Noah went out, and his sons and his wife, and his sons’ wives with him. ¹⁹ Every animal, every crawling thing, and every bird, everything that moves on the earth, went out ^[l]by their families from the ark.

²⁰ Then Noah built ^(L)an altar to the Lord, and took some of every kind of ^(M)clean animal and some of every clean bird and offered ^(N)burnt offerings on the altar. ²¹ The Lord ^(O)smelled the soothing aroma, and the Lord said ^[m]to Himself, “I will never again ^(P)curse the ground on account of man, for ^(Q)the ^[n]intent of man’s heart is evil from his youth; ^(R)and I will never again ^[o]destroy every living thing, as I have done.

Covenant of the Rainbow

9 Then God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them, “^(U)Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth. ² The fear of you and the terror of you will be on every animal of the earth and on every bird of the sky; on everything that crawls on the ground, and on all the fish of the sea. They are handed over to you. ³ Every moving thing that is alive shall be food for you; I have given everything to you, ^(V)as I gave the green plant. ⁴ But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, ^(W)its blood. ⁵ I certainly will require ^[p](X)your lifeblood; ^[q](Y)from every animal I will require it. And ^[r]from every person, ^[s]from every man as his brother I will require the life of a person.

⁸ Then God spoke to Noah and to his sons with him, saying, ⁹ “Now behold, ^(AC)I Myself am establishing My covenant with you, and with your ^[u]descendants after you; ¹⁰ and with every living creature that is with you: the birds, the livestock, and every animal of the earth with you; of all that comes out of the ark, every animal of the earth. ¹¹ I establish My covenant with you; and all flesh shall ^(AD)never again be eliminated by the waters of a flood, ^(AE)nor shall there again be a flood to destroy the earth.” ¹² God said, “This is ^(AF)the sign of the covenant which I am making between Me and you and every living creature that is with you, for ^[v]all future generations; ¹³ I have set My ^(AG)rainbow in the cloud, and it shall ^[w]serve as a sign of a covenant between Me and the earth. ¹⁴ It shall come about, when I make a cloud appear over the earth, that the rainbow will be seen in the cloud, ¹⁵ and ^(AH)I will remember My covenant, which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and ^(AI)never again shall the water become a flood to destroy all flesh. ¹⁶ When the rainbow is in the cloud, then I will look at it, to remember the ^(AJ)everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” ¹⁷ And God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant which I have established between Me and all flesh that is on the earth.”