Genesis Chapter 7

At a Glance

  • Genesis 7 records the climactic moment of the flood: Noah, his family, and the animals enter the ark, and the waters rise as God’s judgment fully unfolds.
  • As the rain pours and the waters rise, the world’s order is overturned, yet the faithful remnant is secure inside the ark.
  • This chapter continues the flood narrative rooted in ancient Near Eastern flood traditions while presenting a distinctive Yahwist/Angel of the Lord focus on divine instruction and covenantal purpose.
  • - Obedience under divine command: Noah’s precise adherence to God’s directions safeguards life.
  • - Judgment and preservation: the flood is God’s response to corruption, yet the righteous are kept safe within the ark.

Genesis 7 records the climactic moment of the flood: Noah, his family, and the animals enter the ark, and the waters rise as God’s judgment fully unfolds. The chapter emphasizes obedience and timing: in obedience to God’s instruction, Noah, his wife, his sons, and their wives enter the ark; clean and unclean animals are carried in with pairs or seven pairs as commanded. After seven days, the floodwaters erupt, and worldly life is swept away. The narrative is precise about dates—Noah was six hundred years old, and the flood begins in the second month of the second month on the seventeenth day—underscoring the historicity of the event within the biblical frame. The door remains closed to human activity; divine initiative governs salvation and destruction alike.

As the rain pours and the waters rise, the world’s order is overturned, yet the faithful remnant is secure inside the ark. The chapter highlights the gravity of divine judgment, but also faith’s confidence that God’s appointed means of salvation will endure. The inclusion of birds and the sequence of entering the ark by species reinforces God’s thorough preservation plan. The emphasis remains on obedience, trust in God’s instruction, and the certainty that God’s purposes cannot be thwarted by human violence.

This chapter continues the flood narrative rooted in ancient Near Eastern flood traditions while presenting a distinctive Yahwist/Angel of the Lord focus on divine instruction and covenantal purpose. Likely composed or edited during Israel’s exilic or post-exilic period, Genesis 7 uses a tight, chronological sequence to dramatize the moment when judgment becomes irreversible and salvation becomes concrete. The ark functions as the vessel of salvation—an ethical and theologically loaded image that will resonate in Israel’s psalms and prophets as a symbol of refuge and covenant faithfulness. The genre remains narrative history blended with theological reflection, aiming not only to recount but to teach about obedience, divine sovereignty, and the seriousness of sin.

- Obedience under divine command: Noah’s precise adherence to God’s directions safeguards life.

- Judgment and preservation: the flood is God’s response to corruption, yet the righteous are kept safe within the ark.

- Divine timing: the seven-day period and the specific dates underscore God’s control over history and events.

- Covenant preparation: the ark is the vessel that makes possible a re-creation of human and animal life.

- Creation order unsettled and restored: the deluge disrupts the earth’s violence, setting the stage for a re-ordered creation.

- Trust in God’s plan amid chaos: even when the world seems overwhelmed by violence, faithful obedience aligns with divine purposes.

- Discipline and preparation: the ark represents meticulous preparation in response to God’s revelation; believers are invited to readiness through spiritual disciplines, moral integrity, and faithful stewardship.

- Reassurance of divine control: history unfolds under God’s sovereignty, encouraging believers to endure and act with hope even when circumstances are dire.

- Care for creation and beasts: the detailed handling of animals invites contemporary ethics of stewardship and compassion for all living creatures.

Key Themes

Obedience under divine command: Noah’s precise adherence to God’s directions safeguards life.Judgment and preservation: the flood is God’s response to corruption, yet the righteous are kept safe within the ark.Divine timing: the seven-day period and the specific dates underscore God’s control over history and events.Covenant preparation: the ark is the vessel that makes possible a re-creation of human and animal life.

Chapter Text

1

And the LORD said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation.

2

Of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee by sevens, the male and his female: and of beasts that are not clean by two, the male and his female.

3

Of fowls also of the air by sevens, the male and the female; to keep seed alive upon the face of all the earth.

4

For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights; and every living substance that I have made will I destroy from off the face of the earth.

5

And Noah did according unto all that the LORD commanded him.

6

And Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters was upon the earth.

7

And Noah went in, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons’ wives with him, into the ark, because of the waters of the flood.

8

Of clean beasts, and of beasts that are not clean, and of fowls, and of every thing that creepeth upon the earth,

9

There went in two and two unto Noah into the ark, the male and the female, as God had commanded Noah.

10

And it came to pass after seven days, that the waters of the flood were upon the earth.

11

In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.

12

And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights.

13

In the selfsame day entered Noah, and Shem, and Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noah’s wife, and the three wives of his sons with them, into the ark;

14

They, and every beast after his kind, and all the cattle after their kind, and every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind, and every fowl after his kind, every bird of every sort.

15

And they went in unto Noah into the ark, two and two of all flesh, wherein is the breath of life.

16

And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God had commanded him: and the LORD shut him in.

17

And the flood was forty days upon the earth; and the waters increased, and bare up the ark, and it was lift up above the earth.

18

And the waters prevailed, and were increased greatly upon the earth; and the ark went upon the face of the waters.

19

And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth; and all the high hills, that were under the whole heaven, were covered.

20

Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail; and the mountains were covered.

21

And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of beast, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, and every man:

22

All in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land, died.

23

And every living substance was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground, both man, and cattle, and the creeping things, and the fowl of the heaven; and they were destroyed from the earth: and Noah only remained alive, and they that were with him in the ark.

24

And the waters prevailed upon the earth an hundred and fifty days.

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