Genesis 8:16

16 Go out of the ship, thou, and thy wife, and thy sons, and the wives of thy sons with thee;

Genesis 8:16 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 8:16

Go forth of the ark
Though the earth was dry and fit to be inhabited, yet be would not go out without orders, as he had to go in; which he waited for before he would, and now he has them:

thou and thy wife, and thy sons, and thy sons' wives, with thee:
the Jewish writers ^F26 observe, that the manner of Noah and his family coming out of the ark is different from that of their going into it: when they went into it then went the men by themselves, and the women by themselves, and so continued apart in the ark, the use of the marriage bed being forbidden them, being a time of distress; but now when they came out they are coupled together, signifying that they were now free to cohabit together.

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FOOTNOTES:

F26 Pirke Eliezer, c. 23. Jarchi in loc.

Genesis 8:16 In-Context

14 In the second month, in the seven and twentieth day of the month, the earth was made dry. (And by the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the whole earth was made dry.)

15 Soothly the Lord spake to Noe; and said,

16 Go out of the ship, thou, and thy wife, and thy sons, and the wives of thy sons with thee;

17 and lead out with thee all living beasts that be with thee of each flesh, as well in volatiles, as in unreasonable beasts, and all reptiles/all creeping beasts that creep on [the] earth; and enter ye on the earth, increase ye, and be ye multiplied on (the) earth. (and lead out with thee all the living beasts that be with thee of all flesh, yea, the birds, and the unreasoning beasts, and all the reptiles that creep on the earth; and go they over the earth, and increase they, and be they multiplied on the earth.)

18 Therefore Noe went out, and his sons, and his wife, and the wives of his sons with him;