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Genesis 7

Genesis 7 recounts God’s judgment through the flood and his preservation of Noah’s household and the creatures aboard the ship.

YHWH tells Noah to bring his household into the ship, along with animals and birds to preserve their life. Noah obeys, and seven days later the flood begins. Water bursts from the deep and falls from the sky for forty days and nights. YHWH shuts Noah in, and the rising water lifts the ship above the earth. Everything with the breath of life on dry land dies outside it. The chapter ends with the waters still prevailing.

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1The LORD said to Noah, “Come with all of your household into the ship, for I have seen your righteousness before me in this generation.
2You 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.
4In seven days, I will cause it to rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights. I will destroy every living thing that I have made from the surface of the ground.”
5Noah did everything that the LORD commanded him.
7Noah went into the ship with his sons, his wife, and his sons’ wives, because of the floodwaters.
9went by pairs to Noah into the ship, male and female, as God commanded Noah.
10After the seven days, the floodwaters came on the earth.
11In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep burst open, and the sky’s windows opened.
12It rained on the earth forty days and forty nights.
13In the 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, entered into the ship—
14they, and every animal after its kind, all the livestock after their kind, every creeping thing that creeps on the earth after its kind, and every bird after its kind, every bird of every sort.
15Pairs from all flesh with the breath of life in them went into the ship to Noah.
16Those who went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God commanded him; then the LORD shut him in.
17The flood was forty days on the earth. The waters increased, and lifted up the ship, and it was lifted up above the earth.
18The waters rose, and increased greatly on the earth; and the ship floated on the surface of the waters.
19The waters rose very high on the earth. All the high mountains that were under the whole sky were covered.
20The waters rose fifteen cubits higher, and the mountains were covered.
21All flesh died that moved on the earth, including birds, livestock, animals, every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, and every man.
22All on the dry land, in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life, died.
23Every living thing was destroyed that was on the surface of the ground, including man, livestock, creeping things, and birds of the sky. They were destroyed from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those who were with him in the ship.
World English BibleRead in NIV in Psalmlog →Highlighted verses are the most connected.
Key verses
Genesis 7:1God’s command to enter the ship identifies Noah’s righteousness and includes his household in the refuge God provides.
Genesis 7:11The precise date marks the flood’s arrival, with waters breaking out from below and pouring down from above.
Genesis 7:16After Noah and the creatures enter as commanded, YHWH himself shuts Noah in before the waters rise.
Where this chapter reaches

Matthew and Luke recall Noah entering the ship and the flood destroying those outside, using the event in Jesus’ teaching about the coming of the Son of Man. Hebrews connects Noah’s preparation with faith and righteousness, while 2 Peter recalls the flood as an act of divine judgment.

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After reading the whole chapter

What do you notice about God’s actions and Noah’s actions before the flood begins?

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How does the account hold together the preservation of life and the scale of destruction?

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Questions people ask about Genesis 7

How many animals did Noah take into the ark in Genesis 7?

God commands Noah to take seven pairs of every clean animal and one pair of every unclean animal. Birds also receive a larger allotment, described as seven and seven, male and female. The later description of animals entering by pairs describes their grouping as they enter, without reducing every kind to one pair.

Did the flood last forty days or one hundred fifty days?

Genesis 7 distinguishes the forty days and nights of rain from the one hundred fifty days during which the waters flooded the earth. These describe different aspects of the same flood. The chapter ends before Noah leaves the ship, so neither number here states the full length of his stay aboard.

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Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).