How many clean animals did Genesis say Noah took onto the Ark in each group?

Genesis says Noah took seven pairs of clean animals onto the Ark.

Genesis 7:2 instructs Noah to take seven pairs of every clean animal, male and female, while taking one pair of every animal that was not clean. Genesis 7:3 gives a related instruction for birds, using a wording commonly translated as seven pairs or seven each, depending on the translation.

This passage is often remembered as “two of every animal,” but that shorter formula does not capture the distinction in Genesis 7. Genesis 6:19–20 gives the earlier general instruction to bring pairs of every kind, while Genesis 7 provides the more detailed clean-animal instruction.

The category “clean” is not fully explained in the Flood narrative itself. Later biblical law, especially Leviticus, gives more extensive dietary classifications, but readers should not automatically assume every later rule is spelled out in Genesis.