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Eternal One (to Noah): It’s time! Go into the ark now. Take your entire household with you, because I see that you are the only one in this generation who lives right before Me. Take the animals with you. Take seven pairs of all ritually acceptable animals, both the male and female; and take one pair of any animal that isn’t acceptable, both the male and female. And take seven pairs of the birds of the sky, too, also male and female, so that we can keep each kind alive on the earth. Seven days from now, I will send a massive rain to cover the earth. The rain will last 40 days and 40 nights, and every living thing I have made will be wiped off the face of the earth.

In distinguishing between animals that are ritually acceptable and unacceptable, God is anticipating the instructions He will give His people later regarding holiness and purity (Leviticus 11:1–47; Deuteronomy 14:4–20). Some animals are ritually acceptable for sacrifices, so they are suitable for food. Other animals are not to be offered to God or eaten. Ultimately, what enters human bodies matters to God; after all He made them.

Noah did everything the Eternal One asked him to do.

Noah was 600 years old when the flood waters swept over the earth. Noah and his wife, his sons and their wives, all went into the ark in order to escape the waters of the flood. Noah made sure to take along all of the animals (both ritually acceptable and unacceptable), the birds, and all the small creeping creatures 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. 10 After seven days, the rains began and waters flooded the earth.

11 On the 17th day of the 2nd month in Noah’s 600th year, all of the subterranean waters erupted from the depths of the earth and burst skyward, covering the land. The casements of the heavens cracked open, 12 dousing heavy rains over the watery earth for 40 days and 40 nights.

13 On the same day, Noah, his wife, his sons (Shem, Ham, and Japheth), and his sons’ wives went into the ark, and all were secured within it. 14 Inside the ark they had with them all sorts of wild animals, domesticated animals, small creeping creatures, and all kinds of birds, that is, every winged creature. 15 All of them went along into the ark to Noah in pairs—all flesh into which God had breathed the breath of life. 16 All those in the ark, males and females of all living flesh, went in just as God had told them to do. And the Eternal One shut them all in for the duration of the flood.

17 The deluge continued for 40 days on the earth. 18 The waters kept rising until they lifted up the ark so it floated safely over the land; 19 the torrent continued to swell and increase in momentum until the highest mountain peaks beneath the heavens were covered. 20 In fact, the waters rose and pitched so forcefully over the earth that the mountain peaks disappeared beneath 22 feet of water. 21 And all flesh that moved upon the earth died out—birds, domesticated animals, wild animals, all of the creatures that swarm over the earth, and all human beings. 22 Everything and everyone on the dry land in which God had breathed the breath of life died. 23 God wiped out every living thing from the face of the earth. Every creature He had made—humans, animals, creeping things, and birds—was wiped off the surface of the earth. Only Noah was left and those with him inside the ark. 24 And the waters raged upon the earth for 150 days.

The Lord then said to Noah, “Go into the ark, you and your whole family,(A) because I have found you righteous(B) in this generation. Take with you seven pairs of every kind of clean(C) animal, a male and its mate, and one pair of every kind of unclean animal, a male and its mate, and also seven pairs of every kind of bird, male and female, to keep their various kinds alive(D) throughout the earth. Seven days from now I will send rain(E) on the earth(F) for forty days(G) and forty nights,(H) and I will wipe from the face of the earth every living creature I have made.(I)

And Noah did all that the Lord commanded him.(J)

Noah was six hundred years old(K) when the floodwaters came on the earth. And Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives entered the ark(L) to escape the waters of the flood. Pairs of clean and unclean(M) animals, of birds and of all creatures that move along the ground, male and female, came to Noah and entered the ark, as God had commanded Noah.(N) 10 And after the seven days(O) the floodwaters came on the earth.

11 In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life,(P) on the seventeenth day of the second month(Q)—on that day all the springs of the great deep(R) burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens(S) were opened. 12 And rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights.(T)

13 On that very day Noah and his sons,(U) Shem, Ham and Japheth, together with his wife and the wives of his three sons, entered the ark.(V) 14 They had with them every wild animal according to its kind, all livestock according to their kinds, every creature that moves along the ground according to its kind and every bird according to its kind,(W) everything with wings. 15 Pairs of all creatures that have the breath of life in them came to Noah and entered the ark.(X) 16 The animals going in were male and female of every living thing, as God had commanded Noah.(Y) Then the Lord shut him in.

17 For forty days(Z) the flood kept coming on the earth, and as the waters increased they lifted the ark high above the earth. 18 The waters rose and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the water. 19 They rose greatly on the earth, and all the high mountains under the entire heavens were covered.(AA) 20 The waters rose and covered the mountains to a depth of more than fifteen cubits.[a][b] (AB) 21 Every living thing that moved on land perished—birds, livestock, wild animals, all the creatures that swarm over the earth, and all mankind.(AC) 22 Everything on dry land that had the breath of life(AD) in its nostrils died. 23 Every living thing on the face of the earth was wiped out; people and animals and the creatures that move along the ground and the birds were wiped from the earth.(AE) Only Noah was left, and those with him in the ark.(AF)

24 The waters flooded the earth for a hundred and fifty days.(AG)

Footnotes

  1. Genesis 7:20 That is, about 23 feet or about 6.8 meters
  2. Genesis 7:20 Or rose more than fifteen cubits, and the mountains were covered