15 Then God said to Noah, 16 “Come out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons and their wives.(A) 17 Bring out every kind of living creature that is with you—the birds, the animals, and all the creatures that move along the ground—so they can multiply on the earth and be fruitful and increase in number on it.”(B)

18 So Noah came out, together with his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives.(C) 19 All the animals and all the creatures that move along the ground and all the birds—everything that moves on land—came out of the ark, one kind after another.

20 Then Noah built an altar to the Lord(D) and, taking some of all the clean animals and clean(E) birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings(F) on it. 21 The Lord smelled the pleasing aroma(G) and said in his heart: “Never again will I curse the ground(H) because of humans, even though[a] every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood.(I) And never again will I destroy(J) all living creatures,(K) as I have done.

22 “As long as the earth endures,
seedtime and harvest,(L)
cold and heat,
summer and winter,(M)
day and night
will never cease.”(N)

God’s Covenant With Noah

Then God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth.(O) The fear and dread of you will fall on all the beasts of the earth, and on all the birds in the sky, on every creature that moves along the ground, and on all the fish in the sea; they are given into your hands.(P) Everything that lives and moves about will be food for you.(Q) Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything.(R)

Footnotes

  1. Genesis 8:21 Or humans, for

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