Genesis 8

_1-2God remembered Noah and the animals that were with him in the ark. God sent wind to blow over the earth and the water started to go down. God closed the fountains and stopped all the water and rain that had come from the sky. ₃For 150 days the water slowly went down and later it was not so deep anymore. ₄On the 17th day of the 7th month, the ark did not float on the water anymore. It lay on a mountain. The name of the mountain was Ararat. ₅The water got lower each day and on the first day of the 10th month, they could see the tops of the mountains.

_6-7After 40 days Noah opened a window and he sent a raven out but the raven kept flying in the sky until the water had dried up.’ ₈Noah wanted to find out if all the water had dried up, so he sent out a dove. ₉But the dove could not find a place to sit because the ground was still under water. Then the dove came back to Noah in the ark. Noah put out his hand and he took the dove back into the ark.

₁₀After 7 days Noah sent the dove out again. ₁₁The dove came back that afternoon and in its beak was a green leaf from an olive tree. Then Noah knew that the water was low. ₁₂He waited again for 7 more days and he sent the dove out again. But the dove did not come back.

₁₃Then Noah opened the door of the ark. He looked out and saw that the ground was dry. This was the first day of the first month of the year. Noah was 601 years old. ₁₄On the 27th day of the 2nd month, the earth was dry.

₁₅God said to Noah: ₁₆‘Now you can come out of the ark, you, your wife, your sons and their wives. ₁₇Let the birds and the animals and the creeping animals also come out of the ark. They must mate and have babies and live all over the earth.’

₁₈Noah and his family came out of the ark. ₁₉All the different animals and creeping animals and birds also came out of the ark.

₂₀Noah built an altar where he could give an offering to the Lord. He took one of each kind of pure animal and bird and sacrificed them to God.’ ₂₁The Lord smelled the offering and He was pleased with it. He said to Himself: ‘I will never curse the earth again because of the bad things that people do. I know that they will always do bad things, but I will never destroy all the people and the animals again as I have done.’

God said: