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Genesis Chapter 7

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October 1, 2025

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🏠 God’s Special Invitation

God looked down at Noah and smiled. Noah was a good man who loved God with all his heart. “Noah, I want you and your whole family to come into the ark right now. You are the only person on earth who truly loves Me and obeys Me.” God had a very important job for Noah. “Bring seven pairs of all the clean animalsᵃ – that means seven mommies and seven daddies of each kind. And bring two of every other animal – one mommy and one daddy.” “Don’t forget the birds! Bring seven pairs of every kind of bird too, so they can have babies and fill the earth again after the flood.”

⏰ The Final Countdown

Then God told Noah something very important: “In exactly seven days, I’m going to make it rain harder than it has ever rained before. It will rain for 40 days and 40 nights! The water will cover everything and wash away all the bad people and animals that don’t love Me.” Noah did exactly what God told him to do. He was 600 years oldᵇ – that’s really, really old! Noah, his wife, his three sons, and their wives all climbed into the big boat.

🐘 The Amazing Animal Parade

What an incredible sight it must have been! All the animals came marching to the ark just like God had planned. Lions walked next to lambs, elephants trumpeted as they climbed the ramp, monkeys swung from branch to branch, and colorful birds flew in from every direction. Two by two and seven by seven, they all found their places inside the giant boat.

🌊 The Rain Begins

After exactly seven days, just like God promised, the rain started. But this wasn’t ordinary rain – it was like nothing anyone had ever seen! The Bible tells us that all the fountains of the great deep burst openᶜ, and the windows of heavenᵈ opened wide. It was like God opened every faucet in the sky at the same time! For 40 days and 40 nights, the rain poured down. The water got deeper and deeper until even the tallest mountains were covered by more than 20 feet of water!

🚢 Safe in the Ark

But Noah, his family, and all the animals were completely safe inside the ark. God Himself shut the door to keep them protected. The big boat floated on top of all that water like a giant bathtub toy, but much, much bigger!

🕊️ Starting Over

Everything that breathed air and lived on land died in the flood, except for Noah’s family and the animals in the ark. It was very sad, but God had to clean the earth because people had become so mean and evil. The water stayed on the earth for 150 days – that’s about five months! But God had an amazing plan to start the world fresh and new, with Noah’s family and all the animals He had saved. This shows us how much God loves people who obey Him and trust Him, just like Noah did!

Kid-Friendly Footnotes:

  • ᵃ Clean animals: These were special animals that God said were okay to eat and use for giving thanks to Him. God told Noah which ones they were.
  • ᵇ 600 years old: People lived much, much longer back then! Noah was like a super-grandpa who was still strong and healthy.
  • ᶜ Fountains of the great deep: Imagine if all the water underground suddenly shot up like giant geysers everywhere!
  • ᵈ Windows of heaven: It was like God opened huge doors in the sky and all the water came pouring down at once – much more than any rainstorm you’ve ever seen!
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    This chapter is currently being worked on
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    This chapter is currently being worked on
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Footnotes:

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    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.
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    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.
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    Of fowls also of the air by sevens, the male and the female; to keep seed alive upon the face of all the earth.
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    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.
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    And Noah did according unto all that the LORD commanded him.
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    And Noah [was] six hundred years old when the flood of waters was upon the earth.
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    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.
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    Of clean beasts, and of beasts that [are] not clean, and of fowls, and of every thing that creepeth upon the earth,
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    There went in two and two unto Noah into the ark, the male and the female, as God had commanded Noah.
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    And it came to pass after seven days, that the waters of the flood were upon the earth.
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    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.
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    And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights.
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    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;
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    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.
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    And they went in unto Noah into the ark, two and two of all flesh, wherein [is] the breath of life.
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    And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God had commanded him: and the LORD shut him in.
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    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.
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    And the waters prevailed, and were increased greatly upon the earth; and the ark went upon the face of the waters.
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    And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth; and all the high hills, that [were] under the whole heaven, were covered.
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    Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail; and the mountains were covered.
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    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:
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    All in whose nostrils [was] the breath of life, of all that [was] in the dry [land], died.
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    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.
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    And the waters prevailed upon the earth an hundred and fifty days.
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    Then the LORD said to Noah, “Go into the ark, you and all your family, because I have found you righteous in this generation.
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    You are to take with you seven pairs of every kind of clean animal, a male and its mate; a pair of every kind of unclean animal, a male and its mate;
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    and seven pairs of every kind of bird of the air, male and female, to preserve their offspring on the face of all the earth.
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    For seven days from now I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights, and I will wipe from the face of the earth every living thing I have made.”
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    And Noah did all that the LORD had commanded him.
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    Now Noah was 600 years old when the floodwaters came upon the earth.
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    And Noah and his wife, with his sons and their wives, entered the ark to escape the waters of the flood.
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    The clean and unclean animals, the birds, and everything that crawls along the ground
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    came to Noah to enter the ark, two by two, male and female, as God had commanded Noah.
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    And after seven days the floodwaters came upon the earth.
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    In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, on the seventeenth day of the second month, all the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened.
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    And the rain fell upon the earth for forty days and forty nights.
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    On that very day Noah entered the ark, along with his sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and his wife, and the three wives of his sons—
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    they and every kind of wild animal, livestock, crawling creature, bird, and winged creature.
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    They came to Noah to enter the ark, two by two of every creature with the breath of life.
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    And they entered, the male and female of every living thing, as God had commanded Noah. Then the LORD shut him in.
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    For forty days the flood kept coming on the earth, and the waters rose and lifted the ark high above the earth.
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    So the waters continued to surge and rise greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the waters.
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    Finally, the waters completely inundated the earth, so that all the high mountains under all the heavens were covered.
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    The waters rose and covered the mountaintops to a depth of fifteen cubits.
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    And every living thing that moved upon the earth perished—birds, livestock, animals, every creature that swarms upon the earth, and all mankind.
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    Of all that was on dry land, everything that had the breath of life in its nostrils died.
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    And every living thing on the face of the earth was destroyed—man and livestock, crawling creatures and birds of the air; they were blotted out from the earth, and only Noah and those with him in the ark remained.
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    And the waters prevailed upon the earth for 150 days.

