In Genesis’s account of Noah’s Ark, seven pairs of clean animals were taken aboard. Genesis 7:2 instructs Noah to take seven pairs of every clean animal, while taking one pair of animals that were not clean.
This detail appears in the instructions given shortly before the Flood. Genesis links clean animals with later sacrifice, since Noah builds an altar and offers burnt offerings after leaving the Ark. The distinction is therefore part of the story’s ritual vocabulary, not merely a modern classification of species.
Translations can make this passage seem inconsistent because the Hebrew wording has been interpreted as “seven pairs” or, in some renderings, “seven of each.” The common English formulation is seven pairs of clean animals. It should not be confused with the one-pair instruction for unclean animals.