For which animals did Genesis tell Noah to take seven pairs into the Ark?

Genesis told Noah to take seven pairs of clean animals into the Ark.

Genesis 7:2 distinguishes between clean and unclean animals. Noah is instructed to take seven pairs, male and female, of every clean animal, but one pair, male and female, of animals that are not clean. The following verse gives a similar instruction for birds, using seven pairs so that their kind may continue on the earth.

The passage does not provide a complete species list or explain the full classification system in this chapter. Later biblical dietary laws, especially those in Leviticus, are often used for comparison, but Genesis 7 itself gives the category rather than an exhaustive catalogue.

A common simplification says Noah took two of every animal. That wording fits the unclean-animal instruction but omits the larger number assigned to clean animals and birds. The distinction also helps explain why later sacrifices could be offered after Noah left the Ark.