Genesis 7

1 Then Yahweh said to Noah, “I have seen that out of everyone who is now living, you alone always act righteously. So you and all your family go into the boat.

2 Take with you seven pairs of every kind of animal that I have said I will accept for sacrifices. Take seven males and seven females. Also take a male and a female from every kind of animal that I have said that I will not accept for sacrifices.

3 Also take seven pairs of every kind of bird from all over the earth to keep them alive.

4 Do this because seven days from now I will cause rain to fall on the earth. It will rain constantly for 40 days and nights. By doing that, I will destroy everything that I have made that is on the earth.”

5 Noah did everything that Yahweh told him to do.

6 Noah was 600 years old when the flood covered the earth.

7 Before it started to rain, Noah and his wife and his sons went into the boat to escape from the flood water.

8 Pairs of animals, those that God said that he would accept for sacrifices and those that he would not accept for sacrifices, and pairs of birds and pairs of all the kinds of creatures that move close to the ground,

9 males and females, came to Noah and then went into the boat, just as God told Noah that they would do.

10 Seven days later, it started to rain and a flood began to cover the earth.

11 When Noah was 600 years old, (on the 17th day of the second month [of that year/late in October]), all the water that is under the surface of the earth burst forth, and it began to rain so hard that it was as though a dam [MET] in the sky burst open.

12 Rain fell on the earth constantly for 40 days and nights.

13 On the day that it started to rain, Noah went into the boat with his wife, and his three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth and their wives.

14 They had already put in the boat some of every kind of wild animal and every kind of livestock and every kind of bird and every other creature that has wings.

15 Pairs of all animals came to Noah and entered the boat.

16 There was a male and a female of each animal that came to Noah, just as God had said they would do. After they were all in the boat, God shut the door.

17 It rained for 40 days and nights, and the flood increased. It flooded until the water lifted the boat above the ground.

18 As he water rose higher and higher, the boat floated on the surface of the water.

19 The water rose all over the earth until it covered all the mountains.

20 Even the highest mountains were covered by more than (20 feet/6 meters) of water.

21 As a result, every living creature on the surface of the earth died. That included birds and livestock and wild animals and other creatures that scurry across the ground, and all the people.

22 On the land, (everything that breathed/every living thing) died.

23 God destroyed every living creature: People and animals and creatures that scurry across the ground and birds. Only Noah and those who were in the boat with him remained alive.

24 The flood remained like that on the earth for 150 days.

The Great Flood