The Waters Recede
Study note
God 'remembers' Noah — not that God forgot him, but that God now acts to deliver him. God sends a wind over the earth, the underground springs are closed, and the rain stops. The waters gradually go down. After 150 days, the ark comes to rest on the mountains of Ararat, which are in modern-day Turkey. By the tenth month, the tops of other mountains become visible.
1 But God had not forgotten about Noah or any of the animals and livestock on the boat with him. God sent a strong wind across the earth, and the water slowly started going down. And God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the cattle that was with him in the ark: and God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters assuaged;
2 The underground springs were sealed shut and the sky stopped pouring out rain. The fountains also of the deep and the windows of heaven were stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained;
3 Little by little, the floodwaters kept dropping. After 150 days, the water level had gone down quite a bit. And the waters returned from off the earth continually: and after the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters were abated.
4 On the seventeenth day of the seventh month, the bottom of the boat came to rest on the mountains of Ararat. And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat.
5 The water kept receding. By the first day of the tenth month, the peaks of the mountains were poking out above the water. And the waters decreased continually until the tenth month: in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, were the tops of the mountains seen.
Noah Sends Out Birds
Study note
After forty more days, Noah opens a window and sends out a raven, which keeps flying back and forth. Then he sends out a dove, but it comes back because it finds no dry place to land. Seven days later he sends the dove again, and it returns with a fresh olive leaf — a sign that plants are growing again. Seven days later he sends the dove a third time, and it does not come back. The olive branch has become one of the most famous symbols of peace and hope.
6 Forty days after that, Noah cracked open the window he had built into the boat. And it came to pass at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made:
7 He let a raven loose, and it flew around back and forth until the water on the earth had dried up. And he sent forth a raven, which went forth to and fro, until the waters were dried up from off the earth.
8 Then he released a dove to check whether the water had dropped low enough to see dry ground. Also he sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters were abated from off the face of the ground;
9 But the dove couldn't find any dry spot to land because water still covered everything. It flew back to Noah at the boat, and he reached out his hand and gently pulled it back inside. But the dove found no rest for the sole of her foot, and she returned unto him into the ark, for the waters were on the face of the whole earth: then he put forth his hand, and took her, and pulled her in unto him into the ark.
10 He waited another week and then sent the dove out a second time. And he stayed yet other seven days; and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark;
11 That evening the dove came back, and there in its beak was a freshly picked olive leaf! That told Noah the water was finally going down. And the dove came in to him in the evening; and, lo, in her mouth was an olive leaf plucked off: so Noah knew that the waters were abated from off the earth.
12 He waited one more week and sent the dove out again. This time, the dove never came back. And he stayed yet other seven days; and sent forth the dove; which returned not again unto him any more.
Noah Leaves the Ark
Study note
On the first day of the first month of Noah's 601st year, the water has dried up from the earth. Noah removes the covering of the ark and sees that the ground is drying. By the twenty-seventh day of the second month, the earth is completely dry. God tells Noah to come out of the ark with his family and all the animals, so they can multiply and fill the earth again.
13 On the first day of the first month of Noah's 601st year, the floodwaters had dried up from the land. Noah took the roof off the boat and could see that the ground was drying out. And it came to pass in the six hundredth and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried up from off the earth: and Noah removed the covering of the ark, and looked, and, behold, the face of the ground was dry.
14 By the twenty-seventh day of the second month, the earth was totally dry. And in the second month, on the seven and twentieth day of the month, was the earth dried.
15 Then God spoke to Noah and said, And God spake unto Noah, saying,
16 "It's time to leave the boat — you, your wife, your sons, and their wives." Go forth of the ark, thou, and thy wife, and thy sons, and thy sons' wives with thee.
17 "Bring out every living creature that's with you — the birds, the animals, the crawling creatures — everything. Let them spread out, have babies, and fill the earth again." Bring forth with thee every living thing that is with thee, of all flesh, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth; that they may breed abundantly in the earth, and be fruitful, and multiply upon the earth.
18 So Noah stepped out of the boat, and his sons, his wife, and his sons' wives came out with him. And Noah went forth, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives with him:
19 Every animal came out of the boat. Every crawling thing and every bird came out too. They left in family groups. Every beast, every creeping thing, and every fowl, and whatsoever creepeth upon the earth, after their kinds, went forth out of the ark.
Noah's Sacrifice and God's Promise
Study note
The first thing Noah does after leaving the ark is build an altar and offer burnt offerings to God from the clean animals. God is pleased with the sacrifice and makes an important promise in his heart: he will never again curse the ground because of humans, and he will never again destroy all living creatures as he has done. God acknowledges that the human heart is inclined toward evil from youth, but this will not lead him to destroy the world again. The seasons and cycles of nature will continue as long as the earth remains.
20 The first thing Noah did was build an altar for the Lord. He took some of the clean animals and clean birds and burned them as offerings on the altar. And Noah builded an altar unto the LORD; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar.
21 The Lord smelled the sweet smell. He made a promise in his heart. "I will never curse the ground again because of people. Their hearts lean toward evil from childhood. I will never again destroy every living thing." And the LORD smelled a sweet savour; and the LORD said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake; for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done.
22 "For as long as the earth exists, there will always be planting and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, and day and night. They will never stop." While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.