This should be the most extensive examination of Gen. 7 available, where you will be able to examine in depth every word of the original text.

Outline of Chapter 7:

Introduction

         vv.     1–4           God’s Instructions to Noah

         vv.     5–9           Noah’s Obedience to God

         vv.    10–12         Overview of the Flood

         vv.    13–16         Noah, his Family, and the Animals all Enter the Ark

         vv.    17–20         The Flood

         vv.    21–23         What the Flood Destroyed; Noah and Company Were Saved in the Flood

         v.       24           The Flood Continues

Addendum

Charts, Maps and Short Doctrines:

         v.      12              The Flood Time Table

         v.      16              The Organization of Genesis 7

         v.      17              The Changing Conditions of the Earth

         v.      17              Theoretical Changing Conditions of the Earth

         v.      20              Robert Dean on Why the Noahic Flood was Worldwide

         v.      23              Fossil Evidence for Massive Animal Graveyards

         v.      24              Dean’s Lessons from the Deluge

         v.      24              Principle Features of the Biblical Record (a chart)

         v.      24              The Statistics of the Genesis Record and Heathen Flood Epics

         v.      24              Similarities between Genesis and Gilgamesh

         v.      24              In both the Genesis and Galgamesh stories...

         v.      24              Significant Differences Between Genesis and Epic of Gilgamesh

         v.      24              A Comparison Table of Genesis and Gilgamesh

         v.      24              Present-Day Earth Topography (a graphic)

         Addendum          Josephus’ History of this Time Period

         Addendum          Edersheim Summarizes Genesis 7

         Addendum          A Complete Translation of Genesis 7

——————————

An Introduction to Genesis 7

I ntroduction: The first third of Gen. 6 was about the corruption of mankind, which was why God would destroy almost all life upon the earth. Gen. 6 was also about God speaking to Noah and Noah placing his faith in God and doing what he was directed to do.

Fallen angelic creation has had an opportunity to think about what it has done for centuries—perhaps millenniums—and when given the opportunity to come back to the earth, they have not learned a lesson, they have not reformed, they do not recognize God's power and righteousness. The sum total of their influence over the newly fallen world is one of corruption and violence. Only Noah—weak, humble Noah (this is in comparison to the angelic host on the earth) is righteous before God. His righteousness is observed by fallen and elect angels alike.

Gen. 8 will be the abatement of the waters. Gen. 7, the chapter which we have just begun, is all about the flood itself. All of Gen. 7 is devoted to the flood.

There are those—including Christians—who believe that this is just some story with the intent of teaching us something. If this is a teaching fable, then what exactly is it teaching? Why do we have 16 verses on entering the ark, the days numbered during which this flood occurs, and the death of all living things outside of the ark confirmed? As a real event, this tells us a lot about God, man, civilizations, the judgment of God, etc. As a teaching fable, it tells us very little. Surely you have heard various fables, like the goose that laid the golden eggs or the ant and the grasshopper (two fables very pertinent to today’s political climate). These fables have 2 things in common: (1) they are clearly fables and (2) what they teach is obvious. This history of Noah and the ark does not fit into the pattern of a teaching fable. It is not clearly a fable and what it teaches, if the Noahic narrative is false, is not obvious.

Have you ever heard a parent threaten his child with ridiculous threats {“If you kids don’t stop acting up, I am going to sell all of you to an orphanage”)? If Noah and the ark is some sort of a fable, then much of it is all about God threatening to do stuff that He is not ever going to do. If this flood is just astray to illustrate the surety of God’s judgment, then it comes off like the parent who makes ridiculous threats. In fact, this approach to Gen. 6–8 makes out God to be a liar, among other things. God becomes that parent threatening to drop off his children at an orphanage. This approach nullifies all that God is. He is no longer Truth; His Word means nothing; and His threats mean even less—if this is just some Bible fable.

This, in part, helps to explain why we live in such a perverted, evil and hurtful world. We live in a world where man makes decisions which are perverted, evil and hurtful—and we see the results of these decisions in crime and in war. We live in a world where Satan rules (2Cor. 4:4 Eph. 2:2); the outcome of his rulership is going to involve pain and misery. One of the best examples of this is Communist China. Mao had in his mind the perfect society as guided from the top; he had to quash human freedom in order to bring this to pass, which meant killing millions of people. I know a Chinese woman who adores Mao and does not believe that he could be a heartless killer. However, in order to impose his philosophy of government, he needed to get rid of those who did not see things his way.

My point here is, if there was no evil in the world and no pain and suffering, we would not recognize the real drama in which we find ourselves. God has to allow the cruelty of man from two theological perspectives: (1) God has given us free will; what sense does that make if He does not allow us to use it? (2) We need to know what and what we are as man, and where human viewpoint leads us. We know that nothing can be more cruel than man, and this ought to give us pause. If we recognize the inherent evil of man (and the inherent evil in ourselves), we are better prepared to be realistic about our lives.

If there was no real suffering in this world, and we hear the gospel of Jesus redeeming us from sin and death, we’d say, “We’re doing pretty well right now. Not interested.”

Or the old conundrum of people who are successful often pat themselves on the back because of their own brilliant choices; and those who are suffering blame God for their misery. At least these who blame God are thinking about Him.

Part of what we learn in the Bible is the surety of God’s judgment. We do not have to theorize that God will allow suffering; we see it every day. If God allows suffering here on earth, how much more so will He allow suffering after the final judgment? Furthermore, we want God to judge mankind at the end—we do not want Hitler and Stalin and Mao to just simply die, and that is it. They should pay for their gross evil.

If Noah and the ark and the worldwide flood is just some meaningless fable, how can we believe in the surety of God’s judgment? How can we believe that God will inevitably judge us? It makes little sense to teach that which is Christian truth, and to build it upon a foundation of made-up stories. Satanic doctrine is based upon lies, but not the Bible. The narratives of actual events is the basis for Bible doctrine. What sense does it make to develop spiritual and moral truth based upon a bunch of made-up stories?

Jesus will teach by parable, but it will be clear that these are parables. Furthermore, these parables, in order to have any meaning, are based upon common events in people’s lives, things which the listeners have actually participated in (unlike a worldwide flood). God the Holy Spirit also teaches us such things through His Word, but based upon actual historical events. When there is teaching which can occur, God the Holy Spirit records the events in order to teach us this or that principle. The narratives must be true in order for the spiritual lessons to have a solid foundation upon which truth can be built.

And, as we have already examined, with some detail, is that everything about this event is reasonable—the size and dimensions of the boat with respect to the number of animals aboard and with respect to being sea worthy in the first place. The length of days required for the earth to flood is going to be reasonable, just as will the time it takes for these waters to abate will be reasonable.

Furthermore, there are volumes of books written both supporting and denying the historicity of this event. On any given day, people are posting things on the internet about the flood—both for and against. Take any other deluge account from any culture, and there are people who comment on these other accounts and read about them, from time to time, but no one is arguing about them, and certainly not every single day. No one is writing books about other deluge accounts saying, “This just can’t be true, and here’s why.” No one is writing books about these other flood narratives saying, “Of course this makes sense, and here’s why...” But, in the book of Genesis, there is something to argue about—there is substance here. No other account of the flood is similar in that regard.

What is unique about most of Gen. 6–8 is, it is just too reasonable and it is just too possible. It is so reasonable and possible that men will write passionate books about how they don’t think it could have happened; and how they think it is nonsense and a fable. It is their passion and need to berate the details of this event which confirms to us that, maybe this is true; maybe the Noahic flood did occur, just exactly like the Bible tells us it did. These same people do not write, The Flood, Volume 2: Why the Akkadian Deluge Myth is False—they have no passion to write such a book and, besides, no one would read it. But, Gen. 6–8 concerns them; the Biblical record of the deluge gets them both engaged and vexed.

In Gen. 7, Noah and his family enter into the Ark, and then, after 7 days, it begins to rain—and it continues to rain for 40 days and the flood waters dominate the earth for another 150 days, and all life on land is destroyed by a worldwide flood.

——————————

God's Instructions to Noah

Here is how others have translated this verse:

Ancient texts:                       Note: I compare the Hebrew text to English translations of the Latin, Syriac and Greek texts, using the Douay-Rheims translation ; George Lamsa’s translation, and Sir Lancelot Charles Lee Brenton’s translation as revised and edited by Paul W. Esposito, respectively. I often update these texts with non-substantive changes (e.g., you for thou, etc.). I often use the text of the Complete Apostles’ Bible instead of Brenton’s translation, because it updates the English text.

