Genesis 8

1 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.

And God remembered Noah, and all the animals, and all the cattle that were with him in the ark; and God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters subsided.

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

And the fountains of the deep and the windows of heaven were closed, and the pour of rain from heaven was stopped.

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

And the waters retired from the earth, continually retiring; and in the course of a hundred and fifty days the waters abated.

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

And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on the mountains of Ararat.

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

And the waters abated continually until the tenth month: in the tenth [month], on the first of the month, the tops of the mountains were seen.

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

And it came to pass at the end of forty days that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made.

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

And he sent out the raven, which went forth going to and fro, until the waters were dried from the earth.

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

And he sent out the dove from him, to see if the waters had become low on the ground.

9 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.

But the dove found no resting-place for the sole of her foot, and returned to him into the ark; for the waters were on the whole earth; and he put forth his hand, and took her, and brought her to him into the ark.

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

And he waited yet other seven days, and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark.

11 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.

And the dove came to him at eventide; and behold, in her beak was an olive-leaf plucked off; and Noah knew that the waters had become low on the earth.

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

And he waited yet other seven days, and sent forth the dove; but she returned no more to him.

13 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.

And it came to pass in the six hundred and first year, in the first [month], on the first of the month, that the waters were dried up from the earth. And Noah removed the covering of the ark, and looked, and behold, the surface of the ground was dried.

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

And in the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dry.

15 Then God told Noah,

And God spoke to Noah, saying,

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

Go out of the ark, thou, and thy wife, and thy sons, and thy sons' wives with thee.

17 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.”

Bring forth with thee every animal which is with thee, of all flesh, fowl as well as cattle, and all the creeping things which creep on the earth, that they may swarm on the earth, and may be fruitful and multiply on the earth.

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

And Noah went out, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives with him.

19 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.

All the animals, all the creeping things, and all the fowl — everything that moves on the earth, after their kinds, went out of the ark.

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

And Noah built an altar to Jehovah; and took of every clean animal, and of all clean fowl, and offered up burnt-offerings on the altar.

21 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.

And Jehovah smelled the sweet odour. And Jehovah said in his heart, I will no more henceforth curse the ground on account of Man, for the thought of Man's heart is evil from his youth; and I will no more smite every living thing, as I have done.

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

Henceforth, all the days of the earth, seed [time] and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night, shall not cease.

A Dove is Sent Forth from the Ark