Genesis Chapter 7
Showing all 24 verses for Genesis Chapter 7.
The People's Bible is written by people, for the people. Each verse below shows:
"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. "
"God tells Noah to go into the ark with his whole household, because Noah is the one person in his generation God has found to be genuinely good."
God calls Noah righteous 'in this generation,' meaning specifically in contrast to the world around him. You don't need everyone around you to be pursuing goodness for your own faithfulness to matter; sometimes it matters most precisely because it stands apart.
"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. "
"Take seven pairs of every animal that's considered "clean" (fit for eating or sacrifice), and just one pair of every animal that isn't."
The extra care given to which and how many animals to bring shows God's attention even to the smallest logistics of a massive plan. Trust that God is equally attentive to the small logistics of whatever He's asking of you, not just the headline task.
"Of fowls also of the air by sevens, the male and the female; to keep seed alive upon the face of all the earth. "
"Also take seven pairs of every kind of bird, so that every species can survive and repopulate the whole earth."
The larger numbers of certain creatures exist to 'keep seed alive,' provision for a future none of them could yet see. Some of what you're asked to gather or prepare now is for a future you can't picture yet either; store up faithfully rather than only for what you can presently justify.
"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. "
"God gives Noah one week's warning: after that, it will rain for forty days and nights, and every living thing God made will be wiped out."
God gives a specific seven-day countdown before the flood begins. When you know something significant is coming, use whatever days of preparation you're given well, rather than letting them slip by unused because the change hasn't arrived yet.
"And Noah did according unto all that the LORD commanded him. "
"Noah did exactly what God had told him to do."
Once again, Noah simply does what he was told. Consistency in obedience, doing it again and again rather than just once, is what real faithfulness looks like. Don't let a single act of obedience convince you the work of following through is finished.
"And Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters was upon the earth. "
"Noah was six hundred years old when the flood hit the earth."
Noah is 600 years old when this finally happens, decades after he first began building. Some callings take far longer to come to fruition than we expect. Don't measure your faithfulness by how quickly things happen, but by whether you're still faithfully in place when they do.
"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. "
"Noah, his wife, his sons, and his sons' wives all went into the ark to escape the floodwaters."
Noah brings his whole family into safety with him, not just himself. When you find shelter, security, or blessing, look for how to bring the people closest to you into it as well, rather than treating your safety as something to hold alone.
"Of clean beasts, and of beasts that are not clean, and of fowls, and of every thing that creepeth upon the earth, "
"This verse lists what came next: clean animals, unclean animals, birds, and everything that crawls on the ground."
Clean and unclean animals alike are gathered and preserved; God's rescue plan doesn't only include the ones considered special. Let this challenge any instinct to value some people as more worth saving, helping, or including than others.
"There went in two and two unto Noah into the ark, the male and the female, as God had commanded Noah. "
"They came to Noah two by two, male and female, exactly as God had instructed him."
The animals came 'as God had commanded,' an order and process that wasn't left to chance. When you're in the middle of a big transition, trust that God can bring the right things and the right timing together, even when you can't orchestrate all of it yourself.
"And it came to pass after seven days, that the waters of the flood were upon the earth. "
"Seven days after the warning, the floodwaters began."
There's a full week of waiting between the warning and the flood itself. Waiting for what you know is coming is its own kind of test. Use that in-between time well, rather than either denying it's coming or being paralysed by dread of it.
"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. "
"On a precisely dated day - the seventeenth day of the second month of Noah's six-hundredth year - the deep underground water sources burst open and the sky itself seemed to open up."
The text marks the flood's beginning with striking precision, down to the exact day. God is not vague or careless about timing in your life either, even when His timeline feels slower or faster than you'd choose.
"And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights. "
"It rained on the earth for forty days and forty nights straight."
Forty days and nights of unrelenting rain is a long, sustained trial, not a single dramatic moment. Some hardships you face won't resolve quickly either; ask God for endurance for the length of the storm, not just the courage for its beginning.