The Septuagint was the earliest known translation of a book (circa 200 b.c.). Since this translation was made before the textual criticism had been developed into a science and because different books appear to be translated by different men, the Greek translation can sometimes be very uneven.

When there are serious disparities between my translation and Brenton’s (or the text of the Complete Apostles’ Bible), I look at the Greek text of the Septuagint (the LXX) to see if a substantive difference actually exists (and I reflect these changes in the English rendering of the Greek text). I use the Greek LXX with Strong’s numbers and morphology available for e-sword. The only problem with this resource (which is a problem for similar resources) is, there is no way to further explore Greek verbs which are not found in the New Testament. Although I usually quote the Complete Apostles’ Bible here, I have begun to make changes in the translation when their translation conflicts with the Greek and note what those changes are.

The Masoretic text is the Hebrew text with all of the vowels (vowel points) inserted (the original Hebrew text lacked vowels). We take the Masoretic text to be the text closest to the original. However, differences between the Masoretic text and the Greek, Latin and Syriac are worth noting and, once in a great while, represent a more accurate text possessed by those other ancient translators.

In general, the Latin text is an outstanding translation from the Hebrew text into Latin and very trustworthy (I say this as a non-Catholic). Unfortunately, I do not read Latin—apart from some very obvious words—so I am dependent upon the English translation of the Latin (principally, the Douay-Rheims translation).

Underlined words indicate differences in the text.

Bracketed portions of the Dead Sea Scrolls are words, letters and phrases lost in the scroll due to various types of damage. Underlined words or phrases are those in the Dead Sea Scrolls but not in the Masoretic text.

The Targum of Onkelos is actually the Pentateuchal Targumim, which are The Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan Ben Uzziel. On the Pentateuch With The Fragments of the Jerusalem Targum From the Chaldee by J. W. Etheridge, M.A. Take from http://targum.info/targumic-texts/pentateuchal-targumim/ and first published in 1862.

Targum of Onkelos                And the Lord said to Noah, Enter, thou, and every one of thy house, into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation.

Latin Vulgate                          And the Lord said to him: Go in, thou and all thy house, into the ark: for thee I have seen just before me in this generation.

Masoretic Text (Hebrew)        And so says Y^ehowah to Noah, “Go, you and all your house, unto the ark, for you I have seen righteous to My faces in the generation the this.

Peshitta (Syriac)                    THEN God said to Noah, Enter into the ark; you and all your household, for you alone have I seen righteous before me in this generation.

Septuagint (Greek)                And the Lord God said to Noah, Enter therefore, you and all your family, into the ark, for I have seen that you are righteous before Me in this generation.

Significant differences: 

Thought-for-thought translations; paraphrases:

Common English Bible           The Lord said to Noah, "Go into the ark with your whole household, because among this generation I've seen that you are a moral man.

Contemporary English V.       The LORD told Noah: Take your whole family with you into the boat, because you are the only one on this earth who pleases me.

Easy English                          God saves Noah from the flood, 7:1-24

Then the *Lord said to Noah, `Go into the *ark and take all your family with you. I have seen that you alone are good among those that are living now.

Easy-to-Read Version            Then the Lord said to Noah, “I have seen that you are a good man, even among the evil people of this time. So gather your family and all of you go into the boat.

Good News Bible (TEV)         The LORD said to Noah, "Go into the boat with your whole family; I have found that you are the only one in all the world who does what is right.

The Message                         Next GOD said to Noah, "Now board the ship, you and all your family--out of everyone in this generation, you're the righteous one.

New Berkeley Version           The Lord said to Noah: come into the ark, you and your whole family, because you alone in this entire generation have I found upright in My presence.

New Century Version             The Flood Begins

Then the Lord said to Noah, "I have seen that you are the best person among the people of this time, so you and your family can go into the boat.

New Life Bible                                                              The Flood

Then the Lord said to Noah, "Go into the boat, you and all your family. For I have seen that you only are right and good at this time.

New Living Translation           The Flood Covers the Earth

When everything was ready, the Lord said to Noah, "Go into the boat with all your family, for among all the people of the earth, I can see that you alone are righteous.

Partially literal and partially paraphrased translations:

American English Bible          Then Jehovah God said to Noah: 'Now, you and your family must go into the chest, because I have found [just] you to be righteous among this generation.

Beck’s American Translation “You and your whole family,” the LORD told Noah, “go into the ark, because I have seen how righteous you are before Me among the people of today.

God’s Word™                         The LORD said to Noah, "Go into the ship with your whole family because I have seen that you alone are righteous among the people of today.

New American Bible              Then the LORD said to Noah: Go into the ark, you and all your household, for you alone in this generation have I found to be righteous before me. 2Peter 2:5

NIRV                                      Then the Lord said to Noah, "Go into the ark with your whole family. I know that you are a godly man among the people of today.

New Jerusalem Bible             Yahweh said to Noah, 'Go aboard the ark, you and all your household, for you alone of your contemporaries do I see before me as an upright man.

Mostly literal renderings (with some occasional paraphrasing):

Ancient Roots Translinear      Yahweh said to Noah, "You come into the box, you and all your house, for I see your righteousness in front of me in this generation.

Bible in Basic English             And the Lord said to Noah, Take all your family and go into the ark, for you only in this generation have I seen to be upright.

Ferar-Fenton Bible                 Noah Ordered to Enter the Ark or Ship

Afterwards, the Lord said to Noah, “Go yourself and all your household into the ark, for I have seen that you have been righteous in the face of this generation.

HCSB                                     Then the LORD said to Noah, "Enter the ark, you and all your household, for I have seen that you alone are righteous before Me in this generation.

New Advent Bible                  And the Lord said to him: Go in, you and all your house, into the ark: for you I have seen just before me in this generation.

NET Bible®                             The LORD said to Noah, "Come into the ark, you and all your household, for I consider you godly among this generation [Heb "for you I see [as] godly before me in this generation." The direct object ("you") is placed first in the clause to give it prominence. The verb "to see" here signifies God's evaluative discernment.]. When it comes to making an actual material change to the text, the NET Bible® is pretty good about indicating this. Since most of these corrections will be clear in the more literal translations below and within the Hebrew exegesis itself, I will not continue to list every NET Bible® footnote.

Literal, almost word-for-word, renderings:

The Amplified Bible                And the Lord said to Noah, Come with all your household into the ark, for I have seen you to be righteous (upright and in right standing) before Me in this generation.

Concordant Literal Version    And saying is Yahweh Elohim to Noah, "Come, you and all your household, into the ark, for you I see righteous before Me in this generation.

Context Group Version          And YHWH said to Noah, Come you and all your house into the ark; for you have been vindicated before me in this generation.

NASB                                     Then the Lord said to Noah, "Enter the ark, you and all your household, for you alone I have seen to be righteous before Me in this time [Lit generation].

Syndein/Thieme                     {Verses 1-9: Noah's obedience to God - based on Divine Invitation}

Then Jehovah/God said {'amar} unto Noah, "Come into the ark {picture of salvation - Jesus says 'Come all ye to Me}, with all your household, for you alone have I found righteous {tsaddiyq} before Me in this generation.".

World English Bible                Yahweh said to Noah, "Come with all of your household into the ark, for I have seen your righteousness before me in this generation.

Young’s Updated LT             And Jehovah says to Noah, “Come in, you and all your house, unto the ark, for you I have seen righteous before Me in this generation.

The gist of this verse:          God begins to give instructions to Noah about going into the ark.

Translation: Then Y^ehowah said to Noah,... Interestingly enough, we do not have the oft used preposition unto, which generally suggests some formality or respect. The fact that God will say this to Noah and begin with an imperative suggests that there is a time element to all of this; this is, he needs to get his butt in gear.

Translation:...“Come into the ark, you and your household,... The first two words that God says to Noah are, “Go, you.” This sounds quite urgent. God orders Noah and all of his family into the ark.

Translation: ...for I have observed you [to be] righteous before Me... God explains why Noah is to enter the ark; he is to enter the ark because he is righteous before God. At this point in time, in Genesis, we don’t know exactly what righteousness is; however, this will be further defined in Gen. 15:6: And Abraham had believe Y^ehowah and it was credited to his account as righteousness. The key has always been faith. Obviously Noah believed God; he spent that past 120 years building this ark, which stood as a testament to God’s perfection and God’s omniscience. Who believed God? Noah and his family alone. We do not seem to have anyone else watching and saying, “Hey, take us with you.”

