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 every living thing, and all the cattle that were with him in the ark; and God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters assuaged;

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

the fountains also of the deep and the windows of heaven were stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained.

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 returned from off the earth continually; and after the end of a hundred and fifty days the waters decreased.

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, upon 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 decreased continually until the tenth month; in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, were the tops of the mountains 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 forth a raven, and it went forth to and fro, until the waters were dried up from off 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 forth a dove from him, to see if the waters were abated from off the face of 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 rest for the sole of her foot, and she returned unto him to the ark, for the waters were on the face of the whole earth; and he put forth his hand, and took her, and brought her in unto him into the ark.

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

And he stayed 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 in to him at eventide; and lo in her mouth an olive-leaf freshly plucked; so Noah knew that the waters were abated from off 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 stayed yet other seven days; and sent forth the dove; and she returned not again unto him any more.

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, the first day of the month, the waters were dried up from off the earth; and Noah removed the covering of the ark, and looked, and behold, the face 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 seven and twentieth day of the month, was the earth dry.

15 Then God told Noah,

And God spoke unto Noah, saying:

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

'Go forth from 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 living thing that is with thee of all flesh, both fowl, and cattle, and every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth; that they may swarm in the earth, and be fruitful, and multiply upon the earth.'

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

And Noah went forth, 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.

every beast, every creeping thing, and every fowl, whatsoever moveth upon the earth, after their families; went forth out of the ark.

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

And Noah builded an altar unto the LORD; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered 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 the LORD smelled the sweet savour; and the LORD said in His heart: 'I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake; for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, 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.”

While the earth remaineth, seedtime 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