Genesis 7:6-16

6 Now Noah was ¹six hundred years old when the flood of water came upon the earth.

7 Then ²Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons' wives with him entered the ark because * of the water of the flood.

8 ³Of clean animals and animals that are not clean and birds and everything that creeps on the ground,

9 there went into the ark to Noah by twos, male and female, as God had commanded Noah.

10 It came about after ⁴the seven days, that the water of the flood came upon the earth.

11 In the ⁵six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, on the seventeenth * day of the month, on the same day all ⁶the fountains of the great deep burst open, and the floodgates of the sky were opened.

12 ⁷The rain fell upon the earth for forty days and forty nights.

13 On the very same day ⁸Noah and Shem and Ham and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noah's wife and the three wives of his sons with them, entered the ark,

14 they and every beast after its kind, and all the cattle after their kind, and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth after its kind, and every bird after its kind, all sorts of birds.

15 So they went into the ark to Noah, ⁹by twos of all flesh in which was the breath of life.

16 Those that entered, male and female of all flesh, entered as God had commanded him; and the LORD closed it behind him.

Genesis 7:6-16 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO GENESIS 7

This chapter begins with an order to Noah to come with his family and all the creatures into the ark, that they might be safe from the flood, which would quickly be upon the earth, Ge 7:1-4 and then gives an account of Noah's obedience to the divine command in every particular, Ge 7:5-9 and of the time of the beginning of the flood, and its prevalence, Ge 7:10-12 then follows a repetition of Noah, his family, and the creatures entering into the ark, Ge 7:13-16 and next a relation is given of the increase of the waters, and of the height they arrived unto, Ge 7:17-20 and of the consequences of the flood, the death and destruction of every living creature, except those in the ark, fowl, cattle, beast, creeping things, and men, Ge 7:21-23 and the chapter is closed with an account how long the waters continued before they began to ebb, even one hundred and fifty days, Ge 7:24.

Cross References

• 1. Genesis 5:32
• 2. Genesis 6:18; Genesis 7:13; Matthew 24:38; Luke 17:27
• 3. Genesis 6:19, 20; Genesis 7:2, 3
• 4. Genesis 7:4
• 5. Genesis 7:6
• 6. Genesis 8:2
• 7. Genesis 7:4, 17
• 8. Genesis 6:18; Genesis 7:7
• 9. Genesis 6:19; Genesis 7:9

Footnotes

• [a]. Lit "was"
• [b]. Lit "two two"
• [c]. Lit "were"
• [d]. Or "windows of the heavens"
• [e]. Lit "was"
• [f]. Lit "its"
• [g]. Lit "every bird, every wing"