"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; "
"That same day, Noah entered the ark along with his three sons - Shem, Ham, and Japheth - his wife, and his three daughters-in-law."
The whole family enters together, 'in the selfsame day,' a picture of unity in a moment of crisis. When hard times come, let them draw your family and closest relationships closer together rather than letting fear scatter you apart from each other.
"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. "
"They went in along with every kind of wild animal, livestock, crawling creature, and every sort of bird."
Every kind of creature enters in its own category, methodically, completely. There is order even inside catastrophe. When your own life feels chaotic, look for the ways God may still be bringing order and structure, even inside the chaos you can see.
"And they went in unto Noah into the ark, two and two of all flesh, wherein is the breath of life. "
"Every kind of living, breathing creature came to Noah and boarded the ark, two by two."
Every creature with the breath of life is included, a phrase that echoes back to how humanity itself was made alive in chapter two. Remember that same breath of life connects you to every living thing around you; let that shape a wider respect for all of creation, not just your own species.
"And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God had commanded him: and the LORD shut him in. "
"They went in, male and female of every kind, exactly as God had commanded - and then the LORD himself shut the door behind them."
It is God, not Noah, who shuts the ark's door. There is real comfort in knowing that your ultimate safety doesn't rest entirely on your own vigilance; sometimes it's God who closes the door and seals you in His protection, even when you couldn't do it yourself.
"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. "
"The flood lasted forty days; the water rose higher and higher until it lifted the ark right up off the ground."
The rising waters lift the ark rather than sinking it; the very thing that destroys the world outside becomes the means of safety for those inside. What threatens to overwhelm you can, under God's hand, become the very thing that lifts you to safety instead.
"And the waters prevailed, and were increased greatly upon the earth; and the ark went upon the face of the waters. "
"The water kept rising and spreading powerfully across the earth, and the ark floated on its surface."
The ark drifts safely even as the waters grow more violent around it. You don't have to control the chaos around you to remain safe within it; sometimes safety looks like simply staying inside what God has provided while the storm does what storms do.
"And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth; and all the high hills, that were under the whole heaven, were covered. "
"The water rose so high that it covered every hill under the entire sky."
Even the highest hills are covered; nothing escapes the reach of this judgement except what God has specifically preserved. There is no height of achievement or reputation that puts a person beyond the need for God's mercy; every one of us depends on being kept safe by Him, not by our own elevation.
"Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail; and the mountains were covered. "
"The water rose about seven metres above the mountain tops."
Fifteen cubits above the highest peak leaves no room for doubt about the flood's totality. When God commits to something, whether judgement or rescue, He does it completely, not halfway. Trust the thoroughness of His care as much as the thoroughness of His justice.
"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: "
"Every living creature on earth died - birds, livestock, wild animals, everything that crawls, and every human being."
The scale of loss here is almost too much to take in, every creature, every person outside the ark. Let this sober rather than harden you; take seriously how real and weighty the consequences of a world turned from God actually are, and let that shape how earnestly you pursue good.
"All in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land, died. "
"Everything on dry land that breathed died."
Everything that breathed on dry land is included in this loss, without exception. Don't let familiarity with this story numb you to its weight; genuine reflection on real consequence, rather than quick moral lessons, is sometimes exactly what a hard passage like this calls for.
"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. "
"Every living thing on the ground was wiped out - people, livestock, crawling creatures, birds - all destroyed from the earth. Only Noah and those with him in the ark survived."
In the middle of total devastation, one phrase stands out: 'Noah only remained alive.' However overwhelming the world around you looks, God is still able to preserve exactly who and what He intends to preserve. Let that be a source of real hope, not just relief.
"And the waters prevailed upon the earth an hundred and fifty days. "
"The floodwaters remained high over the earth for a hundred and fifty days."
A hundred and fifty days is a long time to wait inside uncertainty, even once you're safe. Being safe doesn't always mean the waiting is over. Be patient with the long middle of a hard season, even after the worst danger has technically passed.