13 Now it came about in the six hundred and first year , in the first month, on the first of the month , the water was dried up from the earth . Then Noah removed the covering of the ark , and looked , and behold , the surface of the ground was dried up. 14 In the second month , on the twenty-seventh e day of the month , the earth was dry .

15 Then God spoke to Noah , saying , 16 "Go out of the ark , you and your wife and your sons and your sons' wives with you. 17 "Bring out with you every living thing of all flesh that is with you, birds and animals and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth , that they may breed abundantly on the earth , and be fruitful and multiply on the earth ." 18 So Noah went out, and his sons and his wife and his sons' wives with him. 19 Every beast , every creeping thing , and every bird , everything that moves on the earth , went out by their families from the ark .

Matthew Henry's Commentary on Genesis 8:13-19

Commentary on Genesis 8:13-19

(Read Genesis 8:13-19)

God consults our benefit, rather than our desires; he knows what is good for us better than we do for ourselves, and how long it is fit our restraints should continue, and desired mercies should be delayed. We would go out of the ark before the ground is dried; and perhaps, if the door, is shut, are ready to thrust off the covering, and to climb up some other way; but God's time of showing mercy is the best time. As Noah had a command to go into the ark, so, how tedious soever his confinement there was, he would wait for a command to go out of it again. We must in all our ways acknowledge God, and set him before us in all our removals. Those only go under God's protection, who follow God's direction, and submit to him.