Genesis 7

₁When Noah had finished building the ark, the Lord said to him: ‘You and your family must go into the ark. You are the only man on earth that is good and righteous.’ ₂You must take 7 males and 7 females of every kind of animal that is pure. You must also take one male and one female of every animal that is impure. ₃You must also take 7 males and 7 females of every kind of bird with you, so that these animals and birds will keep on living on earth. ₄You must do this because in 7 days from now, I will send lots of rain that will fall on the earth. It will rain for 40 days and 40 nights and I will kill and destroy everyone that I have made on earth, all the people and all the animals.’

₅Noah did everything that God told him to do. ₆Noah was 600 years old when God sent the rain and flood water on the earth. ₇Noah and his wife and his sons and their wives went into the ark before it started to rain.

_8-9All the animals came to Noah, males and females, as God had told Noah. There were pure and impure animals.

_10-16Noah was 600 years old when he went into the ark with his wife and their 3 sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth and their wives. It was the 17th day of the 2nd month of the year. Noah also took wild animals, farm animals, creeping animals and birds with him. All the animals came to Noah, a male and a female of every kind, as God had told Noah. Then the Lord closed the door of the ark. The rain started on the day that Noah and his wife went into the ark. After 7 days, the water flooded the world. It rained on earth for 40 days and 40 nights. The fountains under the ground opened up and the water came out. All the water in the sky above the expanse of the world rained onto earth.

_17-18It rained for 40 days. The rain came down, and it did not stop. And the water became deeper and deeper and the ark started to float on the water high above the ground.’ _19-20Later the water was over all the high mountains and over the whole world. The water was 15 cubits higher than the mountains. ₂₁Everything that had lived on earth died, all the birds, all the animals, all the creeping animals and all the people on earth. ₂₂Everything that had been alive on the dry ground died. ₂₃God destroyed everything on earth that was alive. All the people, all the animals and all the birds drowned. Only Noah and his family and the animals that were in the ark were not destroyed. ₂₄The water was all over the world for 150 days.