1 Then the Lord said to Noah, "Go into the ark with your whole family. I know that you are a godly man among the people of today.
2 "Take seven of every kind of 'clean' animal with you. Take male and female of them. Take two of every kind of animal that is not 'clean.' Take male and female of them.
3 Also take seven of every kind of bird. Take male and female of them. That will keep every kind alive. Then they can spread out again over the whole earth.
4 "Seven days from now I will send rain on the earth. It will rain for 40 days and 40 nights. I will destroy from the face of the earth every living thing I have made."
5 Noah did everything the Lord commanded him to do.
6 Noah was 600 years old when the flood came on the earth.
7 He and his sons entered the ark. His wife and his sons' wives went with them. They entered the ark to escape the waters of the flood.
8 Pairs of "clean" animals and pairs of animals that were not "clean" came to Noah. So did pairs of birds and pairs of all of the creatures that move along the ground.
9 Male and female of all of them came to Noah and entered the ark. Everything happened exactly as God had commanded Noah.
10 After seven days the flood came on the earth.
11 Noah was 600 years old. It was the 17th day of the second month of the year. On that day all of the springs at the bottom of the oceans burst open. God opened the windows of the skies.
12 Rain fell on the earth for 40 days and 40 nights.
13 On that same day Noah entered the ark together with Shem, Ham and Japheth. Noah's wife and the wives of his three sons also entered it.
14 They had every kind of wild animal with them. They had every kind of livestock. They had every kind of creature that moves along the ground. And they had every kind of bird that flies.
15 Pairs of all living creatures that breathe came to Noah and entered the ark.
16 The animals going in were male and female of every living thing. Everything happened exactly as God had commanded Noah. Then the Lord shut him in.
17 For 40 days the flood kept coming on the earth. As the waters rose higher, they lifted the ark high above the earth.
18 The waters rose higher and higher on the earth. And the ark floated on the water.
19 The waters rose on the earth until all of the high mountains under the entire sky were covered.
20 The waters continued to rise until they covered the mountains by more than 20 feet.
21 Every living thing that moved on the earth died. The birds, the livestock and the wild animals died. All of the creatures that fill the earth also died. And so did every human being.
22 Everything on dry land that had the breath of life in it died.
23 Every living thing on the earth was wiped out. People and animals were destroyed. The creatures that move along the ground and the birds of the air were wiped out. Everything was destroyed from the earth. Only Noah and those who were with him in the ark were left.