Yahweh Sends the Flood

7:1-23

7 Then after they had finished building the boat, Yahweh commanded Noah, “You and your entire family must go into the boat, because I know that you are the only one among the people living today who is living rightly according to my standards. 2 Take with you seven male and female pairs of every kind of pure animal, and one male and female pair of every kind of impure animal. 3 Also take seven male and female pairs of every kind of bird that flies in the sky, so that later their offspring will live all over the earth. 4 You must do that, because seven days from today I will make it rain continuously all over the earth for forty days and nights. In that way, I will completely destroy from the earth every living creature that I have made.” 5 Then Noah did everything exactly as Yahweh had commanded him to do.

6 Noah was 600 years old when the flood covered the earth. 7 That is when he and his wife, and his sons and their wives went together into the boat so that they would not die in the flood. 8 Also, every kind of pure animal and every kind of impure animal and every kind of bird, including every kind of creature that lives on land, 9 came in pairs to Noah and went into the boat. They were male and female pairs, which was exactly what God had commanded him to take along.

10 So it happened that when the seven days that God had spoken about had passed, water started to flood the earth. 11 When Noah was 600 years old, on the seventeenth day of the second month of the year, on that very day all the springs in the deep ocean started pouring out water. God also caused the water in the sky to start pouring down, as if he had opened huge floodgates in the sky, 12 so that it rained continuously all over the earth for forty days and nights.

13 So it was that on the same day that the flood started, Noah and his sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, along with his wife and his sons’ three wives all entered the boat. 14 They had with them every kind of living creature, including every kind of livestock and every other kind of creature that lives on the land, and every kind of bird and everything else that flies. 15 Pairs of every kind of living thing that breathes air came to Noah and went into the boat. 16 The animals that went into the boat were male and female pairs from every kind of living thing, which was exactly what God had commanded Noah to take along. Then after they were all inside, Yahweh closed the door of the boat behind them.

17 For forty days and forty nights the flood kept getting deeper and deeper all over the earth, and as the water rose, it lifted up the boat so that it floated on the water above the ground. 18 So the floodwaters continued to rise and get much deeper all over the earth, while the boat floated safely on the water. 19 Eventually the water became so deep on the earth that even all the highest mountains everywhere under the sky were under water. 20 In fact, the water rose at least seven meters above the tops of the highest mountains, so that they were completely under water. 21 Then all the creatures that lived on land died. That included all the birds, the livestock, and the other living creatures, including every kind of creature that lived in large groups on the earth, as well as all the people. 22 Every living creature that breathed air and lived on dry land died. 23 That is how Yahweh completely destroyed all the living creatures that were on the earth, including all people and livestock and all the other creatures that lived on the land and also the birds that flew in the sky. Yes, he completely destroyed everything that lived on the earth, so that the only ones who were still alive were Noah and his family and the animals that were with them in the boat.