Genesis 8

1 God remembered Noah, and all the wild animals and all the beasts that were with him in the ark. God made a wind pass over the land, and the waters subsided. 2 The springs of the deep and the lattices of the sky were stopped up, and the downpour from the sky was held back. 3 The waters went back from the land, going back little by little. At the end of 150 days the waters had grown less. 4 In the seventh month, on the 17th day of the month, the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat. 5 The waters kept growing less until the tenth month. On the first day of the tenth month, the tops of the mountains could be seen. 6 At the end of 40 days, Noah opened the window of the ark that he had made. 7 He sent out the raven, and it kept going out and coming back until the waters had dried from the land. 8 Then he sent out the dove from him, to see whether the waters had grown light on the face of the ground.

9 But the dove found no resting place for the sole of her foot, and she came back to him into the ark, because there was water on the face of all the land. He put out his hand, took her, and brought her back to him into the ark. 10 He waited seven more days, and again he sent out the dove from the ark. 11 The dove came back to him at evening, and there in her mouth was a torn-off olive leaf. So Noah knew that the waters had grown light on the land. 12 He waited seven more days and sent out the dove, and she did not come back to him again. 13 In the 601st year, on the first day of the first month, the waters were parched from the land. Noah removed the covering of the ark and looked, and the face of the ground was parched. 14 On the 27th day of the second month, the land was dry. 15 Then God spoke to Noah. He said, 16 "Go out of the ark, you and your wife, and your sons and your sons' wives with you.

17 Bring out with you every living thing of all flesh that is with you: the flying creatures, the beasts, and every creeping thing that creeps on the land. Let them swarm in the land, bear fruit, and be many on the land." 18 So Noah went out, with his sons, his wife, and his sons' wives. 19 Every wild animal, every creeping thing, and every flying creature, everything that creeps on the land, went out of the ark by their clans. 20 Then Noah built an altar to the LORD. He took some of every pure beast and every pure flying creature, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. 21 The LORD smelled the restful scent, and the LORD said in his heart, "I will never again curse the ground because of the human, for the shaping of the human heart is bad from his youth. And I will never again strike every living thing, as I have done. 22 As long as the land lasts, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will not stop."