Genesis 7

1Then the LORD said to Noah, “Go into the ark with your whole family. I know that you are a godly man among the people of today. 2Take seven pairs of every kind of ‘clean’ animal with you. Take a male and a female of each kind. Take one pair of every kind of animal that is not ‘clean.’ Take a male and a female of each kind. 3Also take seven pairs of every kind of bird. Take a male and a female of each kind. Then every kind will be kept alive. They can spread out again over the whole earth.

4Seven days from now I will send rain on the earth. It will rain for 40 days and 40 nights. I will destroy from the face of the earth every living creature I have made.”

5Noah did everything the LORD commanded him to do. 6Noah was 600 years old when the flood came on the earth. 7He and his sons entered the ark. His wife and his sons’ wives went with them. They entered the ark to escape the waters of the flood. 8Male and female pairs of “clean” animals and pairs of animals that were not “clean” came to Noah. So did male and female pairs of birds and of all the creatures that move along the ground. 9All of them came to Noah and entered the ark. Everything happened just as God had commanded Noah.

10After seven days the flood came on the earth. 11Noah was 600 years old. It was the 17th day of the second month of the year. On that day all of the springs at the bottom of the oceans burst open. God opened the windows of the sky.

12Rain fell on the earth for 40 days and 40 nights. 13On that same day Noah entered the ark together with his sons Shem, Ham and Japheth. Noah’s wife and the wives of his three sons also entered it. 14They had every kind of wild animal with them. They had every kind of livestock, creature that moves along the ground, and bird that flies. 15Pairs of all living creatures that breathe came to Noah and entered the ark.

16The animals going in were male and female of every living thing. Everything happened just as God had commanded Noah. Then the LORD shut him in. 17For 40 days the flood kept coming on the earth. As the waters rose higher, they lifted the ark high above the earth. 18The waters rose higher and higher on the earth. And the ark floated on the water. 19The waters rose on the earth until all the high mountains under the entire sky were covered. 20The waters continued to rise until they covered the mountains by more than 20 feet. 21Every living thing that moved on land died. The birds, the livestock and the wild animals died. All of the creatures that fill the earth also died. And so did every human being. 22Every breathing thing on dry land died.

23Every living thing on earth was wiped out. People and animals were destroyed. The creatures that move along the ground and the birds in the sky were wiped out. Everything on earth was destroyed. Only Noah and those with him in the ark were left. 24The waters flooded the earth for 150 days.