Genesis 7
New Catholic Bible
Chapter 7
1 The Lord said to Noah, “Enter into the ark with your entire family, for I have seen that you, of all this generation, are just in my sight. 2 You are to take seven pairs of each type of clean animal with you, male and female. You are to take one pair of each type of unclean animal with you, male and female. 3 You are also to take seven pairs of birds of the air, male and female, with you, so that you may save every species of animal upon the earth. 4 In seven days I will make it begin to rain upon the earth, and it will rain for forty days and forty nights. I will destroy from the face of the earth every living creature I have made.”
5 Noah did all that the Lord had commanded him to do.
End of the Sinful World.[a] 6 Noah was six hundred years old when the flood began and the waters covered the earth. 7 Noah went into the ark with his sons, his wife, and the wives of his sons to escape from the waters of the flood. 8 The clean animals and the unclean animals, the birds, and the creatures that creep on the ground[b] 9 entered the ark two by two, male and female, along with Noah, just as the Lord had commanded. 10 After seven days, the waters of the flood covered the earth; 11 this happened in the six hundredth year of the life of Noah, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month. On that very day the springs of the great abyss and the floodgates of the heavens opened.[c] 12 The rains fell upon the earth for forty days and forty nights.
13 That day Noah and his sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth entered the ark along with the wife of Noah and the three wives of his sons. 14 They entered along with all living creatures according to their kind, all cattle according to their kind, all creeping creatures according to their kind, and all birds according to their kind. 15 They went into the ark with Noah, two by two, every creature that had breath in it. 16 Those that came, male and female of every type of flesh, entered the ark as God had commanded. The Lord closed the door after them.
17 The flood lasted for forty days. The waters rose and lifted the ark off the earth as they increased. 18 The waters continued to swell and increased greatly on the earth until the ark floated upon the waters. 19 The waters rose more and more on the earth and covered all the highest mountains that are under the heavens. 20 The waters were fifteen cubits over the tops of the mountains that they covered.
21 Every living creature that moves upon the earth, every bird, cattle, wild animal, and creature that crawls upon the earth, and every single person on dry land died. 22 Every creature on dry land that had the breath of life in its nostrils died.
23 This is how every living creature on earth was slain, every human being and every animal, every reptile and every bird of the air. They were blotted out of the earth, and only Noah and those who were with him in the ark survived.[d]
24 The waters covered the earth for one hundred and fifty days.
Footnotes
- Genesis 7:6 In this section the entrance into the ark and the description of the flood are repeated, first in the Yahwist version with inserts from the Priestly tradition (vv. 1-12) and then in the Priestly version with inserts from the Yahwist tradition (vv. 13-20); finally, there is a description of the effects of the flood that draws on both traditions (vv. 21-24). In the Yahwist tradition the flood is simply a torrential rain that continues for forty days (vv. 4, 12; 8:2b), while in the Priestly account, in keeping with the cosmic vision in Genesis 1:1-10, the waters are loosed both from the subterranean ocean and from the heavenly ocean (7:11; 8:2a).
According to the ideas of the ancients, in creating the world God separated the earth from the waters by creating the solid heavenly vault that divided the oceanic mass (the “abyss”) into an upper part beyond the heavens and a lower, earthly part, and by then commanding the lower waters to retreat, allowing the dry land to emerge. At this point, then, the lower, subterranean waters invade the earth anew through springs, while passages (“floodgates”) open in the heavenly vault and allow the upper waters to pour down. Thus God causes some effects of his creative work to cease. The waters that submerge the highest mountains on earth and destroy humankind and the animals effect a return of the universe to its primitive condition; the process is an image of the cosmic dimensions that sin, the rejection of God, has. - Genesis 7:8 This verse, which seems to be the work of the final editor, brings the Yahwist source, which distinguishes between clean and unclean animals, into harmony with the Priestly source, which has the animals in pairs.
- Genesis 7:11 According to the calendar used in the Priestly story of the flood, the year is divided into twelve months of about thirty days each, depending always on the cycle of the moon. The first month, equivalent to Nisan, is the month of the first lunar cycle in the spring (March-April).
- Genesis 7:23 The flood prefigures the final judgment (Mt 24:37-41) and salvation through baptism (1 Pet 3:20-21).
Genesis 7
Amplified Bible, Classic Edition
7 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.(A)
2 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,(B)
3 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.
4 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.
5 And Noah did all that the Lord commanded him.(C)
6 Noah was 600 years old when the flood of waters came upon the earth or land.
7 And Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives with him went into the ark because of the waters of the flood.(D)
8 Of [a]clean animals and of animals that are not clean, and of birds and fowls, and of everything that creeps on the ground,
9 There went in two and two with Noah into the ark, the male and the female, as God had commanded Noah.
10 And after the seven days the floodwaters came upon the earth or land.
11 In the year 600 of Noah’s life, in the seventeenth day of the second month, that same day all the fountains of the great deep were broken up and burst forth, and the windows and floodgates of the heavens were opened.
12 And it rained upon the earth forty days and forty nights.
13 On the very same day Noah and Shem, Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noah’s wife and the three wives of his sons with them, went into the ark,
14 They and every [wild] beast according to its kind, all the livestock according to their kinds, every moving thing that creeps on the land according to its kind, and every fowl according to its kind, every winged thing of every sort.
15 And they went into the ark with Noah, two and two of all flesh in which there were the breath and spirit of life.
16 And they that entered, male and female of all flesh, went in as God had commanded [Noah]; and the Lord shut him in and closed [the door] round about him.
17 The flood [that is, the downpour of rain] was forty days upon the earth; and the waters increased and bore up the ark, and it was lifted [high] above the land.
18 And the waters became mighty and increased greatly upon the land, and the ark went [gently floating] upon the surface of the waters.
19 And the waters prevailed so exceedingly and were so mighty upon the earth that all the high hills under the whole sky were covered.
20 [In fact] the waters became fifteen cubits higher, as the high hills were covered.
21 And all flesh ceased to breathe that moved upon the earth—fowls and birds, [tame] animals, [wild] beasts, all swarming and creeping things that swarm and creep upon the land, and all mankind.
22 Everything on the dry land in whose nostrils were the breath and spirit of life died.
23 God destroyed (blotted out) every living thing that was upon the face of the earth; man and animals and the creeping things and the birds of the heavens were destroyed (blotted out) from the land. Only Noah remained alive, and those who were with him in the ark.(E)
24 And the waters prevailed [mightily] upon the earth or land 150 days (five months).
Footnotes
- Genesis 7:8 Noah had many years in which to interest travelers in securing these animals for him. The five extra pairs of clean animals were for food, and for sacrifice later.
Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation
