Genesis 8

1 But God remembered Noah and all the animals and livestock that were with him in the ark. And God sent a wind over the earth, and the waters began to subside.

But God hadn't forgotten about Noah and all the wild animals and livestock with him in the ark. God sent a wind to blow over the earth, and the floodwaters started to drop.

2 The springs of the deep and the floodgates of the heavens were closed, and the rain from the sky was restrained.

The subterranean waters were closed off, and the heavy rainfall was stopped.

3 The waters receded steadily from the earth, and after 150 days the waters had gone down.

The floodwaters steadily receded from the earth. They had gone down so much that by 150 days after the flood began

4 On the seventeenth day of the seventh month, the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat.

the ark grounded on the mountains of Ararat. This happened on the seventeenth day of the seventh month.

5 And the waters continued to recede until the tenth month, and on the first day of the tenth month the tops of the mountains became visible.

The waters continued to drop so that by the first day of the tenth month the tops of mountains could be seen.

6 After forty days Noah opened the window he had made in the ark

Forty days later Noah opened the window he'd made in the ark,

7 and sent out a raven. It kept flying back and forth until the waters had dried up from the earth.

and sent a raven out. It flew back and forth until the water on the earth had dried up.

8 Then Noah sent out a dove to see if the waters had receded from the surface of the ground.

Then he sent a dove out to see if the waters had gone down enough to expose dry ground.

9 But the dove found no place to rest her foot, and she returned to him in the ark, because the waters were still covering the surface of all the earth. So he reached out his hand and brought her back inside the ark.

But the dove couldn't find anywhere to land. So it came back to Noah in the ark because water was still covering the whole earth. He reached out his hand, picked up the dove, and took it back into the ark with him.

10 Noah waited seven more days and again sent out the dove from the ark.

He waited another seven days and sent the dove out from the ark again.

11 And behold, the dove returned to him in the evening with a freshly plucked olive leaf in her beak. So Noah knew that the waters had receded from the earth.

When it came back to him in the evening it had a freshly-picked olive leaf in its beak, so Noah knew the floodwaters were mainly gone from the earth.

12 And Noah waited seven more days and sent out the dove again, but this time she did not return to him.

Again he waited another seven days and sent the dove out again, but this time it didn't return to him.

13 In Noah’s six hundred and first year, on the first day of the first month, the waters had dried up from the earth. So Noah removed the covering from the ark and saw that the surface of the ground was dry.

By now Noah was 601, and by the first day of the first month, the floodwaters on the earth were gone. Noah pulled back the ark's covering and saw that the ground was drying out.

14 By the twenty-seventh day of the second month, the earth was fully dry.

By the twenty-seventh day of the second month the earth was dry.

15 Then God said to Noah,

Then God told Noah,

16 “Come out of the ark, you and your wife, along with your sons and their wives.

“Leave the ark, you and your wife, your sons and their wives.

17 Bring out all the living creatures that are with you—birds, livestock, and everything that crawls upon the ground—so that they can spread out over the earth and be fruitful and multiply upon it.”

Let all the animals go—the birds, the wild animals, the creatures that run along the ground—so that they can breed and increase their numbers on the earth.”

18 So Noah came out, along with his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives.

So Noah and his wife, his sons and their wives, left the ark.

19 Every living creature, every creeping thing, and every bird—everything that moves upon the earth—came out of the ark, kind by kind.

All the animals, all the creatures that run along the ground, all the birds—everything that lives on land—also left, each kind leaving together.

20 Then Noah built an altar to the LORD. And taking from every kind of clean animal and clean bird, he offered burnt offerings on the altar.

Noah built an altar, and sacrificed some of the clean animals and birds as a burnt offering.

21 When the LORD smelled the pleasing aroma, He said in His heart, “Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though every inclination of his heart is evil from his youth. And never again will I destroy all living creatures as I have done.

The Lord accepted the sacrifice, and said to himself, “I won't ever again curse the ground because of human beings, even though every single thought in their minds is evil from childhood. I won't ever destroy all life again as I have just done.

22 As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night shall never cease.”

As long as the earth exists, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, will never come to an end.”

A Dove is Sent Forth from the Ark