Genesis 6:9-8:19

International Standard Version

Noah Obeys God

⁹ These are the family records^[a] of Noah: Noah was a righteous man. Blameless during his times,^[b] Noah communed^[c] with God. ¹⁰ Noah fathered three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. ¹¹ By this time, the earth had become ruined in God’s opinion^[d] and filled with violence. ¹² God looked at the earth, observing how corrupt its population had become, because the entire human race^[e] had corrupted itself.^{[f] 13} So God announced to Noah, “I’ve decided to destroy every living thing on earth,^[g] because it has become filled with violence due to them. Look! I’m about to annihilate them, along with the earth. ¹⁴ So make yourself an ark out of cedar,^[h] constructing compartments in it, and cover it inside and out with tar. ¹⁵ Make the ark like this: 300 cubits^[i] long, 50 cubits^[j] wide, and 30 cubits^[k] high. ¹⁶ Make a roof^[l] for the ark, and finish the walls^[m] to within one cubit^[n] from the top.^[o] Place the entrance in the side of the ark, and build a lower, a middle, and an upper deck.

¹⁷ “For my part, I’m about to flood the earth with water and destroy every living thing^[p] that breathes. Everything on earth will die. ¹⁸ However, I will establish my own covenant with you, and you are to enter the ark—you, your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives. ¹⁹ You are to bring two of every living thing^[q] into the ark so they may remain alive with you. They are to be male and female. ²⁰ From birds according to their species,^[r] from domestic animals according to their species,^[s] and from everything that crawls on the ground according to their species^[t]—two of everything will come to you so they may remain alive. ²¹ For your part, take some of the edible food and store it away—these stores will be food for you and the animals.”^[u]

²² Noah did all of this, precisely as^[v] God had commanded.

Entering the Ark

7 Then the Lord told Noah, “Come—you and all your household—into the ark, because I’ve seen that you alone are righteous^[w] in this generation. ² You are to take with you seven pairs^[x] of every clean animal, a male and its mate, and two of the unclean animals, a male and its mate; ³ along with seven pairs^[y] of the flying birds, male and female, in order to keep their offspring alive on the surface of all the earth. ⁴ Seven days from now I’ll send rain on the earth for 40 days and 40 nights, and I’ll destroy every living creature that I’ve made.”

⁵ Noah did everything that the Lord commanded.

The Flood Begins

⁶ Noah was 600 years old when water began to flood the earth. ⁷ Noah, his sons, his wife, and his sons’ wives entered the ark with him before the flood waters arrived.^{[z] 8} From both clean and unclean animals, from birds, and from everything that crawls on the ground, ⁹ two by two, male and female, they entered the ark to join Noah, just as God had commanded.

¹⁰ Seven days later, the flooding started. ¹¹ On the seventeenth day of the second month, when Noah was 600 years old, all the springs of the great deep burst open, the floodgates of the heavens were opened, ¹² and it rained throughout the earth for 40 days and 40 nights. ¹³ On that very day, Noah entered the ark with his^[aa] sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth, Noah’s wife, his sons’ three wives with them, ¹⁴ along with every species of wild animal,^[ab] livestock, crawling creature, bird, and every creature that has wings. ¹⁵ Two of each living creature^[ac] entered the ark with Noah. ¹⁶ The males and females of each living creature^[ad] entered the ark,^[ae] just as God had commanded. Then the Lord sealed them inside.

¹⁷ The flood continued throughout the earth for 40 days, while the flood waters increased, lifting the ark so that it rose above the surface of the^[af] earth. ¹⁸ The flood waters continued to surge, increasing throughout the earth, while the ark floated on the surface of the flood water. ¹⁹ The flood water surged even higher throughout the earth, until all the highest mountains under the sky were covered. ²⁰ The flood waters rose 15 cubits^[ag] above the mountains. ²¹ Every living thing^[ah] on earth died—flying creatures, livestock, wildlife, all creatures that swarm over the earth, and all human beings. ²² Everything that breathed^[ai] and everything that had lived on dry land died. ²³ All existing creatures that had lived on the surface of the ground were annihilated, from humans to livestock, from crawling creatures to birds of the sky. They were wiped off the earth. Only Noah remained, along with those who were with him in the ark. ²⁴ The flood waters surged over the earth for 150 days.

The Waters Recede

8 God kept Noah in mind, along with all the wildlife^[aj] and livestock that were with him in the ark. God’s Spirit^[ak] 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,^[al] diminishing completely by the end of the 150 days. ⁴ The ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat^[am] 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^[an] to see whether the water that covered the land’s surface had completely^[ao] receded, ⁹ but the dove could not yet find a place to rest,^[ap] so it returned to Noah^[aq] on the ark, since water still covered the land. Noah reached out his hand and took the dove back^[ar] into the ark with him.

¹⁰ Noah^[as] 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,^[at] 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.^[au]