Genesis 8:19

19 And every animal, every creeping thing, and every bird, everything that moves on the earth, went out of the ark by families.

Genesis 8:19 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 8:19

Every beast, every creeping thing, and every fowl, [and]
whatsoever creepeth upon the earth
All went out, not one was left, and they went out

after their kind;
not in a confused disorderly manner, mixing with one another; but as they went in by pairs, male and female of every sort, so they came forth in like manner, or, "according to their families" F3; by which it seems as if the creatures did breed in the ark, and had their families of young ones; and which is the sense of some in Aben Ezra, and he himself thinks it not foreign, though he interprets it as we do, and as the Greek version does, "after their kind": thus they

went forth out of the ark;
everyone with his mate, in order to procreate and multiply upon the earth.


FOOTNOTES:

F3 (Mhytxpvml) "juxta familias suas", Tigurine version, Pagninus, Montanus

Genesis 8:19 In-Context

17 Bring out with you every living thing that is with you of all flesh—birds and animals and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth—so that they may abound on the earth, and be fruitful and multiply on the earth."
18 So Noah went out with his sons and his wife and his sons' wives.
19 And every animal, every creeping thing, and every bird, everything that moves on the earth, went out of the ark by families.
20 Then Noah built an altar to the Lord, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar.
21 And when the Lord smelled the pleasing odor, the Lord said in his heart, "I will never again curse the ground because of humankind, for the inclination of the human heart is evil from youth; nor will I ever again destroy every living creature as I have done.
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.