Genesis 7:11-24

11When Noah was 600 years old, on the 17th day of the second month, streams of water came up everywhere from below the earth. Also, the water in the heavens poured down on the earth.

12Rain fell on the earth for 40 days and 40 nights.

13On the day that the rain began to fall, Noah and his wife went into the ship. Noah's three sons (Shem, Ham and Japheth) and their three wives also went in.

14With them was every different kind of wild animal and every different kind of farm animal. They also had with them every kind of living thing that moves along the ground. Every different kind of bird and other flying things were there too.

15Pairs of every kind of animal that lived came to Noah and went into the ship.

16Each pair was one male and one female. This happened in the way that God had told Noah. When they were all in the ship, the Lord shut the door.

17For 40 days, the water on the earth became deeper. The water lifted the ship high above the ground.

18The water became even deeper and completely covered the earth. The ship went safely on top of the water.

19More water came until it covered all the high mountains on the earth.

20The water still became deeper so that it was more than 6 metres higher than the tops of the mountains.

21As a result, everything that had lived on the earth now died. The birds, the farm animals and the wild animals died. Every living thing that moved across the ground died, and so did all the people.

22Everything that lived on the dry land died. Nothing could breathe any more.

23God destroyed everything that lived on the earth. He destroyed people, animals, living things that move across the ground, and birds. God removed them from the earth. Only Noah and his family, together with the animals that were in the ship, stayed alive.

24The deep water covered the earth for 150 days.