Genesis 8 Today's Daily Bread

The Flood Recedes

1But God remembered Noah and all the animals in the boat. He sent a wind to blow across the waters, and the floods began to disappear. 2The underground water sources ceased their gushing, and the torrential rains stopped. 3So the flood gradually began to recede. After 150 days, 4exactly five months from the time the flood began, F29 the boat came to rest on the mountains of Ararat. 5Two and a half months later, F30 as the waters continued to go down, other mountain peaks began to appear.

6After another forty days, Noah opened the window he had made in the boat 7and released a raven that flew back and forth until the earth was dry. 8Then he sent out a dove to see if it could find dry ground. 9But the dove found no place to land because the water was still too high. So it returned to the boat, and Noah held out his hand and drew the dove back inside. 10Seven days later, Noah released the dove again. 11This time, toward evening, the bird returned to him with a fresh olive leaf in its beak. Noah now knew that the water was almost gone. 12A week later, he released the dove again, and this time it did not come back.

13Finally, when Noah was 601 years old, ten and a half months after the flood began, F31 Noah lifted back the cover to look. The water was drying up. 14Two more months went by, F32 and at last the earth was dry! 15Then God said to Noah, 16"Leave the boat, all of you. 17Release all the animals and birds so they can breed and reproduce in great numbers." 18So Noah, his wife, and his sons and their wives left the boat. 19And all the various kinds of animals and birds came out, pair by pair.

20Then Noah built an altar to the LORD and sacrificed on it the animals and birds that had been approved for that purpose. 21And the LORD was pleased with the sacrifice and said to himself, "I will never again curse the earth, destroying all living things, even though people's thoughts and actions are bent toward evil from childhood. 22As long as the earth remains, there will be springtime and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, day and night."
FOOTNOTES:
F29: Hebrew on the seventeenth day of the seventh month; see 7:11.
F30: Hebrew On the first day of the tenth month; see 7:11 and note on 8:4.
F31: Hebrew on the first day of the first month; see 7:11.
F32: Hebrew The twenty-seventh day of the second month arrived; see note on 8:13.