9. But the dove couldn't find any place to put its feet down. There was still water over the whole surface of the earth. So the dove returned to Noah in the ark. Noah reached out his hand and took the dove in. He brought it back to himself in the ark.
10. He waited seven more days. Then he sent the dove out from the ark again.
11. In the evening the dove returned to him. There in its beak was a freshly picked olive leaf! So Noah knew that the water on the earth had gone down.
12. He waited seven more days. Then he sent the dove out again. But that time it didn't return to him.
13. It was the first day of the first month of Noah's 601st year. The water had dried up from the earth. Then Noah removed the covering from the ark. He saw that the surface of the ground was dry.
14. By the 27th day of the second month the earth was completely dry.
15. Then God said to Noah,
16. "Come out of the ark. Bring your wife and your sons and their wives with you.
17. "Bring out every kind of living thing that is with you. Bring the birds, the animals, and all of the creatures that move along the ground. Then they can multiply on the earth. They can have little ones and increase their numbers."
18. So Noah came out of the ark. His sons and his wife and his sons' wives were with him.