At this point in time, there is not rain; there is probably not a cloud in the sky, but there are probably observers who come by to watch the show. No doubt they holler out and make fun of what Noah and his family are doing. However, it is also clear that, despite all of the violence on the earth, God did not allow anyone to lift a hand against Noah or against any of his family members.

It says that Noah is observed to be righteous. What is suggested here is, Noah has experiential righteousness. That is, he believed in Jesus Christ, but then, he is also acting on this faith. However, Noah cannot do this on his own. His sons are acting in concert with him to both build the ark and to collect the animals and food.

Noah and his family had all believed in Jehovah Elohim. They placed their trust in Him. This is what makes them righteous (Gen. 15:6). The verb here is the Qal perfect of the common verb to see. A Qal imperfect would have indicated that God watched over Noah for a long while and determined that he was righteous in his daily life. However, the Qal perfect is a completed action, not an ongoing action; implying that Noah was righteous at some point in time (when he believed in Jehovah Elohim). In other words, Noah’s righteousness was a completed event, not an ongoing process.

The demonic infiltration of the rest of the human race was a result of their own free will choices and their negative volition toward Jehovah Elohim. Throughout, the Bible clearly teaches free will, for man and angels; and, therefore, this quality of being a free moral agent reasonably extends to those who are half and half.

As we have seen in the previous chapter, Noah is both righteous (justified by faith in Jehovah Elohim) and that he walks with God (he is maturing spiritually). Furthermore, Noah had not been corrupted (Gen. 6:9). This impacts his family.

Translation: ...in this generation. This could also be rendered, in this time period or among this people or in this age.

Gen 7:1 And Jehovah said to Noah, “You and all your house come into the ark, for I have observed [lit., seen] you righteous before Me in this generation.

One of the very important doctrines of the Bible is blessing by association, and here we find this doctrine hinted at; Noah, who is justified before God, will be saved (delivered), along with his house—God says to Noah, “You and all your house come into the ark, for I have observed [lit., seen] you righteous before Me in this generation.” (house is a metonym for his family). We have a parallel passage in the New Testament: And the jailer called for lights and rushed in, and trembling with fear he fell down before Paul and Silas. Then he brought them out and said, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" And they said, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household." (Acts 16:29–31). The salvation of this jailer would impact his family.

God continues to give Noah direction. The ark is built, the rain will soon come, so God gives Noah the final few instructions before the deluge.

——————————

Here is how others have translated this verse:

Ancient texts:

Targum of Onkelos                Of all clean cattle take thou seven by seven, male and female, and of all cattle not clean, two (and two), male and female.

Latin Vulgate                          Of all clean beasts take seven and seven, the male and the female. The Latin takes the second half of this verse and places it with v. 3, which makes a lot of sense.

Masoretic Text (Hebrew)        From all the beast the clean you will take to you seven a seven a man and his woman; and from the beast that she [is] not clean, two, a man and his woman.

Peshitta (Syriac)                    Of all clean animals you shall take with you seven pairs, both males and females; and of the beasts that are not clean two pairs, males and females.

Septuagint (Greek)                You shall take with you seven each of every clean animal, male and female, and of the unclean animals take two each, male and female.

Significant differences: 

Thought-for-thought translations; paraphrases:

Contemporary English V.       Take seven pairs of every kind of animal that can be used for sacrifice and one pair of all others.

Easy English                          Take 7 pairs of all *clean animals with you. So there will be seven males and their mates. Take one male and one female from each kind of *unclean anima.

Easy-to-Read Version            Get seven pairs (seven males and seven females) of every kind of clean animal [Birds and animals that God said could be used for sacrifices.]. And get one pair (one male and one female) of every other animal on the earth. Lead all these animals into the boat with you.

Good News Bible (TEV)         Take with you seven pairs of each kind of ritually clean animal, but only one pair of each kind of unclean animal.

The Message                         "Take on board with you seven pairs of every clean animal, a male and a female; one pair of every unclean animal, a male and a female;...

New Life Bible                        Take with you seven of every clean animal of each sex, and one of each sex of the animals that are unclean.

New Living Translation           Take with you seven pairs-male and female-of each animal I have approved for eating and for sacrifice [Hebrew of each clean animal; similarly in 7:8.], and take one pair of each of the others.

Partially literal and partially paraphrased translations:

American English Bible          Take the clean cattle in with you by sevens (males and females), and bring in pairs of unclean cattle (males and females).

Christian Community Bible     Of all the clean animals, you are to take with you seven of each kind, male and female, and a pair of unclean animals, a male and a female.

God’s Word™                         Take with you seven pairs of every kind of clean animal (a male and a female of each) and one pair of every kind of unclean animal (a male and a female).

New Simplified Bible              »Take with you seven of every kind of clean animal, a male and its mate, and two of every kind of unclean animal, a male and its mate.

Revised English Bible            Take with you seven pairs, a male and female, of all beasts that are ritually clean, and one pair, a male and female, of all beasts that are not clean;...

Today’s NIV                          Take with you seven pairs of every kind of clean animal, a male and its mate, and one pair of every kind of unclean animal, a male and its mate,...

Mostly literal renderings (with some occasional paraphrasing):

Ancient Roots Translinear      Take all your clean animals seven by seven, men and women. For animals that are not clean it's by two, men and women.

Bible in Basic English             Of every clean beast you will take seven males and seven females, and of the beasts which are not clean, two, the male and his female;...

Complete Jewish Bible           Of every clean animal you are to take seven couples, and of the animals that are not clean, one couple;...

Ferar-Fenton Bible                 Take with you of all clean cattle seven, male and female, and of beasts which are unclean two of them, a male and a female.

HCSB                                     You are to take with you seven pairs, a male and its female, of all the clean animals, and two of the animals that are not clean, a male and its female,...

New Advent Bible                  Of all clean beasts take seven and seven, the male and the female.

NET Bible®                             You must take with you seven [Or "seven pairs" (cf. NRSV).] of every kind of clean animal [For a study of the Levitical terminology of "clean" and "unclean," see L. E. Toombs, IDB 1:643.], the male and its mate [Heb "a male and his female" (also a second time at the end of this verse). The terms used here for male and female animals (אִישÑ, 'ish) and אִשÑָּה, 'ishah) normally refer to humans.], two of every kind of unclean animal, the male and its mate,...

Literal, almost word-for-word, renderings:

American KJV                        Of every clean beast you shall take to you by sevens, the male and his female: and of beasts that are not clean by two, the male and his female.

The Amplified Bible                Of every clean beast you shall receive and take with you seven pairs, the male and his mate, and of beasts that are not clean a pair of each kind, the male and his mate,...

oncordant Literal Version       Of every clean beast you are to take to you seven by seven, the sire and his dam, and of the beast which is not clean, of it a pair, the sire and his dam.

English Standard Version      Take with you seven pairs of all clean animals, the male and his mate, and a pair of the animals that are not clean, the male and his mate,...

exeGeses companion Bible   Of every pure animal take to you seven by seven,

the man and his woman:

and of animals that are not pure by two,

the man and his woman.

Syndein                                  {Obedience based on Divine Instruction}

Of every clean animal you shall take seven pairs, males and their mates {7 pair of clean animals - these are used in sacrifice to God}, and of every animal that is not clean, two, a male and their mates {2 pair of unclean animals},...

World English Bible                You shall take seven pairs of every clean animal with you, the male and his female. Of the animals that are not clean, take two, the male and his female.

Young’s Updated LT             Of all the clean beasts you will take to you seven pairs, a male and its female; and of the beasts which are not clean two, a male and its female;...

The gist of this verse:          God tells Noah which type of animals and how many of each he is to bring on board the ark.

Translation: From all of the clean beasts, you will take for yourself seven pairs,... First of all, we know that there has been a designation of clean animals and unclean animals, even though such a differentiation has not been recorded in Scripture at this time. All we know about this is suggested in the Mosaic Law; but based upon this passage, it makes sense that these extra animals were used to populate the animal kingdom more quickly, as well as for animal sacrifices

Literally, this reads: From each of the clean beast, you will take to yourself seven, seven... Matching this with what comes next suggests that Noah was to take seven males and seven females of each kind of clean animal.

Translation: ...a male and his female;... Since this reads, a man and his woman, we are dealing with mated pairs of animals.

