Genesis — Chapter 7
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1Then the LORD said to Noah, “Go into the ark, you and all your family, because I have found you righteous in this generation.
2You are to take with you seven pairs of every kind of clean animal, a male and its mate; a pair of every kind of unclean animal, a male and its mate;
3and seven pairs of every kind of bird of the air, male and female, to preserve their offspring on the face of all the earth.
4For seven days from now I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights, and I will wipe from the face of the earth every living thing I have made.”
5And Noah did all that the LORD had commanded him.
6Now Noah was 600 years old when the floodwaters came upon the earth.
7And Noah and his wife, with his sons and their wives, entered the ark to escape the waters of the flood.
8The clean and unclean animals, the birds, and everything that crawls along the ground
9came to Noah to enter the ark, two by two, male and female, as God had commanded Noah.
10And after seven days the floodwaters came upon the earth.
11In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, on the seventeenth day of the second month, all the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened.
12And the rain fell upon the earth for forty days and forty nights.
13On that very day Noah entered the ark, along with his sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and his wife, and the three wives of his sons—
14they and every kind of wild animal, livestock, crawling creature, bird, and winged creature.
15They came to Noah to enter the ark, two by two of every creature with the breath of life.
16And they entered, the male and female of every living thing, as God had commanded Noah. Then the LORD shut him in.
17For forty days the flood kept coming on the earth, and the waters rose and lifted the ark high above the earth.
18So the waters continued to surge and rise greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the waters.
19Finally, the waters completely prevailed upon the earth, so that all the high mountains under all the heavens were covered.
20The waters rose and covered the mountaintops to a depth of fifteen cubits.
21And every living thing that moved upon the earth perished—birds, livestock, animals, every creature that swarms upon the earth, and all mankind.
22Of all that was on dry land, everything that had the breath of life in its nostrils died.
23And every living thing on the face of the earth was destroyed—man and livestock, crawling creatures and birds of the air; they were blotted out from the earth, and only Noah and those with him in the ark remained.
24And the waters prevailed upon the earth for 150 days.
1And 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.
2Of 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.
3Of fowls also of the air by sevens, the male and the female; to keep seed alive upon the face of all the earth.
4For 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.
5And Noah did according unto all that the LORD commanded him.
6And Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters was upon the earth.
7And 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.
8Of clean beasts, and of beasts that are not clean, and of fowls, and of every thing that creepeth upon the earth,
9There went in two and two unto Noah into the ark, the male and the female, as God had commanded Noah.
10And it came to pass after seven days, that the waters of the flood were upon the earth.
11In 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.
12And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights.
13In 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;
14They, 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.
15And they went in unto Noah into the ark, two and two of all flesh, wherein is the breath of life.
16And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God had commanded him: and the LORD shut him in.
17And 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.
18And the waters prevailed, and were increased greatly upon the earth; and the ark went upon the face of the waters.
19And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth; and all the high hills, that were under the whole heaven, were covered.
20Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail; and the mountains were covered.
21And 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:
22All in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land, died.
23And 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.
24And the waters prevailed upon the earth an hundred and fifty days.
1And Jehovah said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation.
2Of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee seven and seven, the male and his female; and of the beasts that are not clean two, the male and his female:
3of the birds also of the heavens, seven and seven, male and female, to keep seed alive upon the face of all the earth.
4For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights; and every living thing that I have made will I destroy from off the face of the ground.
5And Noah did according unto all that Jehovah commanded him.
6And Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters was upon the earth.
7And 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.
8Of clean beasts, and of beasts that are not clean, and of birds, and of everything that creepeth upon the ground,
9there went in two and two unto Noah into the ark, male and female, as God commanded Noah.
10And it came to pass after the seven days, that the waters of the flood were upon the earth.
11In the six hundredth year of Noah`s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.
12And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights.
13In 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;
14they, and every beast after its kind, and all the cattle after their kind, and every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth after its kind, and every bird after its kind, every bird of every sort.
15And they went in unto Noah into the ark, two and two of all flesh wherein is the breath of life.
16And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God commanded him: and Jehovah shut him in.
17And the flood was forty days upon the earth; and the waters increased, and bare up the ark, and it was lifted up above the earth.
18And the waters prevailed, and increased greatly upon the earth; and the ark went upon the face of the waters.
19And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth; and all the high mountains that were under the whole heaven were covered.
20Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail; and the mountains were covered.
21And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, both birds, and cattle, and beasts, and every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, and every man:
22all in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life, of all that was on the dry land, died.
23And every living thing was destroyed that was upon the face of the ground, both man, and cattle, and creeping things, and birds of the heavens; and they were destroyed from the earth: and Noah only was left, and they that were with him in the ark.
