When Our command came to pass and the water bubbled up, rose in billows and erupted through the earth's surface inundating the land, We said to him: Carry with you on board ship a pair -a male and a female- of every kind or living creature (or possibly two pairs of each species) together with your family, except those against whom Allah has already pledged His word, and carry those who acknowledged the truth of your mission, they were but some few.