One of the things which we find in Gen. 7:2 (and often not translated) is the phrase, the man and his woman as applied to animals (that is the literal rendering from the Hebrew). The implication is, God even designed a system of right man/right woman in the animal kingdom. There was the ʾish and the ʾishshah. Although this system does not survive the entire animal kingdom, there are still certain species which often mate for life.

Translation: ...and from the beasts which [are] not clean,... This is quite difficult to give a literal translation to. In order to keep the definite article with beast, we would translate it as a plural noun, which then, is not longer compatible with the personal pronoun she (which is in agreement with the noun beast, mammal).

This is also the first time the Bible distinguishes between clean and unclean animals. Since God had not yet designated animals for food, the difference between clean and unclean must have been associated with which animals were sacrificed to God and which were not.

Translation: ...a pair, a male and his female. Of the uncleaned land animals, Noah was to take one pair, a male and a female.

Gen 7:2 You shall take with you every clean animal by sevens, the male and his female. And take two of the animals that are not clean, the male and his female [literally, the man and his woman].

We are given scant information as to the spiritual life before the flood. God did speak to Adam and Eve after the fall, as well as to Cain and Abel. However, there did come a point where man began to call on the name of the Lord. We don’t know if God generally removed His presence at that time or very nearly fully removed it. However, it is certain that animal sacrifices were a necessary spiritual function of that time, as they looked forward to Jesus Christ. It was a ritual which found is reality (its fulfillment) in the death of Jesus on the cross.

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Here is how others have translated this verse:

Ancient texts:

Targum of Onkelos                But of birds of the heaven, seven by seven, male and female, to preserve from them seed upon the earth.

Latin Vulgate                          But of the beasts that are unclean two and two, the male and the female. Of the fowls also of the air seven and seven, the male and the female: that seed may be saved upon the face of the whole earth. The Latin combined a bit of v. 2 with v. 3

Masoretic Text (Hebrew) 

Peshitta (Syriac)                    Likewise, of the fowls of the air that are clean seven pairs, both males and the females; to keep their posterity alive upon the face of the earth.

Septuagint (Greek)                And also seven each of the clean flying creatures of the sky, male and female, and also pairs of all unclean flying creatures, male and female, to maintain seed on all the earth.

Brenton’s Septuagint             And of clean flying creatures of the sky sevens, male and female, and of all unclean flying creatures pairs, male and female, to maintain seed on all the earth.

Significant differences:           In the Greek, there is a preservation of 7 pairs of clean flying animals, a one pair of the unclean flying animals.

Thought-for-thought translations; paraphrases:

Contemporary English V.       Also take seven pairs of every kind of bird with you. Do this so there will always be animals and birds on the earth.

Easy English                          Take seven pairs (male and female) of every bird that flies in the air. So then you will keep each kind of bird alive on the earth.

Easy-to-Read Version            Get seven pairs (seven males and seven females) of all the birds. This will allow all these animals to continue living on the earth after the other animals are destroyed.

Good News Bible (TEV)         Take also seven pairs of each kind of bird. Do this so that every kind of animal and bird will be kept alive to reproduce again on the earth.

The Message                         ...and seven pairs of every kind of bird, a male and a female, to insure their survival on Earth.

New Century Version             Take seven pairs of all the birds of the sky, each male with its female. This will allow all these animals to continue living on the earth after the flood.

New Life Bible                        And take with you seven of every kind of bird of the sky of each sex, to keep their kind alive over all the earth.

New Living Translation           Also take seven pairs of every kind of bird. There must be a male and a female in each pair to ensure that all life will survive on the earth after the flood.

Partially literal and partially paraphrased translations:

American English Bible          And [do the same with] the winged creatures of the sky. bring in the clean by sevens (males and females), and [just] pairs of all the unclean winged creatures (males and females), so their seed will remain on the earth.

Beck’s American Translation ...also seven pairs of the birds of the air, male and females, so they can have young ones living all over the earth.

Christian Community Bible     In the same way for the birds of the air, take seven and seven, male and female, to keep their kind alive over all the earth,...

God’s Word™                         Also, take seven pairs of every kind of bird (a male and a female of each) to preserve animal life all over the earth after the flood.

New American Bible              ...likewise, of every bird of the air, seven pairs, a male and a female, to keep their progeny alive over all the earth.

NIRV                                      Also take seven of every kind of bird. Take male and female of them. That will keep every kind alive. Then they can spread out again over the whole earth.

New Jerusalem Bible             ...(and of the birds of heaven, seven pairs, a male and its female), to preserve their species throughout the earth.

Revised English Bible            ...also seven pairs, males and females, of every bird—to ensure that life continues on earth.

Today’s NIV                          ...and also seven pairs of every kind of bird, male and female, to keep their various kinds alive throughout the earth.

Mostly literal renderings (with some occasional paraphrasing):

Bible in Basic English             And of the birds of the air, seven males and seven females, so that their seed may still be living on the face of the earth.

Complete Jewish Bible           ...also of the birds in the air take seven couples - in order to preserve their species throughout the earth.

Ferar-Fenton Bible                 Also from birds of the sky seven, seven male and female, so as to preserve a seed of life upon the surface of the land.

NET Bible®                             ...and also seven [Or "seven pairs" (cf. NRSV).] of every kind of bird in the sky, male and female [Here (and in Gen. 7:9) the Hebrew text uses the normal generic terms for "male and female" (זָכָר וּנְקֵבָה, zakhar uneqevah).], to preserve their offspring [Heb "to keep alive offspring."] on the face of the earth.

Literal, almost word-for-word, renderings:

The Amplified Bible                Also of the birds of the air seven pairs, the male and the female, to keep seed [their kind] alive over all the earth or land.

English Standard Version      ...and seven pairs [Or seven of each kind] of the birds of the heavens also, male and female, to keep their offspring alive on the face of all the earth.

Fred Miller’s Revised KJV     Also fowls of the air by sevens, the male and the female; to keep seed alive on the face of all the earth.

World English Bible                Also of the birds of the sky, seven and seven, male and female, to keep seed alive on the surface of all the earth.

Young's Literal Translation     ...also, of fowl of the heavens seven pairs, a male and a female, to keep alive seed on the face of all the earth.

The gist of this verse:          7 pairs of birds were to be brought into the ark.

Translation: Also [you will take] from the birds of the skies, seven males and seven females,... Because of the also, we carry over the verb from the previous verse (this could be made into one long sentence as well). This would probably include bats as flying animals.

Why do we need just one pair of mated mammals and other land animals, but seven pairs of birds? There will not be any trees after the flood, so these birds will be much more vulnerable.

In the antediluvian state, it appears almost as though there were a kind of right man/right woman with animals with the possessive his female. By sevens is literally seven seven, meaning there were seven males and seven females taken into the ark of the clean animals. There was apparently some sort of a theological development in the antediluvian state that we are not partial to whatsoever. We do not hear about clean and unclean animals until we get to Leviticus 7 and 10. What was the proper protocol in the antediluvian system and the method of spirituality is at best alluded to. We know that animal sacrifices were required as plainly stated in the record of Cain and Abel (and implied by Gen. 3:21). Distinguishing between clean and unclean animals tells us that this was a more elaborate system than just going out and killing any animal (clean and unclean in the antediluvian life was not a matter of what animals could be eaten because animals were not eaten prior to the flood). These additional animals were for sacrifices and not necessarily for food. It is possible, however, that the half breeds of Gen. 6 began eating meat. This is only hypothetical. Man was not specifically allowed to eat meat until after the flood.

Translation: ...to preserve [their] seed on the face of the earth. Noah is doing this to preserve alive all of the birds as well.

Gen 7:3 Also take of the birds of the air by sevens, the male and the female, to keep seed alive upon the face of all the earth.

We have no idea how many birds are involved here and how much they subdivided into groups after the flood. However, the idea is, there needed to be enough to continue the bird population. Since birds are not tied to the earth, God begins the post-deluvian civilization with more of them.

So, why doesn’t God just kill everyone off, and keep Noah and his family alive without this ark and without the gathering of these animals? What Noah does will be a witness to those on the earth. This may all seem pretty crazy, but God is giving all those with volition a chance to observe what Noah is doing and to reconsider.

This tells us that when men and fallen angels have mated, that none of their offspring will choose faith in Y^ehowah Elohim.

There is also an analogy to salvation being set up. Remember that all of the angels, fallen and elect, are observing this unfold in real time. They have, I would assume, near-perfect memories, so they can see the analogies that God sets up throughout human history. That is, God telegraphs the cross over and over again, and His wisdom and mercy are seen in that.

