Genesis 7

Translator Notes

1. 'Come' (bo, בֹּא) — God invites Noah into the ark. The use of 'come' (rather than 'go') may imply that God is already present in the ark, inviting Noah to join him. Alternatively, it is simply the standard imperative for entering a space.
2. 'Righteous before me' (tsaddiq lefanai) — God affirms the narrator's assessment from 6:9. Noah's righteousness is validated by God himself. The qualification 'in this generation' (baddor hazzeh) is maintained, as in 6:9.

Translator Notes

1. 'Seven pairs' translates shiv'ah shiv'ah (שִׁבְעָה שִׁבְעָה), literally 'seven seven.' This distributive expression most likely means 'seven pairs' (seven of each sex = fourteen total) or possibly 'seven' (three pairs plus one for sacrifice). The KJV's 'by sevens' is ambiguous in the same way. 'Seven pairs' is adopted following the majority reading.
2. 'Clean' (tehorah, טְהוֹרָה) — the distinction between clean and unclean animals presupposes categories that are formally codified only later in Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14. The narrative assumes this knowledge without explaining its origin. The additional clean animals presumably provide for sacrifice (8:20) without endangering the species.
3. This instruction supplements 6:19–20, which mentioned only 'two of every kind.' The additional clean animals in chapter 7 address the need for sacrifice and may reflect a different literary strand, though the text as it stands is coherent: the general instruction (two) is supplemented by the specific (seven pairs of clean animals).

Translator Notes

1. 'To keep their offspring alive' (lechayot zera, לְחַיּוֹת זֶרַע) — literally 'to keep seed alive.' The purpose is the continuation of species — preserving the capacity for reproduction. Zera ('seed/offspring') connects to the seed-language of 1:11–12 and 3:15.

Translator Notes

1. 'Seven more days' — a final grace period before judgment. The number seven echoes the seven days of creation; the destruction will begin after a creation-week of waiting.
2. 'Forty days and forty nights' (arba'im yom ve'arba'im laylah) — forty is a significant number throughout the Bible, typically associated with periods of testing, judgment, or transition (Israel's 40 years in the wilderness, Moses's 40 days on Sinai, Elijah's 40-day journey, Jesus's 40 days of temptation).
3. 'Blot out' (machiti, מָחִיתִי) — the same verb from 6:7. God reaffirms the sentence.

Translator Notes

1. The obedience formula from 6:22 is repeated. Noah's compliance is total and immediate, without recorded question or delay.

Translator Notes

1. The precise dating of the flood (Noah's age, and the exact month/day in v. 11) gives the narrative a chronicle-like specificity. The flood is presented as a datable historical event within the genealogical framework of Genesis 5.

Translator Notes

1. Eight people total enter the ark: Noah, his three sons (Shem, Ham, Japheth), Noah's wife, and the three sons' wives. These eight will be the ancestors of all post-flood humanity (cf. 1 Peter 3:20).

Translator Notes

1. This verse lists the categories of animals entering the ark, continuing the sentence into verse 9.

Translator Notes

1. 'Two by two' (shenayim shenayim, שְׁנַיִם שְׁנַיִם) — the distributive form, 'in pairs.' The animals come in ordered pairs, male and female, preserving the creation pattern.
2. 'As God had commanded Noah' — the obedience formula again. The pattern is established: divine command, exact human compliance.

Translator Notes

1. The seven-day grace period announced in verse 4 has elapsed. The judgment commences exactly as foretold.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. The precise dating (year, month, day) continues the chronicle-like precision of the narrative.
2. 'All the springs of the great deep burst open' (nivqe'u kol-ma'yenot tehom rabbah) — tehom ('deep') recalls the primordial deep of 1:2. The flood is presented as an undoing of creation: the waters that God separated and contained (1:6–10) are now released. The 'great deep' (tehom rabbah) suggests the subterranean ocean beneath the earth in ancient Near Eastern cosmology.
3. 'The windows of the sky were opened' (va'arubot hashamayim niftachu) — the 'windows' or 'floodgates' of the sky are openings in the raqia (expanse/firmament of 1:6–8) through which the waters above the expanse pour down. The flood comes from both below (springs of the deep) and above (windows of the sky) — a systematic reversal of the separations made on day 2 (1:6–7) and day 3 (1:9–10) of creation.
4. The flood is thus presented not as merely extreme weather but as a cosmic de-creation — a return to the watery chaos of 1:2.

Translator Notes

1. The forty-day rainfall fulfills the announcement in verse 4. The word geshem (גֶּשֶׁם, 'rain') is the ordinary word for rain — but the previous verse makes clear this is no ordinary storm. It is cosmic waters pouring through opened floodgates and erupting from ruptured depths.

