20 | Genesis 7:3
you sev en pairs of ev ery kind of clean an i mal, a male and its mate, and one pair of ev ery kind of un clean an i mal, a male and its mate, 3 and also sev en pairs of ev ery kind of bird, male and fe male, to keep their var i ous kinds alive through out the earth. 4 Sev en days from now I will send rain on the earth for for ty days and for ty nights, and I will wipe from the face of the earth ev ery liv ing crea ture I have made.”
5
And Noah did all that the Lord com mand ed him.
6
Noah was six hun dred years old when the flood wa ters came on the earth. 7 And Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives en tered the ark to es cape the wa ters of the flood. 8 Pairs of clean and un clean an i mals, of birds and of all crea tures that move along the ground, 9 male and fe male, came to Noah and en tered the ark, as God had com mand ed Noah. 10 And af ter the sev en days the flood wa ters came on the earth.
11
In the six hun dredth year of No ah’ s life, on the sev en teenth day of the sec ond month— on that day all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the flood gates of the heav ens were opened. 12 And rain fell on the earth for ty days and for ty nights.
13
On that very day Noah and his sons, Shem, Ham and Ja pheth, to geth er with his wife and the wives of his three sons, en tered the ark. 14 They had with them ev ery wild an i mal ac cord ing to its kind, all live stock ac cord ing to their kinds, ev ery crea ture that moves along the ground ac cord ing to its kind and ev ery bird ac cord ing to its kind, ev ery thing with wings. 15 Pairs of all crea tures that have the breath of life in them came to Noah and en tered the ark. 16 The an i mals go ing in were male and fe male of ev ery liv ing thing, as God had com mand ed Noah. Then the Lord shut him in.
17
For for ty days the flood kept com ing on the earth, and as the wa ters in creased they lift ed the ark high above the earth. 18 The wa ters rose and in creased great ly on the earth, and the ark float ed on the sur face of the wa ter. 19 They rose great ly on the earth, and all the high moun tains un der the en tire heav ens were cov ered. 20 The wa ters rose and cov ered the moun tains to a depth of more than fif teen cu bits. a, b 21 Ev ery liv ing thing that moved on land per ished— birds, live stock, wild an i mals, all the crea tures that swarm over the earth, and all man kind. 22 Ev ery thing on dry land that had the breath of life in its nos trils died. 23 Ev ery liv ing thing on the face of the earth was wiped out; peo ple and an i mals and the crea tures that move along the ground and the birds were wiped from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those with him in the ark.
24
The wa ters flood ed the earth for a hun dred and fif ty days.
a
20 That is, about 23 feet or about 6.8 meters b
20 Or rose more than fifteen cubits, and the mountains were covered one pair of each species rather than seven. Genesis 6:19 – 20 may speak of a single pair as the minimum number of animals needed to continue the species after the flood, whereas 7:2 – 3 includes additional clean animals to ensure that proper sacrifice can be made after the flood. clean animal The clean and unclean distinction for sacrifice is made explicit only with the law, long after Noah( Ex 20; Lev 11; Dt 14). However, there may have been an earlier awareness of animals that were appropriate and inappropriate for sacrifice. Alternatively, a later editor may have added this detail to remove potential contradictions with the law. 7:4 Seven days from now Presumably the time needed for the animals and humans to board the ark. Sevenday periods are noted elsewhere in the story( Ge 7:10; 8:10,12). See the infographic“ Inside Noah’ s Ark” on p. 19. 7:11 seventeenth day Throughout chs. 6 – 8, the narrative offers multiple numbers relating to how much time has passed— it is often difficult to tell how these figures relate. This may suggest that Genesis was originally composed of multiple sources. Alternatively, there may be two systems of recording time in the narrative, one that linearly presents the days and what developed during various time spans and the other designating exact dates. springs of the great deep This description presumes an ancient Near Eastern cosmology( worldview). This worldview included a domed firmament( or vault) above the visible sky that held back waters that were above the firmament and below the earth. The waters below were called the great deep. It was believed that the waters came to earth( when it rained) through gaps in the firmament— the windows and doors of heaven( compare 1:6 and note). See the infographic“ Ancient Hebrew Conception of the Universe” on p. 5.
7:12 forty days and forty nights This may be an idiom for a long period of time and not a description of a precise length of time( compare Ex 24:18; 1Ki 19:8). 7:16 the Lord shut him in Yahweh’ s role in saving Noah, his family, and the animals comes into full view here. The narrator reminds the audience that the salvation of these few people is an act of divine grace. 7:19 all the high mountains under the entire heavens This description and Ge 7:20 – 23 may support the idea that this narrative presents a global flood— and perhaps even demand it. In addition, the NT uses the flood account as an analogy for the future judgment of all of humanity( 2Pe 3:6 – 7). On the other hand, extra-Biblical evidence for a global flood is inconclusive. Arguments for both a local and global flood can be supported Biblically( see note on Ge 6:17; note on 7:21). 7:21 Every living thing that moved on land perished In Biblical usage, phrases that appear on the surface to be universal do not always speak of exhaustive, universal participation— particularly with respect to peoples and lands on the other side of the globe from the ancient Near East( e. g., 8:6 – 7; 41:57; 2Sa 15:23; 1Ch 14:17; 2Ch 9:28). Specifically with regard to the flood, Yahweh himself speaks of destroying all life, yet that is clearly not the case: Noah, his family and the animals with him live( Ge 6:17; 8:21). In addition, if all the water on all the earth had evaporated after the flood, as 8:13 – 14 seems to imply, everything would have died. Given this literary context, it is possible that the flood, while spoken about in global terms, was limited to a vast area near Noah( compare 6:4 and note; note on 7:19). Nonetheless, this is only an argument based on common literary practice; it is unclear how the narrator actually understood the scope of the flood.