Some of the mechanics of what is going on are not given to us, but God is giving this order and there are 7 days remaining before He sends rain and a flood over the entire earth (v. 4). Therefore, we would assume that since God issued His original order (or set of orders), Noah’s family has been gathering animals. We do not know how they got there. Did some of them just come to the ark? Probably. Did Noah’s sons barter for some animals? Possibly. Did half-breeds bring them animals to make fun of the situation? Possibly. So, here is what we have so far: Then Jehovah said to Noah, “Come into the ark, you and all the members of your family, for I have observed you to be righteous before Me in this generation. From all the clean animals, you will take seven males and seven females; and from the unclean land animals, you will take a pair of them—one male and one female. Also, you will take from the birds of the skies, seven males an seven females, in order to preserve their various species on the face of the earth. It is possible that prior to the loading of the ark, Noah and his sons had a veritable zoo established, with possibly a dozen or more of each animal. The building of the ark took 120 years; the collecting of the animals was a part of this process, so it is reasonable to suppose that they began collecting animals over the years.

There are some that teach that these animals just showed up and began boarding the ship. Although this is possible, and certainly within God’s power to do so, the language used above suggests that there were decisions made: here is a group of pigs, and Noah was to select one pair from them to bring aboard the ark. If God simply led all of the animals from wherever they were to board the ark, God would have said something like, “And then you will open the door of the ark, and I will lead (or, guide) the animals in.” However, the verbiage suggests that there was a selection process that took place, and that Noah (and his sons) did it.

I sat down with the calculator and, looking at the normal value given for a cubit (18") and taking one set of numbers for animals and birds, determined the square footage allotted to each pair of animals. According to taxonomists, there are approximately 4500 different species of animals and 8650 species of birds (there have been comparatively few extinctions of animals during the past 10,000 years). In allowing 500 of the animals and all of the birds to occupy one floor of the ark, that leaves 2000 pairs of animals for each of the other two floors. If my math can be depended upon, that leaves an average of 16 square feet per pair of animals on the ark. Certainly, for a pair of elephants, this is too small, but for a pair of mice, this is more than adequate. Furthermore, not being a biologist, I do not know what species of animals would have common ancestors. It surprises me that greyhounds, St. Bernard’s and beagles all have a common ancestor. In examining other people, I am surprised that we have a common ancestor in Adam and Noah. My point here is that I do not know if 4500 species would be necessary. How many common ancestors some groups of animals would have is beyond my realm of expertise, however the figures which I have put together make this a reasonable size for an ark. Insofar as feeding and waste removal, we are given no information; but my thoughts are there was a supernatural force at work preserving the animals just as there was one which brought the animals to the ark in the first place. It would not surprise me that most of the animals went into a state of divine-induced hibernation during the year that they were in the ark.

There is no reason to suppose that this is a myth or a fable. I have heard one person call this a fable which teaches conservation. This, as a fable, teaches absolutely nothing to us. We cannot look upon our antediluvian ancestors and look upon this as a story of warning to us. We do not have to be concerned about a flood because God has promised us in Gen. 8:21–22 that He will never destroy the entire population of the earth with a flood. What God is doing is He has finished with one dispensation entirely; He has allowed the fallen angels to cohabit with man and thereby have direct input upon the state of the world; and has shown that demonic involvement in our day-to-day affairs is not an improvement but results in violence and licentiousness (Gen. 6:1, 2, 11) and in a world without a concern or an interest in its creator (Matt. 24:38).

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Here is how others have translated this verse:

Ancient texts:

Targum of Onkelos                For, behold, I give you space of seven days; if they will be converted, it shall be forgiven them; but if they will not be converted, after a time of days yet seven, I will cause rain to come down upon the earth forty days and forty nights, and will destroy all bodies of man and of beast upon the earth.

Latin Vulgate                          For yet a while, and after seven days, I will rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights: and I will destroy every substance that I have made, from the face of the earth.

Masoretic Text (Hebrew)        For to the days still seven I am sending rain upon the earth forty a day and forty a night and I have obliterated all the living that I have made from upon faces of the ground.”

Peshitta (Syriac)                    For in seven days I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights; and every living thing that I have made will I destroy from off the face of the earth.

Septuagint (Greek)                For yet seven days having passed I shall bring rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights, and I shall blot out every offspring which I have made from the face of all the earth.

Significant differences: 

Thought-for-thought translations; paraphrases:

Common English Bible           In seven days from now I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights. I will wipe off from the fertile land every living thing that I have made."

Contemporary English V.       Seven days from now I will send rain that will last for forty days and nights, and I will destroy all other living creatures I have made.

Easy English                          After 7 days, I will send rain upon the earth. It will rain for 40 days and 40 nights. I will completely take away from the earth every *creature that is alive. I will take away from the earth's surface all those that I have made.'

Easy-to-Read Version            Seven days from now I will send much rain on the earth. It will rain for 40 days and 40 nights. And I will wipe everything off the face of the earth. I will destroy everything I made.”

Good News Bible (TEV)         Seven days from now I am going to send rain that will fall for forty days and nights, in order to destroy all the living beings that I have made."

The Message                         In just seven days I will dump rain on Earth for forty days and forty nights. I'll make a clean sweep of everything that I've made."

New Berkeley Version           For after seven more days I will make it to rain upon the earth for forty days and nights and I will blot off the face of the earth every existing thing that I have made.

Partially literal and partially paraphrased translations:

American English Bible          For, in just seven days I will bring rain on the earth [that will last for] forty days and forty nights, and I will blot out every creature that I've made from the face of the entire earth!'

Beck’s American Translation There are seven days left; after that I will make it rain forty days, and I will wipe off the earth every living thing I made.”

God’s Word™                         In seven days I will send rain to the earth for 40 days and 40 nights. I will wipe off the face of the earth every living creature that I have made."

Revised English Bible            For in seven days’ time I am going to send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights, and I shall wipe off the face of the earth every living creature I have made.’

Mostly literal renderings (with some occasional paraphrasing):

Ancient Roots Translinear      For in seven days, I will still rain over the land for forty days and forty nights. Any creature that I made I will wipe from over the face of the earth.".

Bible in Basic English             For after seven days I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights, for the destruction of every living thing which I have made on the face of the earth.

Ferar-Fenton Bible                 Because at the end of seven days, I will pour on to the earth for forty days and forty nights; and I will sweep away every creature that I have made from off the surface of the ground.”

JPS (Tanakh—1985)               For in seven days’ time I will make it rain upon the earth, forty days and forty nights, and I will blot out from the earth all existence that I created.”

NET Bible®                             For in seven days [Heb "for seven days yet," meaning "after [or "in"] seven days."] I will cause it to rain [The Hiphil participle מַמְטִיר (mamtir, “cause to rain”) here expresses the certainty of the act in the imminent future.] on the earth for forty days and forty nights, and I will wipe from the face of the ground every living thing that I have made."

NIV – UK                                Seven days from now I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights, and I will wipe from the face of the earth every living creature I have made.'

Literal, almost word-for-word, renderings:

The Amplified Bible                For in seven days I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights, and every living substance and thing that I have made I will destroy, blot out, and wipe away from the face of the earth.

Concordant Literal Version    For, seven days further, I will cause it to rain on the earth forty days and forty nights, and I will wipe every risen thing which I have made off the surface of the entire ground.

English Standard Version      For in seven days I will send rain on the earth forty days and forty nights, and every living thing that I have made I will blot out from the face of the ground."

exeGeses companion Bible   For again seven days

and I rain on the earth forty days and forty nights;

and every risen being whom I worked

I wipe out from the face of the earth.

A Voice in the Wilderness      For after seven more days I will cause it to rain on the earth forty days and forty nights, and I will obliterate from off the face of the earth all living substance that I have made.

World English Bible                In seven days, I will cause it to rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights. Every living thing that I have made, I will destroy from the surface of the ground."

Young’s Updated LT             For after other seven days I am sending rain on the earth forty days and forty nights, and have wiped away all the substance that I have made from off the face of the ground.”

The gist of this verse:          God warns Noah that, in seven more days, He will cause it to rain for 40 days and destroy all that is alive on the earth.

Translation: For regarding days as of yet [there remain] seven [and] I am sending rain upon the earth... As is true with many quotations from God, the translation is often quite difficult. What you see here is an attempt to literally translate what God said, but to make it sensible at the same time. The overall meaning is fairly easy to grasp, but the actual translation is much more difficult.

