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Genesis

About this book

The Flood

Chapter 7

1 The Lord said to Noah, “Come into the ark,⁠ you and all your household, for I consider you godly among this generation.⁠ 2 You must take with you seven pairs of every kind of clean animal, the male and its mate, two of every kind of unclean animal, the male and its mate,⁠ 3 and also seven pairs of every kind of bird in the sky, male and female, to preserve their offspring on the face of the entire earth.⁠ 4 For in seven days I will cause it to rain on the earth for 40 days and 40 nights, and I will wipe from the face of the ground every living thing that I have made.”⁠ 5 And Noah did all that the Lord commanded him. 6 Noah was 600 years old when the floodwaters engulfed the earth. 7 Noah entered the ark along with his sons, his wife, and his sons’ wives because of the floodwaters. 8 Pairs of clean animals, of unclean animals, of birds, and of everything that creeps along the ground,⁠ 9 male and female, came into the ark to Noah, just as God had commanded him. 10 And after seven days the floodwaters engulfed the earth.⁠ 11 In 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 floodgates of the heavens were opened.⁠ 12 And the rain fell on the earth 40 days and 40 nights. 13 On that very day Noah entered the ark, accompanied by his sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth, along with his wife and his sons’ three wives.⁠ 14 They entered, along with every living creature after its kind, every animal after its kind, every creeping thing that creeps on the earth after its kind, and every bird after its kind, everything with wings. 15 Pairs of all creatures that have the breath of life came into the ark to Noah. 16 Those that entered were male and female, just as God commanded him. Then the Lord shut him in.⁠ 17 The flood engulfed the earth for 40 days.⁠ As the waters increased, they lifted the ark and raised it above the earth. 18 The waters completely overwhelmed the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the waters.⁠ 19 The waters completely inundated the earth so that even all the high mountains under the entire sky were covered.⁠ 20 The waters rose more than 20 feet above the mountains. 21 And all living things that moved on the earth died, including the birds, domestic animals, wild animals, all the creatures that swarm over the earth, and all humankind. 22 Everything on dry land that had the breath of life in its nostrils died. 23 So the Lord destroyed every living thing that was on the surface of the ground, including people, animals, creatures that creep along the ground, and birds of the sky. They were wiped off the earth. Only Noah and those who were with him in the ark survived.⁠ 24 The waters prevailed over the earth for 150 days.

Texts in conversation

Compare Genesis 7:4 and LXX Genesis 7:4

Hebrew Bible · Septuagint

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Summary

Genesis 7 uses a rare Hebrew word for “every living thing” that comes from the verb “to rise.” In the Greek Septuagint translation, it becomes “every thing that rises up,” a match so literal that it makes little sense in Greek.

Passages

Genesis 7:4

Hebrew Bible
2 You must take with you seven pairs of every kind of clean animal, the male and its mate, two of every kind of unclean animal, the male and its mate, 3 and also seven pairs of every kind of bird in the sky, male and female, to preserve their offspring on the face of the entire earth. 4 For in seven days I will cause it to rain on the earth for 40 days and 40 nights, and I will wipe from the face of the ground every living thing that I have made.” 5 And Noah did all that the Lord commanded him. 6 Noah was 600 years old when the floodwaters engulfed the earth.
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Genesis

LXX Genesis 7:4

Septuagint
2 And of the clean cattle take in to you sevens, male and female, and of the unclean cattle pairs male and female. 3 And of clean flying creatures of the sky sevens, male and female, and of unclean flying creatures pairs, male and female, to maintain seed on all the earth. 4 For yet seven days having passed I bring rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights, and I will blot out every thing that rises up, which I have made, from the face of the earth. 5 And Noah did all things whatever the Lord God commanded him. 6 And Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of water was upon the earth.
300–201 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in LXX Genesis

References

"... A distinctive type of literalistic translation is the isolate, a rendering that is based on the perceived meaning of an individual word "in (virtual) semantic isolation" with etymology playing a key role. An example of this phenomenon involves a rarely attested Hebrew noun. It is found a total of three times in the Hebrew Bible, two of those occurrences being in Genesis 7 (verses 4 and 23) and one in Deuteronomy 11. In all three cases, the LXX translates with a compound noun based on the root, respectively. Clearly, each of these renderings represents an attempt to reflect the Hebrew root. As is characteristic of isolates, the semantic results are curious ..."
Robert J. V. Hiebert, Translation Technique in the Septuagint of Genesis and its Implications for the NETS Version (International Organization for Septuagint and Cognate Studies, Vol. 33, 2000), 76–93.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Genesis 7:4 and LXX Genesis 7:4

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