Translator Notes

1. 'On that very day' (be'etsem hayyom hazzeh, בְּעֶצֶם הַיּוֹם הַזֶּה) — this emphatic temporal phrase emphasizes the precise timing. The same expression is used for significant dates elsewhere (cf. Genesis 17:23, 26; Exodus 12:17, 41, 51; Deuteronomy 32:48). The sons are now named, individualizing the narrative.

Translator Notes

1. The comprehensive listing echoes the creation categories: wild animals, livestock, crawling things, birds. The phrase 'according to its kind' (leminehu) repeats the creation language of chapter 1. The ark preserves the ordered diversity that God established.

Translator Notes

1. 'The breath of life' (ruach chayyim) — the same phrase from 6:17. All creatures animated by God's life-giving breath enter the ark. The breath that God breathed into the man (2:7) sustains all animal life.

Translator Notes

1. 'The LORD shut him in' (vayyisgor YHWH ba'ado, וַיִּסְגֹּר יְהוָה בַּעֲדוֹ) — this brief, remarkable statement says that God himself closes the ark door behind Noah. The divine name YHWH (rather than Elohim) is used for this personal, protective act. God seals Noah inside — an act of care and finality. Those inside are saved; those outside are not. The closing of the door marks the point of no return.
2. The preposition ba'ad ('behind him' or 'on his behalf') can mean 'behind/around' (God closed the door behind him) or 'for his sake' (God sealed him in for his protection). Both senses are present.

Translator Notes

1. The rising waters are described with increasing intensity through verses 17–20. The ark, the vessel of salvation, rises with the waters — the instrument of judgment becomes the means of elevation for those within. The language shifts from passive description to active force: the waters 'increased,' 'lifted,' and the ark 'rose.'

Translator Notes

1. 'Surged' translates vayyigberu (וַיִּגְבְּרוּ), from gavar (גָּבַר, 'to be strong, to prevail, to overcome'). The waters are described as a conquering force — overpowering the earth. The verb intensifies the sense of unstoppable power.

Translator Notes

1. 'So greatly' translates me'od me'od (מְאֹד מְאֹד), a doubled intensive — 'exceedingly, exceedingly.' The doubling of me'od is rare and emphatic (cf. 17:2, 6, 20; 30:43).
2. 'All the high mountains under all the sky' (kol-heharim hagevohim asher-tachat kol-hashamayim) — the language is universal and absolute. Whether this reflects a global perspective or the perspective of the ancient Near Eastern world known to the author is a question of interpretation, not translation. The rendering follows the Hebrew.

Translator Notes

1. Fifteen cubits (approximately 22.5 feet / 6.9 meters) — the waters rose this distance above the mountaintops. Fifteen cubits is half the ark's height (30 cubits, 6:15), which would ensure the ark could float freely over any submerged peak without grounding.

Translator Notes

1. 'Perished' translates vayyigva (וַיִּגְוַע), from gava ('to expire, to breathe one's last') — the same visceral verb from 6:17. The listing of destroyed categories reverses the creation order: where chapter 1 built up the animal kingdom category by category, chapter 7 tears it down. The list ends with 'all mankind' (vekhol ha'adam) — humanity, created last in chapter 1, dies last in the account of destruction.

Translator Notes

1. 'The breath of the spirit of life' (nishmat-ruach chayyim, נִשְׁמַת רוּחַ חַיִּים) — a compound phrase combining neshamah ('breath,' cf. 2:7) and ruach ('spirit/breath/wind'). This double expression intensifies the description of animate life — everything that breathes, everything sustained by the divine breath, perished. The phrase echoes 2:7, where God breathed the neshamah of life into the man's nostrils. What God breathed in, the waters now extinguish.
2. 'On dry land' (becharavah, בֶּחָרָבָה) — only land-dwelling, air-breathing creatures are destroyed. Aquatic life is not mentioned in the judgment.

Translator Notes

1. 'He blotted out' (vayyimach, וַיִּמַח) — the verb from 6:7 and 7:4 is now fulfilled. What God announced, God has accomplished.
2. 'Only Noah was left' (vayyishsha'er akh-Noach) — the particle akh ('only, alone') emphasizes the solitary survival. From the teeming life of creation, only Noah and his ark-companions remain. The contrast between the universal death and this single remnant is stark.
3. The verse structure creates a chiasm: God blotted out → the listing of categories → they were blotted out from the earth → only Noah remained. The center focuses on the comprehensive destruction; the frame highlights divine agency and Noah's singular survival.

Translator Notes

1. The 150-day duration extends well beyond the 40-day rain (v. 12). The waters continued to dominate the earth even after the rain stopped. The prolonged inundation underscores the totality of the judgment — this is not a flash flood but a sustained undoing of the habitable world. Chapter 8 will describe the gradual recession of these waters.