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Genesis 7

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God Commands Noah to Enter the Ark 1–10

1
And the LORD said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation. ​
2
Of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee by sevens, the male and his female: and of beasts that are not clean by two, the male and his female. ​
3
Of fowls also of the air by sevens, the male and the female; to keep seed alive upon the face of all the earth.
4
For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights; and every living substance that I have made will I destroy from off the face of the earth. ​
5
And Noah did according unto all that the LORD commanded him. ​
6
And Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters was upon the earth.
7
And Noah went in, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives with him, into the ark, because of the waters of the flood.
8
Of clean beasts, and of beasts that are not clean, and of fowls, and of every thing that creepeth upon the earth,
9
There went in two and two unto Noah into the ark, the male and the female, as God had commanded Noah.
10
And it came to pass after seven days, that the waters of the flood were upon the earth. ​

The Flood Waters Erupt 11–16

11
In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened. ​
12
And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights. ​
13
In the selfsame day entered Noah, and Shem, and Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noah's wife, and the three wives of his sons with them, into the ark;
14
They, and every beast after his kind, and all the cattle after their kind, and every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind, and every fowl after his kind, every bird of every sort.
15
And they went in unto Noah into the ark, two and two of all flesh, wherein is the breath of life.
16
And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God had commanded him: and the LORD shut him in. ​

The Waters Prevail and Destroy All Life 17–24

17
And the flood was forty days upon the earth; and the waters increased, and bare up the ark, and it was lift up above the earth. ​
18
And the waters prevailed, and were increased greatly upon the earth; and the ark went upon the face of the waters.
19
And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth; and all the high hills, that were under the whole heaven, were covered. ​
20
Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail; and the mountains were covered. ​
21
And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of beast, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, and every man: ​
22
All in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land, died.
23
And every living substance was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground, both man, and cattle, and the creeping things, and the fowl of the heaven; and they were destroyed from the earth: and Noah only remained alive, and they that were with him in the ark. ​
24
And the waters prevailed upon the earth an hundred and fifty days. ​

Bible text: King James Version (1769 Blayney text) · Public domain

Study Notes for Genesis 7

Verse 1

for thee have I seen righteous — Tsaddiq, righteous, the word behind Gen 6:9, 'Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations'. His faith is the ground: 'By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet… prepared an ark' (Heb 11:7). Peter calls him 'a preacher of righteousness' (2 Pet 2:5).

Verse 2

clean beast… by sevens — The distinction between tahor (clean) and unclean animals appears here, long before the law given through Moses (Lev 11:47). The extra clean animals supplied the offering Noah made on leaving the ark: 'took of every clean beast… and offered burnt offerings' (Gen 8:20).

Verse 4

every living substance — Yequm, a standing, living thing, used again in v.23. 'Destroy' is machah, literally to wipe or blot out, the verb of v.23 and of Gen 6:7, 'I will destroy man'. The seven days are a last respite before the rain begins on the day of v.11.

Verse 5

according unto all that the LORD commanded him — The same verdict as Gen 6:22, 'Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he.' The phrase is later used of Israel's building of the tabernacle (Ex 39:32); Noah's obedience is the faith of Heb 11:7, shown in act.

Verse 10

after seven days — The week of v.4 runs out exactly as announced. Christ draws on the scene: 'until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all' (Luke 17:27). Peter speaks of the same patience: 'when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing' (1 Pet 3:20).

Verse 11

fountains of the great deep — Tehom, the deep of Gen 1:2, 'darkness was upon the face of the deep'. Waters from below ('broken up', baqa, cleft open) and from above ('windows of heaven') are released together; both are shut again in Gen 8:2. The date is given to the month and day.

Verse 12

forty days and forty nights — Geshem is rain, a shower. The rain keeps the length announced in v.4, 'forty days and forty nights'. The same span marks Moses on the mount (Ex 24:18) and Christ's fast (Matt 4:2); here it is the period of the flood's rising (v.17).

Verse 16

the LORD shut him in — Sagar, to close up. The door that Noah entered at God's word was closed by God himself, so that Noah and those with him were secured inside and the rest were shut out. Christ uses the same picture of a final closing: 'and the door was shut' (Matt 25:10).

Verse 17

bare up the ark — Nasa, to lift, and 'lift up' is rum, to raise high. The waters that destroyed everything else carried the ark. The forty days of rain of v.12 are the forty days of the flood's increase, and the ark goes 'upon the face of the waters' (v.18).

Verse 19

all the high hills, that were under the whole heaven — The wording is as wide as Scripture can make it: 'all', 'high', 'the whole heaven'. The psalmist recalls it: 'Thou coveredst it with the deep as with a garment: the waters stood above the mountains' (Ps 104:6). Peter: 'the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished' (2 Pet 3:6).

Verse 20

Fifteen cubits upward — A cubit (ammah) is the forearm's length, so the waters stood fifteen cubits above the mountains, not merely level with them. The ark, lifted on that depth (v.17), had clearance over every summit; the recorded measure shows how far 'the mountains were covered'.

Verse 21

all flesh died — Gava, to expire, to breathe out the last breath. The list runs through fowl, cattle, beast, creeping thing and 'every man', the kinds named in Gen 6:7. It fulfils the sentence of Gen 6:13, 'The end of all flesh is come before me'; Hosea also links the land's mourning with the beasts and birds (Hos 4:3).

Verse 23

Noah only remained alive — Ak, 'only', narrows the survivors to those in the ark: eight persons, as Peter counts, 'saved Noah the eighth person' (2 Pet 2:5). Christ makes the day a pattern for his coming: 'as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man' (Luke 17:26).

Verse 24

an hundred and fifty days — The waters prevailed for this span, the forty days of rising included. It reaches from the seventeenth day of the second month to the seventeenth of the seventh, when 'the ark rested… upon the mountains of Ararat' (Gen 8:4). Gen 8:1 marks the turn: 'God remembered Noah'.