Genesis 8:1-9:16

International Standard Version

The Waters Recede

8 God kept Noah in mind, along with all the wildlife^[a] and livestock that were with him in the ark. God’s Spirit^[b] moved throughout the earth, causing the flood waters to subside. ² The water sources from the ocean depths were blocked and the floodgates of the heavens were closed. ³ Then the flood waters steadily receded,^[c] diminishing completely by the end of the 150 days. ⁴ The ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat^[d] on the seventeenth day of the seventh month. ⁵ The flood water continued to recede until the tenth month, when, on the first of that month, the tops of the mountains could be seen.

⁶ After 40 days, Noah opened the window of the ark that he had built ⁷ and sent out a raven. It went back and forth as the flood water continued to evaporate throughout the earth. ⁸ Later, he sent a dove out from the ark^[e] to see whether the water that covered the land’s surface had completely^[f] receded, ⁹ but the dove could not yet find a place to rest,^[g] so it returned to Noah^[h] on the ark, since water still covered the land. Noah reached out his hand and took the dove back^[i] into the ark with him.

¹⁰ Noah^[j] waited another seven days and sent the dove out from the ark again. ¹¹ The dove returned to him in the evening, but in its beak there was an olive leaf that it had plucked! So Noah knew that the flood waters had decreased on the land. ¹² He waited seven more days and sent the dove out again, but it did not return to him anymore.

¹³ In the six hundred and first year of Noah’s life,^[k] during the first month, the flood water began to evaporate from the land. Noah then removed the ark’s cover and saw that the surface of the land was drying. ¹⁴ By the twenty-seventh day of the second month, the ground was dry.

The Lord’s Covenant

¹⁵ God spoke to Noah, ¹⁶ “It’s time for you, your wife, your sons, and your sons’ wives who are with you to leave the ark. ¹⁷ Bring out with you every living creature—including the flying creatures, animals, and everything that crawls on the ground—so they may disperse throughout the land, be fruitful, and multiply throughout the earth.” ¹⁸ So Noah, his sons, his wife, and his sons’ wives emerged. ¹⁹ Every animal, every crawling thing, every flying creature, and everything that moves on the earth emerged from the ark by groups.^[l]

²⁰ Then Noah built an altar to the Lord and offered burnt offerings on it^[m] from every clean animal and every clean bird. ²¹ When the Lord smelled the pleasing aroma, he told himself, “I will never again curse the land because of human beings—even though human inclinations remain evil from youth—nor will I destroy every living being ever again, as I’ve done.

The Covenant with Noah

9 God blessed Noah and his sons and ordered them, “Be productive, multiply, and fill the earth. ² All the living creatures of the earth will be filled with fear and terror of you from now on, including all the creatures that fly in the sky, everything that crawls on the ground, and all the fish of the ocean. They’ve been assigned to live under your dominion.^[o]

³ “Every living, moving creature will be food for you. Just as I gave you green plants before, so now you have everything. ⁴ However, you are not to eat meat with its life—that is, its blood—in it! ⁵ Also, I will certainly demand an accounting regarding bloodshed, from every animal and from every human being. I’ll demand an accounting from every human being for the life of another human being.

⁸ Later, God told Noah and his sons, ⁹ “Pay attention! I’m establishing my covenant with you and with your descendants after you, ¹⁰ and with every living creature that is with you—the flying creatures, the livestock, and all the wildlife of the earth that are with you—all the earth’s animals that came out of the ark. ¹¹ I will establish my covenant with you: No living beings will ever be cut off again by flood waters, and there will never again be a flood that destroys the earth.”

The Sign of God’s Covenant

¹² God also said, “Here’s the symbol that represents the covenant that I’m making between me and you and every living being with you, for all future generations: ¹³ I’ve set my rainbow in the sky^[p] to symbolize the covenant between me and the earth. ¹⁴ Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow becomes visible in the clouds, ¹⁵ I’ll remember my covenant between me and you and every living creature, so that water will never again become a flood to destroy all living beings. ¹⁶ When the rainbow is in the clouds, I will observe it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living beings on the earth.”