Hebrew-English Text

I. Summary

Yahweh blesses Noah, allows him to eat meat, and prohibits murder. The rainbow is a sign that Yahweh will never again destroy the world by flood. The genealogy of Noah is recounted and Ham the father of Canaan is cursed for not covering the nakedness of his drunken father Noah.

II. Photo

Yahweh will never destroy the world again: “I have set my bow in the clouds, and it shall serve as a sign of the covenant between me and the earth.” (v. 13)

III. Select Verses

3-6: Every creature that lives shall be yours to eat; as with the green grasses, I give you all these. You must not, however, eat flesh with its life-blood in it. But for your own life-blood I will require a reckoning: I will require it of every beast; of man, too, will I require a reckoning for human life, of every man for that of his fellow man! Whoever sheds the blood of man, By man shall his blood be shed; For in His image Did God make man.

11-13: I will maintain My covenant with you: never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.” God further said, “This is the sign that I set for the covenant between Me and you, and every living creature with you, for all ages to come. I have set My bow in the clouds, and it shall serve as a sign of the covenant between Me and the earth.

20-25: Noah, the tiller of the soil, was the first to plant a vineyard. He drank of the wine and became drunk, and he uncovered himself within his tent. Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father’s nakedness and told his two brothers outside.  But Shem and Japheth took a cloth, placed it against both their backs and, walking backward, they covered their father’s nakedness; their faces were turned the other way, so that they did not see their father’s nakedness. When Noah woke up from his wine and learned what his youngest son had done to him, he said, “Cursed be Canaan; The lowest of slaves Shall he be to his brothers.”

IV. Outline

1-17. Yahweh's [called Elohim] message to Noah and his family

    1. Blessing to be fertile and multiply

    2. The animals shall fear man

    3-4. Animals may be eaten, just not while they are living

    5. Murder is prohibited

    6. Murder is punished by death for man was created in Yahweh's image

    7. Blessing to be fertile and multiply

    9-11. The covenant: never again will a flood destroy the world

    12-17. The sign of the covenant: rainbows in the clouds

18-29. Genealogy of Noah's family

    18-19. Noah's three sons: Shem, Ham the father of Canaan, and Japheth

    20-25. Noah curses Canaan for not covering Noah's nakedness when Noah was drunk

    26-27. Canaan will be a slave to Shem and Japheth

    28-29. The years of Noah's life: 950 (350 after the flood)

V. Comment

No comment today. Stay tuned.

VI. Works Used

(see “Commentaries” page)

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Hebrew-English Text

I. Summary

The waters recede and the land dries. Yahweh tells Noah, his family, and the animals to repopulate the land. Noah offers sacrifices and Yahweh decides to never destroy the world again.

II. Photo

Noah’s journey comes to an end: “At the end of forty days Noah opened the window of the ark that he had made.” (v. 6)

III. Select Verses

1-2: But God remembered Noah and all the wild animals and all the domestic animals that were with him in the ark. And God made a wind blow over the earth, and the waters subsided; the fountains of the deep and the windows of the heavens were closed, the rain from the heavens was restrained,

7-12: At the end of forty days Noah opened the window of the ark that he had made and sent out the raven; and it went to and fro until the waters were dried up from the earth. Then he sent out the dove from him, to see if the waters had subsided from the face of the ground; but the dove found no place to set its foot, and it returned to him to the ark, for the waters were still on the face of the whole earth. So he put out his hand and took it and brought it into the ark with him. He waited another seven days, and again he sent out the dove from the ark; and the dove came back to him in the evening, and there in its beak was a freshly plucked olive leaf; so Noah knew that the waters had subsided from the earth. Then he waited another seven days, and sent out the dove; and it did not return to him any more.

20-22: Then Noah built an altar to the LORD, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. And when the LORD smelled the pleasing odor, the LORD said in his heart, “I will never again curse the ground because of humankind, for the inclination of the human heart is evil from youth; nor will I ever again destroy every living creature as I have done. As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease.”