What is being said is, God will send rain upon the earth in seven days. This means that Noah and his family must begin to load up the ark at this point in time. Considering all of the animals, their food, the initial water that must be needed, and whatever supplies they are going to take with them, this is a lot to take into the ark.

Noah had 7 days to get all of the animals into the Ark and to be ready for the rains. This indicates that 120 years had passed since God spoke to Noah about building the ark, and that the ark had been completed. It would take 7 (or, perhaps 6?) days to fill the ark with animals and provisions for the animals.

Translation:...[for] forty days and forty nights... The length of time that it would rain is given here, which is for 40 days and 40 nights. It never let up. I have been in some serious rainstorms here in the Houston area where you could not see past the front of your own car, the rain is pouring down so quickly. Here, our heavy rains may last a couple of days; and the amount of rain is really quite startling in those 2 or 3 days. I recall one rain that was unofficially 45 inches in one day; 35 inches officially. And there are other areas in the world where the rain is much more severe than here. So the idea that it would rain for this period of time is quite remarkable.

I have observed some horrendous rains here in Texas. The worst rains here tend to be around 1–1½ inches/hour. In order for these rains to go as high as 1 mile in 40 days, the rainfall would need to be approximately 5.5 inches/hour (we will later find out that much of the water came from below). I have suggested that the earth did not have nearly the depths and heights then as it does today. I believe that tremendous differential in heights to have occurred due to the flood and subsequent volcanic and seismic activity.

The 40 days and 40 nights is not some arbitrary number. 40 is often associated, in the Bible, with judgment, testing and preparation. When Moses spoke to God on Mount Sinai, he was on the mountain for forty days (Ex. 24:18 Deut. 9:9). Israel, due to the apostasy of the first free generation, remained in the desert for forty years while God removed those who were unwilling to take the Land of Promise (Num. 14:32–35 Deut. 29:5). When a civil case was tried in court, the loser was not awarded forty million dollars in judgement but was struck up to forty times. Elijah went without food and fled Jezebel for forty days and nights (1Sam. 19:1–8). God judged Egypt by scattering its inhabitants and leaving the land fallow for forty years (Ezek. 29:1–13). Our Lord fasted and was tested by the devil for forty days and nights before He began His public ministry (Matt. 4:1–11).

Zodhiates points out that the forty days and forty nights are not arbitrary, but a number often used by God when testing or judging. When Moses spoke to God on Mount Sinai, he was on the mountain for forty days (Ex. 24:18 Deut. 9:9). Israel, due to the apostasy of the first free generation, wandered the desert for forty years (Num. 14:32–35 Deut. 29:5). When a civil case was tried in court, the loser was not awarded forty million dollars in judgement but was struck up to forty times. Elijah went without food and fled Jezebel for forty days and nights (1Sam. 19:1–8). God judged Egypt by scattering its inhabitants and leaving the land fallow for forty years (Ezek. 29:1–13). Our Lord fasted and was tested by the devil for forty days and nights (Matt. 4:1–11).

Translation: ...when I will obliterate all the living [creatures] which I have made from upon the surface of the ground.” The prophetic perfect tense is found here. Usually, the perfect tense is for a past action or for a punctiliar action; however, the idea is, this is so certain to come to pass that God uses the perfect tense.

Which I have made is parenthetical, so we could read this: “...and I will obliterate all life from upon the surface of the ground.”

Because there are half-animal creatures which are a part of mythology, I would guess that animals, at the very least, were terribly abused in this era, which required them to be destroyed as well.

Although it is not alluded to in the Bible, it is not unimaginable that some fallen angels cohabited with animals. Degenerate man has been known to do such a thing. Furthermore, half man/half animals continually show up in mythology. And God destroyed the animals along with the human race.

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Noah's Obedience to God

Here is how others have translated this verse:

Ancient texts:

Targum of Onkelos                And Noah did acccording to all that the Lord had commanded him.

Latin Vulgate                          And Noe did all things which the Lord had commanded him.

Masoretic Text (Hebrew)        And so does Noah as all that commanded him Y^ehowah.

Peshitta (Syriac)                    And Noah did according to all that the LORD commanded him.

Septuagint (Greek)                And Noah did all things, whatever the Lord God commanded him.

Significant differences: 

Thought-for-thought translations; paraphrases:

Contemporary English V.       Noah was six hundred years old when he went into the boat to escape the flood, and he did everything the LORD had told him to do. His wife, his sons, and his daughters-in-law all went inside with him.

Easy-to-Read Version            Noah did everything the Lord told him to do.

New Berkeley Version           Noah carried out all the Lord’s orders;...

Partially literal and partially paraphrased translations:

American English Bible          So Noah did everything that Jehovah God commanded him.

Beck’s American Translation Noah did just as the LORD ordered him.

God’s Word™                         So Noah did everything that the LORD commanded him.

New American Bible              Noah complied, just as the LORD had commanded.

New Jerusalem Bible             Noah did exactly as Yahweh commanded him.

Mostly literal renderings (with some occasional paraphrasing):

Bible in Basic English             And Noah did everything which the Lord said he was to do.

Complete Jewish Bible           Noach did all that ADONAI ordered him to do.

Ferar-Fenton Bible                 And Noah did all that the Ever-living instructed him.

NET Bible®                             And Noah did all [Heb "according to all."] that the LORD commanded him.

Literal, almost word-for-word, renderings:

Concordant Literal Version    And doing is Noah according to all which Yahweh Elohim instructs him.

exeGeses companion Bible   And Noach works

according to all Yah Veh misvahs him.

World English Bible                Noah did everything that Yahweh commanded him.

Young’s Updated LT             And Noah does according to all that Jehovah has commanded him.

The gist of this verse:          Noah obeyed God.

Translation: Therefore, Noah did according to all that God had commanded him. If you ever want to feel badly about your own spiritual life, then just read this verse over and over. But, after you feel badly, rebound, get up, and move on.

As is probably true with many of God’s instructions, only a portion are probably found here. God may have given more details to Noah. In any case, Noah followed God’s instructions to the letter.

Gen 7:5 And Noah did according to all that Jehovah commanded him.

Noah had authority orientation. There was no room for error here. God gave Noah specific directions, and Noah had to follow them exactly. As you will recall from the previous lesson, everyone has faith. What is important is where faith is directed. For faith to be meaningful, the object of faith must be true and accurate. Quite obviously, if instead of a world-wide flood, Noah built the ark just in time for a heavy 3-day rain, his faith would have been meaningless. He believed God and God brought it to pass.

It is also important to point out that Noah could not do a half-___ job here. He could not appear to be working on the ark, but was just sloughing off, putting in his time. This would not work. He knew that judgment was to come and that he needed to pull things together in 120 years in order to preserve mankind and animals. Obviously, Noah believed God.

As an application, so should the quality of your work be. God has given you a job and your labor ought to be as if God looked you in the eyes and told you what He expected you to do, and so you do it. You do not do your job in order to necessarily get ahead; you do not do your job so that your boss will be pleased with you; you do your job to the best of your ability because that is what God has given you to do. It does not matter if you are snaking out a toilet, sweeping a floor, asking someone if they want fries with their meal; it is the job God has given you to do. Furthermore, it does not matter if you have been given a two-weeks notice that you will be laid off; you still do your job as unto the Lord, without bitterness or rancor.

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Here is how others have translated this verse:

Ancient texts:

argum of Onkelos                  And Noah was the son of six hundred years when the deluge of waters was upon the earth.

Latin Vulgate                          And he was six hundred years old, when the waters of the flood overflowed the earth.

Masoretic Text (Hebrew)        And Noah, a son of six hundreds a year and the flood was; waters upon the earth.

Peshitta (Syriac)                    And Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters came upon the earth.

Septuagint (Greek)                And Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of water came upon the earth.

Significant differences: 

Thought-for-thought translations; paraphrases:

Common English Bible           Noah was 600 years old when the floodwaters arrived on earth.

Easy-to-Read Version            Noah was 600 years old at the time the rains came.

New Berkeley Version           ...he was 600 years old when the deluge of waters overwhelmed the earth.

Partially literal and partially paraphrased translations:

American English Bible          Noah was six hundred years old when the Downpour of waters started on the earth.

God’s Word™                         Noah was 600 years old when the flood came to the earth.

New American Bible              The Great Flood.

Noah was six hundred years old when the flood came upon the earth.

