Genesis 8:19

19 Then all the animals, crawling creatures, birds - every creature on the face of the Earth - left the ship family by family.

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 And take all the animals with you, the whole menagerie of birds and mammals and crawling creatures, all that brimming prodigality of life, so they can reproduce and flourish on the Earth."
18 Noah disembarked with his sons and wife and his sons' wives.
19 Then all the animals, crawling creatures, birds - every creature on the face of the Earth - left the ship family by family.
20 Noah built an altar to God. He selected clean animals and birds from every species and offered them as burnt-offerings on the altar.
21 God smelled the sweet fragrance and thought to himself, "I'll never again curse the ground because of people. I know they have this bent toward evil from an early age, but I'll never again kill off everything living as I've just done.
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.