1 God {Elohim, Faithful Preserver} kept Noah in mind, along with every living creature and all the animals that were with him in the ark; and God drove a wind {ruach: drying wind} across the earth, and the waters began to sink back.
2 The springs of the deep {tehom: subterranean waters} were closed off, the windows {arubot: heavenly openings} of the heavens were shut, and the rain from the heavens was held back.
3 The waters {hamayim: flood waters} drew back from the earth, going and returning, and by the end {mik’tseh: boundary reached} of one hundred and fifty days the waters had lessened.
4 In the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, the ark {teivah: vessel of preservation} came to rest on the mountains of Ararat {ararat: ancient mountain region}.
5 And the waters {mayim: overwhelming flood} kept receding {halokh: progressing withdrawal} until the tenth month; on the first day of the tenth month, the tops of the mountains appeared.
6 After forty days had reached their end {mikets: completion point}, Noah opened the window of the ark {tevah: protective vessel} that he had made.
7 He released the raven, and it went out, going to and fro {vashov: back and forth} until the waters {hamayim: remaining floodwaters} had dried up from the earth.
8 Then he sent out the dove {yona: reconnaissance bird} from him to ascertain whether the waters had subsided from the face of the ground {adamah: recovering land}.
9 The dove found no resting place {manoach: secure spot} for the sole of her foot, so she came back to him at the ark {tevah: protective vessel}, because water still covered the surface of the whole earth. Then he stretched out his hand, took her, and brought her to himself into the ark.
10 He waited again seven more days {yamim: measured periods}, and then sent out the dove {hayonah: scouting messenger} once more from the ark.
11 The dove returned to him toward evening, and behold, a freshly plucked olive leaf was in her mouth; and Noah {Noach: waiting survivor} recognized that the waters {mayim: receding flood} had fallen from the earth.
12 He waited {yachel: expectant delay} another seven days and sent out the dove again, yet she did not add {yasfah: continue or repeat} another return to him.
13 In the six hundred and first year, in the first month, on the first day of the month, the waters {hamayim: floodwaters receding} had dried from the earth; and Noah removed the covering of the ark and looked, and behold, the surface of the ground {adamah: settled soil} was dry.
14 Then, in the second month {chodesh: set calendar cycle}, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth {erets: entire land surface} had become dry.
15 And God{Elohim, Sovereign Speaker} spoke to Noah, saying{leimor: divine decree marker},
16 Come out from the ark {tevah: massive vessel}—you, your wife {ishah: covenant partner}, your sons, and your sons’ wives with you.
17 Bring out every living creature that is with you, from all flesh {basar: living beings}—birds, animals, and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. Let them go out with you, so that they may swarm upon the earth and be fruitful and multiply upon the earth {erets: inhabited world}.
18 So Noah {Noach: ark survivor} went out, along with his sons, his wife, and the wives of his sons, with him {itto: together as a family group}.
19 All the living creatures {chayah: diverse land life}—every creeping thing, every bird, and everything that moves on the earth—went out from the ark {tevah: preserved refuge} by their families.
20 Then Noah {Noach: grateful worshiper} built an altar for the LORD {YHWH, Preserving Deliverer}, and from every clean animal and every clean bird he took some and offered them as burnt offerings on the altar.
21 And the LORD {YHWH, Merciful Judge} smelled the pleasing aroma, and the LORD said in His heart, “I will not again curse the ground because of humanity, for the inclination {yetser: inner impulse} of the human heart is evil from youth; and I will not again strike all living things as I have done.”
22 For as long as all the days of the earth remain, seedtime {zera: season of sowing} and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease {yishbotu: ever come to rest}.