Genesis7
New International Version
1The Lord then said to Noah, “Go into the ark, you and your whole family, because I have found you righteous in this generation.
2Take 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,
3and also seven pairs of every kind of bird, male and female, to keep their various kinds alive throughout the earth.
4Seven 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.”
5And Noah did all that the Lord commanded him.
6Noah was six hundred years old when the floodwaters came on the earth.
7And Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives entered the ark to escape the waters of the flood.
8Pairs of clean and unclean animals, of birds and of all creatures that move along the ground,
9male and female, came to Noah and entered the ark, as God had commanded Noah.
10And after the seven days the floodwaters came on the earth.
11In 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.
12And rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights.
13On 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.
14They 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.
15Pairs of all creatures that have the breath of life in them came to Noah and entered the ark.
16The animals going in were male and female of every living thing, as God had commanded Noah. Then the Lord shut him in.
17For forty days the flood kept coming on the earth, and as the waters increased they lifted the ark high above the earth.
18The waters rose and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the water.
19They rose greatly on the earth, and all the high mountains under the entire heavens were covered.
20The waters rose and covered the mountains to a depth of more than fifteen cubits.
21Every living thing that moved on land perished—birds, livestock, wild animals, all the creatures that swarm over the earth, and all mankind.
22Everything on dry land that had the breath of life in its nostrils died.
23Every living thing on the face of the earth was wiped out; people and animals and the creatures that move along the ground and the birds were wiped from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those with him in the ark.
24The waters flooded the earth for a hundred and fifty days.
Study Guide
Public-domain commentary and original-language notes for Genesis 7.
Chapter Summary
In this chapter: Noah, and his family and the living creatures, enter the ark, and the flood begins. (1–12). Noah shut in the ark. (13–16). The increase of the flood for forty days. (17–20). All flesh is destroyed by the flood. (21–24).
vv1-12
The call to Noah is very kind, like that of a tender father to his children to come in-doors when he sees night or a storm coming. Noah did not go into the ark till God bade him, though he knew it was to be his place of refuge. It is very comfortable to see God going before us in every step we take. Noah had taken a great deal of pains to build the ark, and now he was himself kept alive in it. What we do in obedience to the command of God, and in faith, we ourselves shall certainly have the comfort of, first or last. This call to Noah reminds us of the call the gospel gives to poor sinners. Christ is an ark, in whom alone we can be safe, when death and judgment approach. The word says, “Come;” ministers say, “Come;” the Spirit says, “Come, come into the Ark.” Noah was accounted righteous, not for his own righteousness, but as an heir of the righteousness which is by faith, Heb 11:7. He believed the revelation of a saviour, and sought and expected salvation through Him alone. Thus was he justified by faith, and received that Spirit whose fruit is in all goodness; but if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. After the hundred and twenty years, God granted seven days' longer space for repentance. But these seven days were trifled away, like all the rest. It shall be but seven days. They had only one week more, one sabbath more to improve, and to consider the things that belonged to their peace. But it is common for those who have been careless of their souls during the years of their health, when they have looked upon death at a distance, to be as careless during the days, the few days of their sickness, when they see death approaching; their hearts being hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. As Noah prepared the ark by faith in the warning given that the flood would come, so he went into it, by faith in this warning that it would come quickly. And on the day Noah was securely fixed in the ark, the fountains of the great deep were broken up. The earth had within it those waters, which, at God's command, sprang up and flooded it; and thus our bodies have in themselves those humours, which, when God pleases, become the seeds and springs of mortal diseases. The windows of heaven were opened, and the waters which were above the firmament, that is, in the air, were poured out upon the earth. The rain comes down in drops; but such rains fell then, as were never known before or since. It rained without stop or abatement, forty days and forty nights, upon the whole earth at once. As there was a peculiar exercise of the almighty power of God in causing the flood, it is vain and presumptuous to attempt explaining the method of it, by human wisdom.