Mostly literal renderings (with some occasional paraphrasing):

Bible in Basic English             And Noah was six hundred years old when the waters came flowing over all the earth.

Ferar-Fenton Bible                 Noah was six hundred years old when the downrush water came upon the earth.

HCSB                                     Noah was 600 years old when the deluge came and water covered the earth.

New Advent Bible                  And he was six hundred years old, when the waters of the flood overflowed the earth.

NET Bible®                             Noah [Heb "Now Noah was." The disjunctive clause (conjunction + subject + predicate nominative after implied "to be" verb) provides background information. The age of Noah receives prominence.] was 600 years old when the floodwaters engulfed [Heb “and the flood was water upon.” The disjunctive clause (conjunction + subject + verb) is circumstantial/temporal in relation to the preceding clause. The verb הָיָה (hayah) here carries the nuance “to come” (BDB 225 s.v. הָיָה). In this context the phrase “come upon” means “to engulf.”] the earth.

Literal, almost word-for-word, renderings:

Concordant Literal Version    And Noah is six hundred years of age. And the deluge of water comes to be on the earth.

Context Group Version          And Noah was six hundred years old when the flood was on the land { or earth }.

Emphasized Bible                  Now, Noah, was six hundred years old,—when, the flood, came, even waters on the earth.

English Standard Version      Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters came upon the earth.

Young’s Updated LT             And Noah is a son of six hundred years, and the deluge of waters has been upon the earth.

The gist of this verse:          Noah is 600 when the flood was on the earth.

Translation: Noah [was] 600 years old... Noah’s age is given prominence here; and in this sentence, Noah’s name is given prominence. We have a worldwide disaster which is going to destroy all life on earth. The only life which is saved is that which is associated with Noah. Only those in Noah’s family who went with him would have their lives saved. Only those animals that they brought into the ark with them would be preserved.

Translation: ...when the flood occurred [lit., was] [and there was] water upon the earth. This verse appears to be more of a title for the next section, than anything else. However, this also allows us to put together timelines with Noah and his ancestors.

Nothing is said about the Holy Spirt and Noah here. There had to be some involvement with Noah and the Spirit as God said, "My Spirit shall not strive with man forever." This indicates that Noah's building of the ark and an explanation was to what he was doing as evangelism. It is likely that no one prior to Noah even had built a boat or a ship. Whereas man was fully capable of such a project, there is no indication that he ever did prior to Noah. Since then, people have tried to imitate Noah; in many towns there is some person building an ark for the oncoming flood. It is one of the town's kooks. Noah also attracted a lot of attention. First of all, he was one of the only persons who was still alive who was 100% human (along with his immediate family). Secondly, he was building an ark because of an oncoming flood (it is possible that it had never even rained before). And thirdly, he spoke of Yahweh, the God of Adam, who walked with Adam and the woman in the garden. For all intents and purposes, Noah was the first evangelist, and one of the least successful by human standards. He evangelized a world for 120 years and during that time three of his sons and his wife and three women came to know Yahweh and to believe in Yahweh .

Notice also that this is a fulfillment of what was said in Acts 11:14; And he will speak words to you by which you will be saved, you and all your household. It is easier to evangelize strangers because they do not know what you are like in real life. Those of your immediate family are the toughest to reach because they see you day in and day out and they know every bit of hypocrisy that is in your soul.

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Here is how others have translated this verse:

Ancient texts:

Targum of Onkelos                And Noah entered, with his sons and his wife and the wives of his sons with him, into the ark, from before the waters of the deluge.

Latin Vulgate                          And Noe went in and his sons, his wife and the wives of his sons with him into the ark, because of the waters of the flood.

Masoretic Text (Hebrew)        And so enters Noah and his sons and his woman and women of his sons with him unto the ark from faces of the waters of the flood.

Peshitta (Syriac)                    And Noah, with his sons and his wife and his sons' wives, went into the ark because of the waters of the flood.

Septuagint (Greek)                And then Noah, his sons, his wife, and his sons' wives, went into the ark, because of the water of the flood.

Significant differences: 

Thought-for-thought translations; paraphrases:

Common English Bible           Noah, his sons, his wife, and his sons' wives with him entered the ark to escape the floodwaters.

Easy English                          Noah went into the *ark. He took with him his sons, his wife and his sons' wives. They entered the *ark in order to escape the waters of the flood.

Easy-to-Read Version            Noah and his family went into the boat to be saved from the flood. Noah’s wife and his sons and their wives were on the boat with him.

Good News Bible (TEV)         He and his wife, and his sons and their wives, went into the boat to escape the flood.

The Message                         Noah and his wife and sons and their wives boarded the ship to escape the flood.

New Berkeley Version           Noah boarded the ark with his sons, his wife and his sons’ wives ahead of the flood-waters.

New Life Bible                        Then Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons' wives all went into the large boat because of the water of the flood.

New Living Translation           He went on board the boat to escape the flood-he and his wife and his sons and their wives.

Partially literal and partially paraphrased translations:

American English Bible          Then Noah, his woman, his sons, and their women, went into the chest with him (because of the Downpour of water).

God’s Word™                         Noah, his sons, his wife, and his sons' wives went into the ship to escape the floodwaters.

New American Bible              Together with his sons, his wife, and his sons' wives, Noah went into the ark because of the waters of the flood. Wis 14:6; 1 Pt 3:20; 2 Pt 2:5.

Revised English Bible            So to escape the floor Noah went into the ark together with his sons, his wife, and his sons’ wives.

Today’s NIV                          And Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons' wives entered the ark to escape the waters of the flood.

Mostly literal renderings (with some occasional paraphrasing):

Ancient Roots Translinear      Noah brought his sons, his woman, and the women of his sons with him into the box to face the flood waters.

Bible in Basic English             And Noah, with his sons and his wife and his sons' wives, went into the ark because of the flowing of the waters.

Ferar-Fenton Bible                 Noah with his children and wife, and the wives of his sons with them went accordingly into the Ark from the face of the waters of the deluge,...

NET Bible®                             Noah entered the ark along with his sons, his wife, and his sons' wives because [The preposition מִן (min) is causal here, explaining why Noah and his family entered the ark.] of the floodwaters.

Literal, almost word-for-word, renderings:

Concordant Literal Version    And coming is Noah, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives with him, into the ark in view of the water of the deluge.

Context Group Version          And Noah went in, and his sons, and his woman { or wife }, and his sons' women { or wives } with him, into the ark, because of the waters of the flood.

Emphasized Bible                  So Noah entered, and his sons and his wife and his sons wives with him into the ark,—from before the waters of the flood,...

English Standard Version      And Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons' wives with him went into the ark to escape the waters of the flood.

World English Bible                Noah went into the ark with his sons, his wife, and his sons' wives, because of the waters of the flood.

Young’s Updated LT             And Noah goes in, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons’ wives with him, unto the ark, from the presence of the waters of the deluge.

The gist of this verse:          Noah and his family boarded the ark in order to escape the flood waters.

Translation: And Noah along with [lit., with him] his sons, his wife and his sons’ wives, entered into the ark... I have switched the order of a number of things in this translation in order to give a good English sense to it. In the Hebrew, it is common for the leader to do something, and a masculine singular verb is assigned to him, even though several people may participate with him. So, it might read, “And David went to war, with his soldiers and all Israel,...” The verb is actually singular to agree with David, but everyone named went along with David. So it is in this verse.

All of these people enter into the ark. The more literal translation is: And so enters Noah and his sons and his woman and women of his sons with him unto the ark... However, the general sense is the same and not lost with updating this translation.

Translation: ...because of the waters of the flood. As you will notice in the Hebrew exegesis above, even those this reads from faces of waters of the flood; this phrase can also indicate causality; they went into the ark because of the flood of waters.

Now, it does not appear to have begun to rain just yet; but God’s promise and Noah’s insistence were enough for them all. This is one of the many instances where people place the Word of God over and above what they can see with their own eyes. There is no text here to indicate that there was any foreboding signs of weather. Noah and his family began this project 120 years ago; and no rain fell for 120 years while they built the ark and gathered the animals.

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This verse should not be isolated; it does not even have a regular verb in it; it is tied to the verb in the verse to follow, in which we find the verb.

Gen 7:6–7 And Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters was upon the earth. And Noah went in. And his sons and his wife and his sons' wives went in with him into the ark, because of the waters of the flood.

