11. Noah was now 600 years old. The flood started on the seventeenth day of the second month of that year. That day the underground springs split open. And the clouds in the sky poured out rain.
12. The rain fell on the earth for 40 days and 40 nights.
13. On that same day Noah and his wife, his sons Shem, Ham and Japheth and their wives went into the boat.
14. They had every kind of wild animal and tame animal. There was every kind of animal that crawls on the earth. Every kind of bird was there.
15. They all came to Noah in the boat in groups of two. There was every creature that had the breath of life.
16. One male and one female of every living thing came. It was just as God had commanded Noah. Then the Lord closed the door behind them.
17. Water flooded the earth for 40 days. As the water rose, it lifted the boat off the ground.
18. The water continued to rise, and the boat floated on the water above the earth.
19. The water rose so much that even the highest mountains under the sky were covered by it.