In Genesis, what was Noah told to put on the Ark in groups of seven pairs?

In Genesis, Noah was told to take clean animals onto the Ark in groups of seven pairs.

Genesis 7:2 distinguishes between clean and unclean animals. It instructs Noah to take seven pairs of every clean animal, while one pair of every unclean animal is specified. The following verse also gives seven pairs of birds.

This detail is easy to confuse with the broader statement in Genesis 6:19–20 that animals come to Noah “two of every sort.” The two passages use different parts of the story’s instructions, and the distinction between clean and unclean animals appears before the later legal classifications associated with Israelite ritual practice.

The extra clean animals also make narrative sense within Genesis because Noah later offers burnt offerings after leaving the Ark. The passage does not provide a modern zoological classification of the animals involved.