Genesis 8

The Waters Recede

8God kept Noah in mind, along with all the wildlife and livestock that were with him in the ark. God's Spirit moved throughout the earth, causing the flood waters to subside.H430H2142H5146H2416H929H8392H430H5674H7307H5674H5921H776H4325H79182The water sources from the deep were blocked and the floodgates of the heavens were closed.H4599H8415H699H8064H5534H1653H8064H36073Then the flood waters steadily receded from the dry land, diminishing completely by the end of the 150 days.H4325H7725H776H1980H7725H7097H3967H2572H3117H4325H26374The ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat on the seventeenth day of the seventh month.H8392H5117H7637H2320H6240H7651H3117H2320H2022H7805The flood water continued to decrease until the tenth month, when, on the first of that month, the tops of the mountains could be seen.H4325H2637H1980H5704H6224H2320H6224H259H2320H7218H2022H72006After 40 days, Noah opened the window of the ark that he had builtH7093H705H3117H5146H6605H2474H8392H62137and sent out a raven. It went back and forth as the flood water continued to evaporate throughout the earth.H7971H6158H3318H3318H7725H4325H3001H7768Later, he sent a dove out from the ark to see whether the water that covered the land's surface had completely decreased,H7971H3123H7200H4325H7043H6440H1279but the dove could not yet find a place to rest, so it returned to Noah on the ark, since water still covered the land. Noah reached out his hand and took the dove back into the ark with him.88H3123H4672H4494H3709H7272H7725H8392H4325H6440H776H7971H3027H3947H935H839210Noah waited another seven days and sent the dove out from the ark again. 11At evening the dove returned to him, and there was a plucked olive leaf in its beak! So Noah knew that the flood waters had decreased on the land.H2342H312H7651H3117H3254H7971H3123H839212He waited seven more days and sent the dove out again, but it did not return to him anymore.H3176H312H7651H3117H7971H3123H7725H3254H575013In the six hundred and first year of Noah's life, during the first month, the flood water began to evaporate from the land. Noah then removed the ark's cover and saw that the surface of the land was drying.H8337H3967H8141H7223H259H2320H4325H2717H776H5146H5493H4372H8392H7200H6440H127H271714By the twenty seventh day of the second month, the ground was dry.H8145H2320H7651H6242H3117H2320H776H3001

The Lord’s Covenant

15God spoke to Noah,H430H1696H5146H55916"It's time for you, your wife, your sons, and your sons' wives who are with you to leave the ark.H3318H8392H802H1121H1121H80217Bring out with you every living creature - including the birds, animals, and everything that crawls on the ground - so they may disperse throughout the land, be fruitful, and multiply throughout the earth."H3318H2416H1320H5775H929H7431H7430H776H8317H776H6509H7235H77618So Noah, his sons, his wife, and his son's wives emerged.H5146H3318H1121H802H1121H80219Every animal, every crawling thing, every bird, and everything that moves on the earth emerged from the ark by groups.H2416H7431H5775H3605H7430H776H4940H3318H839220Then Noah built an altar to the Lord and offered burnt offerings on it from every clean animal and every clean bird.H5146H1129H4196H3068H3947H2889H929H2889H5775H5927H5930H419621When the Lord smelled the pleasing aroma, he said to himself, "I will never again curse the land because of human beings - even though the human inclination remains evil from youth - nor will I destroy every living being ever again, as I have done.H3068H7306H5207H7381H3068H559H413H3820H3254H7043H127H120H5668H3336H120H3820H7451H5271H3254H5221H2416H621322Never again, as long as the earth exists, will sowing and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, and day and night ever cease."H776H3117H2233H7105H7120H2527H7019H2779H3117H3915H7673