24And the waters prevailed upon the earth a hundred and fifty days.
1The Lord said to Noah, “Come into the ark, you and all your household, for I consider you godly among this generation.
2You must take with you seven pairs of every kind of clean animal, the male and its mate, two of every kind of unclean animal, the male and its mate,
3and also seven pairs of every kind of bird in the sky, male and female, to preserve their offspring on the face of the entire earth.
4For in seven days I will cause it to rain on the earth for 40 days and 40 nights, and I will wipe from the face of the ground every living thing that I have made.”
5And Noah did all that the Lord commanded him.
6Noah was 600 years old when the floodwaters engulfed the earth.
7Noah entered the ark along with his sons, his wife, and his sons’ wives because of the floodwaters.
8Pairs of clean animals, of unclean animals, of birds, and of everything that creeps along the ground,
9male and female, came into the ark to Noah, just as God had commanded him.
10And after seven days the floodwaters engulfed 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 floodgates of the heavens were opened.
12And the rain fell on the earth 40 days and 40 nights.
13On that very day Noah entered the ark, accompanied by his sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth, along with his wife and his sons’ three wives.
14They entered, along with every living creature after its kind, every animal after its kind, every creeping thing that creeps on the earth after its kind, and every bird after its kind, everything with wings.
15Pairs of all creatures that have the breath of life came into the ark to Noah.
16Those that entered were male and female, just as God commanded him. Then the Lord shut him in.
17The flood engulfed the earth for 40 days. As the waters increased, they lifted the ark and raised it above the earth.
18The waters completely overwhelmed the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the waters.
19The waters completely inundated the earth so that even all the high mountains under the entire sky were covered.
20The waters rose more than 20 feet above the mountains.
21And all living things that moved on the earth died, including the birds, domestic animals, wild animals, all the creatures that swarm over the earth, and all humankind.
22Everything on dry land that had the breath of life in its nostrils died.
23So the Lord destroyed every living thing that was on the surface of the ground, including people, animals, creatures that creep along the ground, and birds of the sky. They were wiped off the earth. Only Noah and those who were with him in the ark survived.
24The waters prevailed over the earth for 150 days.
1Yahweh 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 Yahweh 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 the same 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 Yahweh 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.
Summary
God commands Noah to enter the ark with his family, taking seven pairs of every clean animal and one pair of every unclean animal, seven days before the flood begins (vv. 1-4). Noah, then six hundred years old, obeys and enters the ark with his wife, sons, and their wives as the animals come to him in pairs (vv. 5-9). The flood begins on the seventeenth day of the second month, with the springs of the great deep bursting forth and rain falling for forty days and nights (vv. 10-12). God shuts Noah inside the ark, and the waters rise until they cover even the highest mountains, destroying every living thing on the earth except those in the ark (vv. 13-23). The floodwaters prevail on the earth for one hundred fifty days (v. 24).
Authorship & Background
Map & Geography
- No specific geography — the flood covers the entire earth (vv.19-20).
- The "fountains of the great deep" and "windows of heaven" (v.11) describe waters from below and above engulfing all known geography.
Deep Dive
Setting: The ark is finished. For years Noah has built it on dry ground at God's command (6:14–22), and Peter calls him "a herald of righteousness" through that time (2 Pet 2:5). Now the waiting ends. Chapter 7 tells of the flood itself: the last week of grace, the family and animals going in, the door shut by God, and the waters rising until every land creature outside the ark is gone. The story is told slowly, with repeated lists, exact dates and the same verbs again and again, as if the narrator wants the reader to feel the weight of it. Genesis 1 told of God separating the waters to make a world where life could live. Genesis 7 tells of that world being undone, the waters above and below flooding back in, with one boat floating on top.
Noah and the Flood (vv1–24)
- "Go into the ark, you and all your household" (v1). The Hebrew verb bo means both "come" and "go," so the KJV has "Come thou." Many preachers, Henry among them, make much of "come," as if God were inviting Noah into a place where he already was. That is a fair picture of God's presence with Noah, but it rests on the English choice more than on the Hebrew. "All your household" matters too: Noah's family is saved with him because of God's favor to him (Heb 11:7).
- "I have seen that you are righteous before me in this generation" (v1). God saw the world's wickedness (6:5, 12), and he sees Noah. The order of 6:8–9 still holds: Noah found grace first, and his righteousness is the life that grace produced.
