Genesis 7:11-21

11 In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, on the seventeenth day of the second month—on that day all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened.

12 And rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights.

13 On that very day Noah and his sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth, together with his wife and the wives of his three sons, entered the ark.

14 They had with them every wild animal according to its kind, all livestock according to their kinds, every creature that moves along the ground according to its kind and every bird according to its kind, everything with wings.

15 Pairs of all creatures that have the breath of life in them came to Noah and entered the ark.

16 The animals going in were male and female of every living thing, as God had commanded Noah. Then the LORD shut him in.

17 For forty days the flood kept coming on the earth, and as the waters increased they lifted the ark high above the earth.

18 The waters rose and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the water.

19 They rose greatly on the earth, and all the high mountains under the entire heavens were covered.

20 The waters rose and covered the mountains to a depth of more than fifteen cubits.^[a][b]

21 Every living thing that moved on land perished—birds, livestock, wild animals, all the creatures that swarm over the earth, and all mankind.

Genesis 7:11-21 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. S Genesis 5:32
• 2. Genesis 8:4,14
• 3. S Genesis 1:7; Job 28:11; Psalms 36:6; Psalms 42:7; Proverbs 8:24; Isaiah 51:10; Ezekiel 26:19
• 4. Genesis 8:2; 2 Kings 7:2; Psalms 78:23; Isaiah 24:18; Malachi 3:10
• 5. S ver 4; S 1 Samuel 12:17; S Job 28:26
• 6. Genesis 8:16; 1 Peter 3:20; 2 Peter 2:5
• 7. S Genesis 6:18
• 8. S Genesis 1:11
• 9. ver 8-9; Genesis 6:19
• 10. S Genesis 6:22
• 11. S ver 4
• 12. Psalms 104:6
• 13. Genesis 8:4-5; 2 Peter 3:6
• 14. S Genesis 6:7,13; 2 Peter 3:6

Footnotes

• [a]. That is, about 23 feet or about 6.8 meters
• [b]. Or "rose more than fifteen cubits, and the mountains were covered"