Genesis 8

1 Then God remembered Noah, and all the wild beasts, all the cattle, all the birds, and all the creeping things that were with him in the ark. God brought a wind over the earth, and the water subsided. 2 The fountains of the deep and the floodgates of heaven were closed up, and the rain from heaven was held back. 3 The water steadily receded from the earth, and after 150 days it had gone down.

4 In the seventh month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat. [a] 5 The water kept going down until the tenth month, and in the eleventh month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains could be seen. [e]

6 After forty days, Noah opened the window of the ark he had made, 7 and he sent out a raven to see whether the water had gone down; it went out and did not return until the water had dried from the earth. [b] 8 Then he sent a dove out after it, to see whether the water had gone down from the face of the earth. 9 But the dove found no place to rest her feet and returned to him in the ark, because water still covered the whole face of the earth. He stretched out his hand, took her, and brought her back to himself inside the ark.

10 He waited seven more days and again sent the dove out from the ark. 11 The dove came back to him toward evening, and she had an olive leaf, a small sprig, in her beak. Then Noah knew that the water had gone down from the earth. † 12 He waited yet another seven days and sent the dove out again, and she did not return to him anymore.

13 In the six hundred and first year of Noah’s life, in the first month, on the first day of the month, the water was gone from the earth. Noah opened the covering of the ark he had made, and he saw that the water had drained away from the face of the earth. 14 And in the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dry.

15 Then the Lord God spoke to Noah and said, 16 “Come out of the ark — you, your wife, your sons, and your sons’ wives with you. 17 Bring out with you all the wild beasts that are with you, all flesh, from birds to cattle, and every creeping thing that moves on the earth. Increase and multiply on the earth.” 18 So Noah came out, and his wife, his sons, and his sons’ wives with him. 19 And all the wild beasts, all the cattle, every bird, and every creeping thing that moves on the earth came out of the ark, each after its kind.

20 Then Noah built an altar to God. He took some of all the clean cattle and every clean bird, and he offered whole burnt offerings on the altar. 21 The Lord God smelled the sweet smell, and when the Lord God had considered, he said, “I will never again curse the earth because of the works of men, for man’s mind is bent intently toward evil from his youth. So I will never again strike down all living flesh, as I have done. [c] 22 For all the days of the earth, seed and harvest, cold and heat, summer and spring, shall not cease, day or night.” [d]