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 was 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 the hundred and fifty days the waters were 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 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, which 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.

Also 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 to him into the ark, for the waters were on the face of the whole earth: then he put forth his hand, and took her, and pulled her in to 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 in the evening; and, see, in her mouth was an olive leaf plucked off: 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; which returned not again to 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 hundredth 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 dry.

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 dried.

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 forth of the ark, you, and your wife, and your sons, and your sons’ wives with you.

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 you every living thing that is with you, of all flesh, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of every creeping thing that creeps on the earth; that they may breed abundantly in the earth, and be fruitful, and multiply on 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, and whatever creeps on the earth, after their kinds, 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 built an altar to 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 a sweet smell; 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 remains, 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