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Then {after they had finished building the boat,} Yahweh commanded Noah, "You and your entire family must go into the boat, because I have seen that you are the {only} one among the people living today who is living rightly according to my standards. 2 Take with you seven male and female pairs of every {kind of} pure animal, and a male and female pair of {every kind of} impure animal, 3 {and} also seven male and female pairs of {every kind of} bird {that flies} in the sky, so that {later} their offspring live all over the earth. 4 {You must do that,} because seven days from today I will cause it to rain {all} over the earth for forty days and forty nights. In that way, I will completely destroy from the earth every living creature that I have made.” 5 Then Noah did everything {exactly} as Yahweh had commanded him {to do}.6 Noah was 600 years old when the floodwaters covered the earth. 7 {That is when} he and his wife and his sons and their wives went together into the boat so that they would not die in the flood. 8 {Also,} {every kind of} pure animal and {every kind of} impure animal and {every kind of} bird, {including} every {kind of creature} that moves on land, 9 came in pairs to Noah {and went} into the boat. {They were} male and female {pairs}, just as God had commanded him {to take along}.
10 So it happened that after seven days, water started to flood the earth. 11 When Noah was 600 years old, on the seventeenth day of the second month {of the year}, on that {very} day all the springs in the deep ocean started pouring out water. {God also caused} the water in the sky to start pouring down, as if he had opened {huge} floodgates {in the sky}, 12 so that it rained {continuously} all over the earth for forty days and forty nights.
13 {So it was that} on the same day {that the flood started}, Noah and his sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth, along with his wife and his sons' three wives {all} went into the boat. 14 They had with them every kind of living creature, including every kind of livestock and every {other} kind of creature that lives on the land, and every kind of bird {and} everything {else} that flies. 15 Pairs of every {kind of} living thing that breathes {air} came to Noah {and went} into the boat. 16 Those animals were male and female {pairs} from every {kind of} living thing; they went {into the boat} just as God had commanded Noah. Then {after they were all inside,} Yahweh closed the door {of the boat} behind them.
17 For forty days {and forty nights} the flood kept getting deeper and deeper {all} over the earth, and as the water rose, it lifted up the boat so that it floated {on the water} above the ground. 18 So the floodwaters continued to rise and get much deeper {all} over the earth, while the boat floated {safely} on the surface of the water. 19 Eventually the water became so deep on the earth that {even} all the highest mountains everywhere under the sky were covered {with water}. 20 {In fact,} the water rose {about} seven meters above {the highest mountain tops}, so that they were {completely} covered. 21 Then all the creatures that lived on the earth died, including {all} the birds, and the livestock, and the {other} living creatures, including every {kind of} creature that lived in large groups on the earth, and all people. 22 Every living creature that breathed air and lived on dry land died. 23 That is how Yahweh completely destroyed all the living creatures that lived on the earth, including {all} people and livestock and {all the other} creatures that live {on the land} and also the birds {that fly} in the sky. Yes, he completely destroyed everything {that lived} on the earth, so that the only ones who were still alive were Noah and his family and the animals that were with them in the boat. 24 The water continued to cover the {entire} earth for 150 days.