Noah, deemed righteous by God, followed His command to enter the ark with his family and selected animals, as a great flood came upon the earth, wiping out all other life and prevailing for 150 days.

Scroll to see various Christian perspectives on Genesis 7.

1 Then the Lord said to Noah, "Enter the ark, you and your whole family, for I have found you righteous before me in this generation. 2 Of all the clean animals, take with you seven pairs, a male and its female; and of the animals that are not clean, take two, a male and its female. 3 Likewise, of the birds in the sky, take seven pairs, male and female, so that their offspring may survive on the face of the earth. 4 For in seven days, I will send rain upon the earth for forty days and forty nights, and I will wipe from the face of the ground every living thing that I have made."

5 And Noah did all that the Lord had commanded him. 6 Noah was six hundred years old when the floodwaters came upon the earth. 7 So Noah, with his sons, his wife, and his sons' wives, went into the ark to escape the waters of the flood. 8 Of the clean animals, and of the animals that are not clean, and of the birds, and of everything that creeps on the ground, 9 two by two, male and female, they entered the ark with Noah, as God had commanded Noah.

10 And after seven days, the waters of the flood came upon the earth. 11 In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the windows of the heavens were opened. 12 And rain fell upon the earth for forty days and forty nights.

13 On that very day, Noah and his sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, along with Noah's wife and the three wives of his sons, entered the ark. 14 They and every kind of wild animal, every kind of domesticated animal, every kind of creeping thing that creeps on the earth, and every kind of bird— 15 they all came to Noah in the ark, two by two of all flesh in which there was the breath of life. 16 And those that entered, male and female of all flesh, went in as God had commanded him; and the Lord shut him in.

17 The flood continued upon the earth for forty days, and the waters increased and lifted up the ark, so that it rose above the earth. 18 The waters swelled and increased greatly upon the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the waters. 19 The waters swelled so mightily upon the earth that all the high mountains under the whole heaven were covered. 20 The waters rose more than twenty cubits, and the mountains were covered.

21 And all flesh that moved on the earth perished—birds, domestic animals, wild animals, all the swarming creatures that swarm upon the earth, and all humankind. 22 Everything on dry land in whose nostrils was the breath of life died. 23 Thus, He blotted out every living thing that was upon the face of the ground, from humankind to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky; they were blotted out from the earth. Only Noah and those who were with him in the ark remained. 24 And the waters prevailed upon the earth for one hundred and fifty days.

See how various Christian traditions may approach this text.

The AIV (Artificial Intelligence Version) is a new translation at times derived directly from the original languages and at times derived from previous English renderings. The goal of the translation is to more closely connect ancient and modern readers. It aims to use the most up-to-date scholarship regarding biblical translation, and to avoid losing technicalities for the sake of simplicity.

Read other translations here.