IV. Outline

1-2. The flood is stopped

3. The water recedes after 150 days

4. The ark rests on mount Ararat in the seventh month

5. The mountains are uncovered in the tenth month

6-12. Noah's reconnaissance with birds

    6-7. After forty days Noah sends a raven

    8-9. Noah sends a dove that returns

    10-11. Noah sends a dove that returns with an olive leaf

    12. Noah sends a dove that does not return

13-14. The earth dries

15-17. Yahweh tells Noah, his family, and the animals to disembark and reproduce

18-19. Noah, his family, and the animals disembark

20. Noah sacrifices animals and birds as an offering

21-22. Yahweh is pleased and decides to never again destroy all living creatures

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Hebrew-English Text

I. Summary

Noah, his family, and the animals enter the ark. The flood arrives and wipes out all of the living things on the ground.

II. Photo

The flood arrives: “Everything on dry land in whose nostrils was the breath of life died.” (v. 22)

III. Select Verses

12-16: The rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights. On the very same day Noah with his sons, Shem and Ham and Japheth, and Noah’s wife and the three wives of his sons entered the ark, they and every wild animal of every kind, and all domestic animals of every kind, and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, and every bird of every kind—every bird, every winged creature.  They went into the ark with Noah, two and two of all flesh in which there was the breath of life. And those that entered, male and female of all flesh, went in as God had commanded him; and the LORD shut him in.

18-19: The waters swelled so mightily on the earth that all the high mountains under the whole heaven were covered; the waters swelled above the mountains, covering them fifteen cubits deep.

23: He blotted out every living thing that was on the face of the ground, human beings and animals and creeping things and birds of the air; they were blotted out from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those that were with him in the ark.

IV. Outline

1-4. Yahweh's command

    1. Enter the ark

    2-3. Take 7 pairs of every clean animal and every bird and one pair of every unclean animal

    4. The flood will come in seven days

5. Noah follows Yahweh's instructions

6-9. Noah enters the ark with his family and the animals in his 600th year

10. The waters arrive

11-12. The rain begain in Noah's 600th year

13-16. Noah's family and the animals enter the ark on the day the rain begins; Yahweh shuts them in

17-24. The flood

    17-18. The flood continued for forty days, lifting the ark

    19-20. The mountains were covered

    21-23. All living things died

    24. The flood strengthened for one hundred fifty days

V. Comment

Genesis 7 has a number of striking contradictions. For example, according to verses 4-5, 6-10, Noah entered the ark seven days before the flood but according to verse 13, Noah entered the day the flood began. According to verses 12 and 17, the flood swelled forty days and forty nights, but according to verse 24 it swelled one hundred fifty days. It might be argued that verse 2 calls for seven pairs of clean animals but verses 9 and 15 only mention single pairs. In addition to contradictions such as these there are a number of unnecessary repetitions such as the three times that Noah and his family enter the ark (vv. 5, 6-9, 13-16). Verses 17-23 are perhaps most striking, for they contain two doublets and one triplet in a row:

The Ark Rises:

• Gen. 7:17 The flood continued forty days on the earth; and the waters increased, and bore up the ark, and it rose high above the earth.
• Gen. 7:18 The waters swelled and increased greatly on the earth; and the ark floated on the face of the waters.

The mountains are covered:

• Gen. 7:19 The waters swelled so mightily on the earth that all the high mountains under the whole heaven were covered;
• Gen. 7:20 the waters swelled above the mountains, covering them fifteen cubits deep.

The death of all living things:

• Gen. 7:21 And all flesh died that moved on the earth, birds, domestic animals, wild animals, all swarming creatures that swarm on the earth, and all human beings;
• Gen. 7:22 everything on dry land in whose nostrils was the breath of life died.
• Gen. 7:23 He blotted out every living thing that was on the face of the ground, human beings and animals and creeping things and birds of the air; they were blotted out from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those that were with him in the ark.

While traditional commentators have been addressing these problems for centuries, doublets and contradictions in the flood story played a key role in the development of source criticism, that is, the attribution of different verses to different authors.

VI. Works Used

(see “Commentaries” page)

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