In Genesis, how many pairs of each clean animal does Noah take onto the Ark?

In Genesis, Noah is instructed to take seven pairs of each clean animal onto the Ark.

Genesis 7:2 distinguishes clean animals from animals that are not clean. It instructs Noah to take seven pairs of the clean animals, while the non-clean animals are represented by one pair. The animals are described as male and female, preserving the possibility of reproduction after the flood.

This detail is separate from the simplified phrase “two by two,” which is widely used in popular retellings. That phrase captures the male-and-female pairing of the animals but does not express the more specific distinction made in Genesis 7:2.

Translations can differ slightly in how they phrase the clean-animal number, including wording such as “seven and seven.” The traditional English answer is “seven pairs.” The passage is also one reason readers discuss the relationship between the flood narrative’s paired-animal language and later biblical rules about clean animals.