Chapter 7

7 1. Then the Lord said to Noah, "Go now, you and all your house, into the ark, for I have seen that you alone are righteous before me in this generation.¹ 2. From all the clean animals take for yourself seven pairs, males with their mates; and from the animals that are not clean take a pair, a male and his mate. 3. Also, from the birds of the heavens, seven pairs (a male and a female) to preserve seed on the face of the whole earth. 4. For, seven days from now, I will make it rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights so that I will annihilate all life which I have made from off the face of the earth. 5. So Noah did everything just as the Lord had commanded him.

6. Now, Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of many waters came on the earth. 7. Noah, his sons, his wife, and his sons' wives went with him into the ark to escape the waters of the flood. 8. From the clean animals and from the unclean animals, from the birds and from everything that creeps on the earth, 9. two and two went with Noah into the ark; a male and a female just as God had commanded Noah.

10. It came about after seven days that the waters of the flood came upon the earth. 11. In the six hundredth year of the life of Noah, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the many fountains of the deep burst open, and the sluice-gates of heaven were opened.² 12. The rain was coming down on the earth for forty days and forty nights. 13. On that very day³ Noah, and Shem, Ham, and Japheth (the sons of Noah), the wife of Noah, and the three wives of his sons all went into the ark, 14. they and all living things according to their kind: all cattle according to their kind, all things that creep on the earth according to their kind, and all birds according to their kind, every winged animal. 15. They all went to Noah into the ark, two by two, from all flesh in which was the breath of life. 16. Male and female of all flesh went in just as God had commanded him. Then the Lord shut him in.

17. The flood was forty days on the earth; the waters augmented exceedingly, and they lifted the ark high over the earth. 18. The waters strengthened and increased greatly on the earth, but the ark floated on the face of the waters. 19. The waters became very exceedingly strong on the earth and they covered all the high mountains under the whole heavens.⁴ 20. Fifteen cubits was the height over the mountains by which the waters prevailed. 21. All flesh died: things creeping on the earth, birds, livestock, beasts, every swarming thing on the earth, and all mankind. 22. Everything that had the breath of life in its nostrils; everything on dry land, died. 23. He annihilated every being that existed on the face of the land from mankind to beast to creeping things to birds of the heavens. He annihilated them all from the earth. Only Noah was left, along with all who were in the ark with him. 24. The waters overpowered the earth for 150 days.


1. As per Adrian's suggestion, I will make a textual distinction between "you" singular and "you" plural. "You" singular will be written "you." "You" plural will be written "you." If you needs emphasis, then italics will be the only way to show it. I have revised all the previous posts to reflect this change. text
2. See here for a visual orientation to how the fountains looked to an ancient person, as well as how the sluice-gates looked. text
3. "That very day" would have to refer to the day before the rain came. It was the day on which Noah and his family entered the ark. text
4. The phrase "under all the heavens" textually precludes a local flood understanding. text