vv13-16
The ravenous creatures were made mild and manageable; yet, when this occasion was over, they were of the same kind as before; for the ark did not alter their natures. Hypocrites in the church, who outwardly conform to the laws of that ark, are yet unchanged; and it will appear, one time or other, what kind they are after. God continued his care of Noah. God shut the door, to secure him and keep him safe in the ark; also to keep all others for ever out. In what manner this was done, God has not been pleased to make known. There is much of our gospel duty and privilege to be seen in Noah's safety in the ark. The apostle makes it a type of christian baptism, 1Pe 3:20, 21. Observe then, it is our great duty, in obedience to the gospel call, by a lively faith in Christ, to come into that way of salvation which God has provided for poor sinners. Those that come into the ark, should bring as many as they can with them, by good instructions, by persuasions, and by good examples. There is room enough in Christ for all comers. God put Adam into paradise, but did not shut him in, so he threw himself out; but when God put Noah into the ark, and so when he brings a soul to Christ, the salvation is sure: it is not in our own keeping, but in the Mediator's hand. But the door of mercy will shortly be shut against those that now make light of it. Knock now, and it shall be opened, Lu 13:25.
vv17-20
The flood was increasing forty days. The waters rose so high, that the tops of the highest mountains were overflowed more than twenty feet. There is no place on earth so high as to set men out of the reach of God's judgments. God's hand will find out all his enemies, Ps 21:8. When the flood thus increased, Noah's ark was lifted up, and the waters which broke down every thing else, bore up the ark. That which to unbelievers betokens death unto death, to the faithful betokens life unto life.
Key Words
אָמַר: to say (used with great latitude)
נֹחַ: Noach, the patriarch of the flood
בּוֹא: to go or come (in a wide variety of applications)
תֵּבָה: a box
בַּיִת: a house (in the greatest variation of applications, especially family, etc.)
כִּי: (by implication) very widely used as a relative conjunction or adverb (as below); often largely modified by other particles annexed
רָאָה: to see, literally or figuratively (in numerous applications, direct and implied, transitive, intransitive and causative)
צַדִּיק: just
פָּנִים: the face (as the part that turns); used in a great variety of applications (literally and figuratively); also (with prepositional prefix) as a preposition (before, etc.)
זֶה: the masculine demonstrative pronoun, this or that
Cross References
Genesis 7Noah is seen as righteous before God and heirs of righteousness by faith in preparing the ark.
Supported by Matthew Henry, Matthew Poole
Eighty souls saved through water; the ark is a type of baptism and spiritual salvation.
Supported by Matthew Henry, Matthew Poole
Jesus describes the suddenness of death overtaking the flood generation who ate, drank, and married.
Supported by Matthew Henry, JFB
God spared not the old world, but saved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, bringing the flood.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Clean animals taken by sevens provided immediate materials for Noah's subsequent post-flood sacrifices.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Jesus describes the reckless disregard of those eating and drinking until Noah entered the ark.
Supported by Matthew Henry, JFB
Direct verbal echo to the 'breath of life' in man's nostrils from creation.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Peter highlights God's judgment in bringing the flood on the ungodly while preserving righteous Noah.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Repeats Noah's exact, unwavering obedience to all that God commanded him to do.
Supported by Matthew Poole
The door was shut, signifying the end of the period of grace for those outside.
Supported by JFB
Once the Master of the house is risen up and shut the door, mercy is closed.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Fulfillment of God's threat to destroy all flesh wherein is the breath of life.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Highlights Noah's faith in preparing the ark to the saving of his house.
Supported by Matthew Henry, Matthew Poole
The ark is presented as a type of salvation, where few (eight souls) were saved through water.
Supported by Matthew Henry, Matthew Poole
Fulfills the covenant promise that Noah's family would enter the ark with him.
Supported by Matthew Poole, Calvin
Confirms Noah was a just man and perfect in his generation, walking with God.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Direct parallel showing the stopping of the fountains of the deep and windows of heaven.
Supported by Calvin
Noah trusted God though the waters roared, swelled, and covered the mountains.
Supported by JFB
The flood swept them all away; a warning type of the coming of the Son of Man.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Confirms the historic reality of the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perishing.
Supported by Matthew Henry
The division between clean and unclean animals, later codified in Levitical law.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Animals came to Noah by divine impulse, echoing Adam naming the creatures in Eden.
Supported by Matthew Poole
The world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished by God's word.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Profiles Noah as an exemplar of righteousness who could only deliver himself by his righteousness.
Supported by JFB