- "Seven pairs of all clean animals… and a pair of the animals that are not clean" (v2). Chapter 6 spoke of two of every kind (6:19), the minimum to keep each kind alive. Now God adds more clean animals, needed for sacrifice after the flood (8:20) and, later, for food (9:3). The laws of clean and unclean come at Sinai (Lev 11), but the idea is already here. The Hebrew is literally "seven seven." The ESV and most modern versions read seven pairs. Henry and JFB read seven animals: three pairs for breeding and one extra for sacrifice. The Hebrew can be read either way.
- Two accounts or one? Some scholars think chapters 6–8 weave together two older sources, pointing to the two-and-seven numbers and the 40 days in v12 alongside 150 days in v24. Others answer that the numbers fit together (two of every kind in general, seven of the clean), and that the 40 days are the rain while the 150 days are the whole time the waters rose and stayed high. Many scholars, including Gordon Wenham, see the whole flood story as carefully built in a mirror pattern around a center point, "God remembered Noah" (8:1). Whatever the sources, the story as it stands is a deliberate whole.
- "For in seven days" (v4). A last week of grace. Henry: "these seven days were trifled away." JFB: "A week for a world to repent!" The number may also echo the seven days of creation. The world made in a week is given a week before it is unmade.
- "Forty days and forty nights" (v4). Forty is a number that often marks testing, judgment or a time of preparation: Moses on Sinai (Exod 24:18), Israel's forty years (Num 14:33), Elijah's journey (1 Kings 19:8), Nineveh's warning (Jonah 3:4), and Jesus in the wilderness (Matt 4:2).
- "I will blot out" (v4). The same verb as 6:7, repeated twice in v23. God does what he said he would do.
- "Noah did all that the LORD had commanded him" (v5). The refrain of 6:22 again, and again in vv9 and 16. Noah still says nothing. His obedience is the only reply the story records.
- "Noah was six hundred years old" (v6). Noah's three sons came when he was about 500 (5:32), so the ark-building years and the "120 years" (6:3) overlap with the raising of his family.
- "Two and two, male and female, went into the ark" (vv8–9). The animals "went in," as God had said they "shall come in to you" (6:20). Noah didn't have to round them up. The text doesn't say how this happened. Guzik suggests God gave them an instinct to come, like migration. The point is that the Creator is directing his creatures.
- "In the second month, on the seventeenth day" (v11). This is the first exact date in the Bible. The flood story is full of dates (7:11; 8:4, 5, 13, 14), and they read like a ship's log. Whether the "second month" is counted from a spring or an autumn new year is debated. The precision tells the reader this is meant as an account of something that happened, not a timeless myth.
- "All the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the windows of the heavens were opened" (v11). "The deep" is tehom, the same word as 1:2, "darkness was over the face of the deep." The flood comes from below and above at once. In Genesis 1 God set a boundary between the waters above and the waters below (1:6–8) and gathered the seas so that dry land appeared (1:9). Now the boundaries fail and the world returns toward the watery chaos of 1:2. Jeremiah later describes judgment the same way, as creation running backward (Jer 4:23–26). "Windows" means floodgates or sluices. Some, including Guzik, think there was once a water canopy above the earth that fell as rain. Most scholars think the text uses the ordinary picture language of its time and doesn't describe a canopy.
- "On the very same day Noah… entered the ark" (vv13–16). The list of who went in is given again, with the "kinds" of creation language (1:21–25). The repetition slows the story down at the moment of entry.
- "And the LORD shut him in" (v16). One short sentence carries a great deal. The verb sagar means "shut" or "close," used of shutting a door behind someone (19:6, 10). JFB says the Hebrew means "covered him round about," but the lexicon gives only "shut, close." The point stands either way: God closed the door, not Noah. Noah was kept safe inside by God's own hand, and the time for anyone else to come in was over. Notice that the chapter names God with both of his main names: "God had commanded him" and "the LORD shut him in." The Creator who commands is also the covenant LORD who protects his own. Jesus' parable of the ten virgins ends the same way: "and the door was shut" (Matt 25:10).
- "The waters increased and bore up the ark" (v17). "Increased" (rabah) is the word God used in blessing, "be fruitful and multiply" (1:22, 28). Instead of living creatures, the waters multiply. The same waters that destroy the world lift the ark up. The judgment and the rescue happen in the same flood.
- "The waters prevailed" (vv18–20, 24). "Prevailed" is gabar, to be strong or mighty, four times in this section. It is the root of gibborim, the "mighty men" of 6:4. The mighty men of old are overcome by mightier waters.