This verse, along with a few others, lays out a simple timeline. God came to Noah when he was 480 years old and warned him of the coming flood, and told him to build an ark. 20 years later, Noah has 3 sons, who come on the scene after the ark-building project had began (and probably when Noah was in the beginning stages of establishing an animal preserve). So his sons, for 100 years, would grow up with this focus—to build the ark and to collect animals from all over the world. I have assumed that Noah collected the animals over a period of many years rather than having them all show up 7 days before the flood. If Noah’s sons have been brought up around animals all of their lives, they certainly would have adjusted well to taking care of them. We have either known or have seen people who have a way with animals. It is very likely that Noah began an animal preserve and the building of the ark around the same time. When his children came along (20 years later), they would have been raised around animals, learning to care for and feed them.

One of the other aspects of this narrative, which is ignored by commentators, would have been the sheer joy of doing a project like this. God coming to Noah and telling him, “You are going to build a huge ark” is not necessarily a curse that God has laid upon Noah, which Noah, gritting his teeth, engages in for the next 120 years. This would have been a great challenge to Noah in every way—the design, the collection of tools and supplies, the taking raw resources and building this tremendous ark. This project would have thoroughly consumed Noah, causing him to fire on all cylinders, and every night, he went to bed tired—which is not a bad thing—and every day, he arose, excited about continuing this project.

Do you know that there are people who love to build stuff and others who love to care for animals? This project which God placed upon Noah and his family, although quite dramatic, was not a project outside of their skill set nor was it outside of their interests. This project was perfectly suited for Noah and sons.

Noah’s marriage, his sons, this project and the animal preserve probably mark the highlight of his life. This 120 years was probably the greatest challenge that he faced, and there is no reason to think that this portion of his life was anything but exciting, fulfilling, dramatic, and, quite obviously, memorable.

Sometime during this 100 years, Noah’s sons married. We are never given any information about their wives. Although they may have married the last uncorrupted 3 females on the earth; it is also possible that they married their sisters.

For 120 years, Noah evangelized the earth and warned the population of the coming judgment of God, and he was ignored by everyone except for his sons and the women whom they married. By God’s standards, he was a faithful and successful evangelist.

Just as God called Noah to certain responsibilities, we also have spiritual responsibilities, which are not onerous or difficult. This is the promise of Jesus to those who hear Him: “Come to Me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. All of you, take up My yoke and learn from Me, because I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for yourselves. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” (Matt. 11:28–30). These responsibilities do not necessarily include results. Billy Graham may speak to hundreds of millions of people and millions come forward; we may speak to 20 people in our lifetimes, and only one or two of them may actually listen to us. Doing God’s will merely requires us to know the Word of God and to walk by means of the Spirit. Everything else has been worked out for us. We may have a ministry to millions of people or to a handful of people; it is our faithfulness in that ministry which is key. Charlie Brown, from Podunk, Iowa, who grows to become a mature believer through grace and doctrine, who is faithful in his job and in his marriage, and raises 2 believers in Jesus Christ, can receive the same rewards in heaven that Billy Graham does. And Charlie Brown may witness to 5 people in his entire life. God has provided a different sort of ministry for every believer—a ministry which requires spiritual maturity to execute—and this ministry is designed and suited for you, and your yoke will be easy and your burden light. Jesus Christ promised you this.

And so that there is no confusion, all believers today are in full-time service to God. God does not differentiate between those who work as or with missionaries, churches or evangelical ministries; and those who do not. God has a place and a function for every single one of us, although most of us will never be in what is seen as some sort of ministerial function. That does not mean that we are off the hook when it comes to our daily lives and our spiritual ministry, no matter how modest that ministry is (the ministry of 2 parents might be directed primarily to the raising of their children).

Whatever God has designed for you, it is specifically designed for you, knowing all there is to know about you. There is no benefit to living a mediocre Christian life, attending church on a weekly basis, just so that God does not put too much on you. What God has designed for you is perfect and you will like doing it. When I was a young Christian, I was worried that God was going to send me off to some place as a missionary, and I did not want to go. I had foolish thoughts like that because I did not know or understand Jesus promise: “All of you, take up My yoke and learn from Me, because I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for yourselves. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” (Matt. 11:29–30). God has a place and a purpose for every one of us, and we are going to enjoy it. However, you have to grow to spiritual adulthood in order to handle it and to appreciate it. You do not grow to spiritual adulthood merely by being a Christian for a long period of time. You grow to spiritual maturity by means of grace and doctrine (John 1:14 2Cor. 8:7 Col. 1:6 2Peter 1:2 3:18). And Jesus Christ, being fully human, as well as fully God, grew in the exact same manner (Luke 2:40, 52 John 1:14).

Here is how others have translated this verse:

Ancient texts:

Targum of Onkelos                Of all cattle clean, and of cattle unclean, of birds, and of whatever creepeth upon the earth,...

Latin Vulgate                          And of beasts clean and unclean, and of fowls, and of every thing that moveth upon the earth,...

Masoretic Text (Hebrew)        From the beast the clean and from the beast which she [is] not clean, and from the bird and all which is creeping upon the ground,...

Peshitta (Syriac)                    Of clean animals, and of unclean animals, and of fowls, and of everything that creeps upon the earth,...

Septuagint (Greek)                And of clean flying creatures and of unclean flying creatures, and of clean cattle and of unclean cattle, and of all things that creep upon the earth,...

Significant differences: 

Thought-for-thought translations; paraphrases:

Common English Bible           From the clean and unclean animals, from the birds and everything crawling on the ground,...

Contemporary English V.       He obeyed God and took a male and a female of each kind of animal and bird into the boat with him.

Easy English                          Also, there were pairs of *clean animals and there were pairs of *unclean animals. There were pairs of birds. And there were pairs of everything that crawls on the ground.

Good News Bible (TEV)         A male and a female of every kind of animal and bird, whether ritually clean or unclean,...

The Message                         Clean and unclean animals, birds, and all the crawling creatures...

New Living Translation           With them were all the various kinds of animals-those approved for eating and for sacrifice and those that were not-along with all the birds and the small animals that scurry along the ground.

Partially literal and partially paraphrased translations:

American English Bible          And the clean winged creatures, the unclean winged creatures, the clean cattle, the unclean cattle and wild animals (as well as all the things that crawl on the earth)...

Beck’s American TranslationClean animals and unclean animals, birds, and everything that moves on the earth ...

God’s Word™                         Clean and unclean animals, birds, and creatures that crawl on the ground...

NIRV                                      Pairs of "clean" animals and pairs of animals that were not "clean" came to Noah. So did pairs of birds and pairs of all of the creatures that move along the ground.

New Simplified Bible              Pairs of clean and unclean animals, of birds and of all creatures that move along the ground,...

Mostly literal renderings (with some occasional paraphrasing):

Bible in Basic English             Of clean beasts, and of beasts which are not clean, and of birds, and of everything which goes on the earth,...

Complete Jewish Bible           Of clean animals, of animals that are not clean, of birds, and of everything that creeps on the ground,...

Ferar-Fenton Bible                 ...with the clean cattle and with the unclean cattle, and with the birds, and all that crawls upon the field,...

NET Bible®                             Pairs [Heb "two two" meaning "in twos."] of clean animals, of unclean animals, of birds, and of everything that creeps along the ground,...

NIV – UK                                Pairs of clean and unclean animals, of birds and of all creatures that move along the ground,...

Literal, almost word-for-word, renderings:

Concordant Literal Version    Of the clean beast, and of the beast which is not clean, and of the flyer, and of every animal which is moving on the ground,...

exeGeses companion Bible   ...of animals pure,

and of animals not pure;

and of flyers and of all creeping on the soil,...

Green’s Literal Translation    And they went in to Noah into the ark, male and female of clean animals, and of animals that are not clean, and of fowl, and of every thing that creeps on the earth,...

A Voice in the Wilderness      Of clean animals, of animals that are not clean, of flying creatures, and of everything that moves upon the earth,...

World English Bible                Clean animals, animals that are not clean, birds, and everything that creeps on the ground...

Young's Updated LT              Of the clean beasts and of the beasts that are not clean, and of the fowl, and of every thing that is creeping upon the ground,...

The gist of this verse:          This is an incomplete sentence which must be combined with the next one. It speaks of clean and unclean animals, birds, and that which creeps along the ground.

Translation: From the clean beast and from the beast which [is] not clean,... Before Noah are a ton of animals. Noah is going to choose from them in these categories to bring onto the ark.

Translation: ...and from the bird... These include any sort of animal that flies.