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.
19. All of the animals came out of the ark. The creatures that move along the ground also came out. So did all of the birds. Everything that moves on the earth came out of the ark. One kind after another came out.
20. Then Noah built an altar to honor the Lord. He took some of all of the "clean" animals and birds. He sacrificed burnt offerings to the Lord on the altar.
21. Their smell was pleasant to the Lord. He said to himself, "I will never put a curse on the ground again because of man. I will not do it even though his heart is always directed toward what is evil. His thoughts are evil from the time he is young. I will never destroy all living things again, as I have just done.
22. "As long as the earth lasts, there will always be a time to plant and a time to gather the crops. As long as the earth lasts, there will always be cold and heat. There will always be summer and winter, day and night."