- "All the high mountains under the whole heaven were covered… fifteen cubits deep" (vv19–20). Fifteen cubits is about 22 feet, half the ark's height of 30 cubits (6:15). Some suggest the ark, riding low in the water, would just clear the highest peaks, though the text doesn't say so. Christians read the flood's extent in two main ways: - Worldwide. "All the high mountains under the whole heaven" is very strong language, and Peter speaks of "the world that then existed" being "deluged with water" (2 Pet 3:6). JFB says the depth "argues against" a partial flood. Guzik also holds this view and points to the many flood stories found across the world's cultures. - Regional. "Earth" (erets) can mean "land," and "all the earth" can mean the known world (41:57). On this view the flood covered the whole region where humans then lived and destroyed all of humanity outside the ark, as the text says, without covering the whole planet. - Both hold that the flood really happened, that God sent it, and that it destroyed all the people outside the ark.
- "All flesh died… in whose nostrils was the breath of life" (vv21–22). "Breath of life" goes back to 2:7, when God breathed into Adam's nostrils. What God gave, he now takes back. The list of birds, livestock, beasts, swarming creatures and mankind runs the creation order again. The fish aren't mentioned: only creatures "on the dry land" die.
- "Only Noah was left, and those who were with him in the ark" (v23). "Was left" (sha'ar) is the root of she'ar, "remnant," a word the prophets use for the faithful few God saves out of judgment (Isa 10:20–22). Noah's family is the first remnant.
- "The waters prevailed on the earth 150 days" (v24). About five months. The next verse, "But God remembered Noah" (8:1), is the turning point of the whole story.
- Commentators: Henry calls Christ "an ark already prepared, in whom alone we can be safe when death and judgment come." Of the final week he writes that the people were given "but one week more to turn them in," and that "In every step he took, [Noah] walked by faith, and not by sense." On v23: Noah "is, in effect, buried alive." JFB reads the clean animals as three pairs plus a seventh for sacrifice, so that worship could go on during the voyage. It sees the shut door as the end of "the season of grace" for those outside. Guzik notes that God alone shut the door, and that no servant of God gets to decide who is shut out of salvation. He links this to Christ, who "opens and no one will shut, who shuts and no one opens" (Rev 3:7). He also says Noah's seven days of waiting, after a century of work and with no sign of rain yet, were a real test of faith. Guzik takes a water canopy and a worldwide flood as most likely. As noted above, many interpreters read both differently.
Pointing to Christ
Jesus used this chapter as a warning: "As were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man… they were eating and drinking… until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away" (Matt 24:37–39). The people of Noah's day weren't unusually busy with evil that week. They were simply living as if God would never act. The way of escape was open until God shut the door. Peter sees the ark as a picture of salvation in Christ: the same waters that judged the world carried Noah's family to safety, and baptism shows that believers have passed through judgment in Christ and come out alive (1 Pet 3:20–21). The only safe place was the one God provided, and the only safe place now is in Christ, the door that is still open (John 10:9).
Commentary
- Enduring Word (David Guzik): enduringword.com Guzik covers the invitation to the ark, the flood's sources, the devastation, and the typological significance.
- Jamieson-Fausset-Brown (1871): blueletterbible.org A critical and explanatory commentary on the whole Bible, more concise than Matthew Henry and closer to the Hebrew and Greek, with attention to historical and geographical detail. Public domain.
- Matthew Henry's Exposition (1710): blueletterbible.org A devotional verse-by-verse commentary in the Puritan tradition, still among the most widely read three centuries on. Public domain.
Videos
Articles
- BibleProject: bibleproject.com On the whole book: how its opening chapters work as literature and how they set up everything that follows.
- GotQuestions.org: gotquestions.org On the whole book: an overview of the book of Genesis -- who wrote it, when, why, and how it fits the rest of Scripture.
Links open on the publisher's own site. Nothing here is reproduced on this page.
Reflection
- An Invitation to Come In (v.1) — God tells Noah to "come" into the ark rather than "go," because He is already there waiting. Are you responding to God's invitation to come to Him, or picturing Him as sending you away?
- Obedience as the Response to Grace (v.5) — Noah does everything the LORD commands him, entering the ark God provided out of grace. God supplies the way of salvation, but have you responded with the obedience of actually entering it?
- Secured by God's Own Hand (v.16) — It's the LORD, not Noah, who shuts the ark door, meaning Noah's safety depends on God's action rather than his own grip. Does resting your security in God's hand rather than your own effort give you confidence?
- Nothing Left Untouched by the Flood (vv.19-21) — The waters rise until every high mountain is covered and everything with the breath of life outside the ark perishes. Does the totality of that judgment shape how seriously you take God's warnings today?
- Only One Way of Survival (v.23) — Only Noah and those with him in the ark remain alive, showing there was exactly one way of escape from judgment. Have you entered the one way of salvation God has provided?