⁷ Noah and his wife, his sons and their wives, all went into the ark in order to escape the waters of the flood. ⁸ Noah made sure to take along all of the animals (both ritually acceptable and unacceptable), the birds, and all the small creeping creatures ⁹ in pairs by males and females, just as God had told him to do. They all went into the ark with him, two by two.