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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.

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Compare Atrahasis and Genesis 7:8

Ancient Near East, Babylonian · Hebrew Bible

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Summary

The flood narratives in Genesis and Atrahasis share many details, including the loading of animals and the sealing of the vessel. Genesis places emphasis on preserving the animals as part of cosmic order, connecting the flood to the undoing of creation.

Passages

Atrahasis

Ancient Near East, Babylonian
[A child brought] bitumen. The poor [fetched what was needed.] Everything there was Everything there was Pure ones Fat ones He selected [and put on board.] [The birds] that fly in the sky, Cattle [of Shak]kan, Wild animals of open country he put on board He invited his people to a feast. he put his family on board. They were eating, they were drinking. But he went in and out, Could not stay still or rest on his haunches, His heart was breaking and he was vomiting bile. The face of the weather changed. Adad bellowed from the clouds. When he (Atrahasis) heard his noise, Bitumen was brought and he sealed his door.
1800–1701 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Atrahasis

Genesis 7:8

Hebrew Bible
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.
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Genesis

References

"... Considering this sequence of structural similarities in the narratives, there should be no doubt that the same story is told in both places. There are, however, also significant differences. There are especially two marked differences, both relating to P and one of them also to non-P. The first is the concern for the animals, in P recorded in 6:19–20; 7:14–16, 21; 8:1, in non-P in 7:1–3, 8–9, 22–23. In Gilgamesh it is perfectly clear that Utnapishtim brought animals of every kind into the boat (XI, 84, 86). The rest of the animals drowned in the flood together with the people (XI, 135–136). We must also assume that this was part of the patron text Atrahasis. Nevertheless, the animals do not have the same emphasis in the Mesopotamian version as in Genesis. As we have seen, the passages in P, in which the animals are described, are closely related to the creation story. The weight on animals in P underscores an important part of the relationship between creation and flood. The earth was initially t̠ōhû wāb̠ōhû, “formless void,” before the creation (1:2). This chaotic state was overcome by both the creation of living creatures and humans; both should swarm the earth. In the flood it is clearly important for P to show that all life as part of the cosmos disappeared, turning the earth back into chaos again. There is a difference between P and non-P in the way the flood itself is understood, each relating in a different way to the Mesopotamian versions. In the non-P passages the flood is understood as a rainstorm (7:4, 12; 8:2b). This is clearly how the flood is understood both in Atrahasis and Gilgamesh (compare Atrahasis III iv, 24–25; Gilgamesh XI, 128–136) ..."
Helge S. Kvanvig, Primeval History: Babylonian, Biblical, and Enochic: An Intertextual Reading, JSJSup 149 (Leiden: Brill, 2011), 225.

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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Atrahasis and Genesis 7:8

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