Genesis 7
The Flood Narrative
1The LORD said to Noah, “Come with all of your household into the ship, for I have seen your righteousness before me in this generation.
2You shall take seven pairs of every clean animal with you, the male and his female. Of the animals that are not clean, take two, the male and his female.
3Also of the birds of the sky, seven and seven, male and female, to keep seed alive on the surface of all the earth.
4In seven days, I will cause it to rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights. I will destroy every living thing that I have made from the surface of the ground.”
5Noah did everything that the LORD commanded him.
6Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters came on the earth.
7Noah went into the ship with his sons, his wife, and his sons’ wives, because of the floodwaters.
8Clean animals, unclean animals, birds, and everything that creeps on the ground
9went by pairs to Noah into the ship, male and female, as God commanded Noah.
10After the seven days, the floodwaters came on the earth.
11In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep burst open, and the sky’s windows opened.
12It rained on the earth forty days and forty nights.
13In the same day Noah, and Shem, Ham, and Japheth—the sons of Noah—and Noah’s wife and the three wives of his sons with them, entered into the ship—
14they, and every animal after its kind, all the livestock after their kind, every creeping thing that creeps on the earth after its kind, and every bird after its kind, every bird of every sort.
15Pairs from all flesh with the breath of life in them went into the ship to Noah.
16Those who went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God commanded him; then the LORD shut him in.
17The flood was forty days on the earth. The waters increased, and lifted up the ship, and it was lifted up above the earth.
18The waters rose, and increased greatly on the earth; and the ship floated on the surface of the waters.
19The waters rose very high on the earth. All the high mountains that were under the whole sky were covered.
20The waters rose fifteen cubits higher, and the mountains were covered.
21All flesh died that moved on the earth, including birds, livestock, animals, every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, and every man.
22All on the dry land, in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life, died.
23Every living thing was destroyed that was on the surface of the ground, including man, livestock, creeping things, and birds of the sky. They were destroyed from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those who were with him in the ship.
24The waters flooded the earth one hundred fifty days.
God commands Noah to enter the ark with his family and the animals, specifying seven pairs of clean animals and two pairs of unclean animals. After seven days, the flood begins with rain from above and waters bursting from below, lasting forty days and nights. The waters cover even the highest mountains, destroying all life on earth except Noah and those with him in the ark, with the flood persisting for 150 days total.
Context
This chapter follows God's detailed instructions for ark construction in chapter 6 and leads to the flood's conclusion and God's covenant in chapters 8-9.
Key Themes
Outline
- 1-5God's Final Instructions to NoahThe LORD commands Noah to enter the ark with specific numbers of clean and unclean animals, announcing the coming forty-day deluge.
- 6-10Noah's Obedience and Entry into the ArkNoah, at age 600, obeys God's command and enters the ark with his family and all the animals as instructed.
- 11-16The Flood BeginsOn the appointed day, the fountains of the deep burst open and the heavens pour forth rain, with God himself shutting Noah inside the ark.
- 17-24The Waters PrevailThe flood covers the entire earth including the highest mountains, destroying all breathing life except those preserved in the ark.
The Flood Narrative
7:1–8:22This passage narrates the actual flood event, describing Noah's obedience in entering the ark with his family and the animals as God brings judgment upon the earth. The narrative emphasizes both divine justice in destruction and divine mercy in preservation.
person_contrast
Noah's perfect obedience appears seven times using the phrase "as God commanded him," creating a literary counterpoint to humanity's sevenfold corruption that necessitated the flood.
Genesis 7:8
Leviticus 20:25lexical“‘You shall therefore make a distinction between the clean animal and the unclean, and between the unclean fowl and the…
Leviticus 11:46lexical“‘This is the law of the animal, and of the bird, and of every living creature that moves in the waters, and of every cr…
Genesis 8:17lexicalBring out with you every living thing that is with you of all flesh, including birds, livestock, and every creeping thin…
Genesis 1:26lexicalGod said, “Let’s make man in our image, after our likeness. Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over th…
Genesis 9:2lexicalThe fear of you and the dread of you will be on every animal of the earth, and on every bird of the sky. Everything that…
Genesis 7:11
Genesis 8:2lexicalThe deep’s fountains and the sky’s windows were also stopped, and the rain from the sky was restrained.
Malachi 3:10lexicalBring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house, and test me now in this,” says the LORD o…
Genesis 8:13lexicalIn the six hundred first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried up from the earth.…
Jeremiah 39:2lexicalIn the eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the fourth month, the ninth day of the month, a breach was made in the city.
Ezekiel 46:1lexical“‘The Lord GOD says: “The gate of the inner court that looks toward the east shall be shut the six working days; but on…
Genesis 7:13
Genesis 9:18lexicalThe sons of Noah who went out from the ship were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Ham is the father of Canaan.
Genesis 6:10lexicalNoah became the father of three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
Genesis 5:32lexicalNoah was five hundred years old, then Noah became the father of Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
1 Chronicles 1:4lexicalNoah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
Genesis 10:1lexicalNow this is the history of the generations of the sons of Noah and of Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Sons were born to them aft…
Genesis 7:14
Genesis 1:21lexicalGod created the large sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarmed, after their kin…
Genesis 8:17lexicalBring out with you every living thing that is with you of all flesh, including birds, livestock, and every creeping thin…
Genesis 1:26lexicalGod said, “Let’s make man in our image, after our likeness. Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over th…
Genesis 6:20lexicalOf the birds after their kind, of the livestock after their kind, of every creeping thing of the ground after its kind,…
Psalms 148:10lexicalwild animals and all livestock, small creatures and flying birds,
Genesis 7:21
Genesis 8:17lexicalBring out with you every living thing that is with you of all flesh, including birds, livestock, and every creeping thin…
Leviticus 11:46lexical“‘This is the law of the animal, and of the bird, and of every living creature that moves in the waters, and of every cr…
Genesis 1:20lexicalGod said, “Let the waters abound with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth in the open expanse of the sky…
Genesis 1:21lexicalGod created the large sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarmed, after their kin…
Genesis 1:26lexicalGod said, “Let’s make man in our image, after our likeness. Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over th…
Genesis 7:22
Job 27:3lexical(for the length of my life is still in me, and the spirit of God is in my nostrils);
2 Samuel 22:16lexicalThen the channels of the sea appeared. The foundations of the world were laid bare by the LORD’s rebuke, at the blast of…
Job 4:9lexicalBy the breath of God they perish. By the blast of his anger are they consumed.
Genesis 7:23
Genesis 6:7lexicalThe LORD said, “I will destroy man whom I have created from the surface of the ground—man, along with animals, creeping…
Genesis 6:20lexicalOf the birds after their kind, of the livestock after their kind, of every creeping thing of the ground after its kind,…
Genesis 1:26lexicalGod said, “Let’s make man in our image, after our likeness. Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over th…
Ezekiel 38:20lexicalso that the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the animals of the field, all creeping things who creep on the earth,…
Genesis 8:19lexicalEvery animal, every creeping thing, and every bird, whatever moves on the earth, after their families, went out of the s…
Interlinear
Word-by-word original language