Genesis Chapter 7 Commentary

1What’s this chapter about?
2The Full Context
3What the Ancient Words Tell Us
4What Would the Original Audience Have Heard?
5Wrestling with the Text
6How This Changes Everything
7Key Takeaway
8Further Reading

Genesis 7 – When Heaven’s Floodgates Opened

What’s this chapter about?

Genesis 7 is where God’s judgment finally arrives – but it’s wrapped in an incredible story of divine rescue. Noah, his family, and a floating zoo survive the world’s most catastrophic weather event, giving us a front-row seat to both God’s justice and His mercy playing out on the same stage.

The Full Context

We’ve reached the climax of one of Scripture’s most dramatic narratives. After centuries of human rebellion and violence, God has decided to start over – almost. The flood story sits at the heart of Genesis’s opening chapters, serving as both the end of one era and the beginning of another. Written during Israel’s wilderness wanderings (likely around 1440-1400 BC), Moses crafted this account to help his audience understand both God’s character and their own place in His unfolding plan.

This chapter functions as the dramatic center of the flood narrative, sandwiched between God’s instructions in chapter 6 and the aftermath in chapter 8. The Hebrew text is carefully structured, with precise chronological markers and repeated phrases that create a sense of mounting tension and divine sovereignty. For ancient readers familiar with Mesopotamian flood stories, Moses’s account would have sounded both familiar and radically different – emphasizing not capricious gods but one righteous Creator whose judgment serves justice and whose mercy preserves hope.

What the Ancient Words Tell Us

The Hebrew text of Genesis 7 is packed with subtle details that get lost in translation. When verse 1 says God told Noah to “come into the ark,” the verb bo’ suggests God is already there waiting – not just sending Noah away, but inviting him into a place of safety. This isn’t abandonment; it’s rescue.

The phrase “all the fountains of the great deep burst forth” in verse 11 uses language that echoes creation itself. The word tehom (deep) takes us back to Genesis 1:2, where God’s Spirit hovered over the waters. It’s as if creation is being undone and remade.

Grammar Geeks

The Hebrew phrase mabbul (flood) appears only in the Noah story and Psalm 29:10. It’s not just heavy rain – it’s cosmic chaos, the kind of deluge that threatens to return earth to its pre-creation state of watery void.

Notice how verse 16 carefully notes that “the Lord shut him in.” The verb sagar means to close securely, like sealing a contract. God personally ensures Noah’s safety – this isn’t just meteorology, it’s divine protection with a personal touch.

What Would the Original Audience Have Heard?

For ancient Near Eastern peoples, water meant both life and death, creation and chaos. Every spring, rivers like the Tigris and Euphrates brought life-giving floods that made agriculture possible. But everyone also knew stories of catastrophic floods that wiped out entire civilizations.

Moses’s audience, wandering in the wilderness after escaping Egypt, would have heard echoes of their own story. Just as Noah passed through waters to safety, they had walked through the Red Sea. Just as God shut Noah into the ark, He had been their rear guard against Pharaoh’s army. The flood wasn’t just ancient history – it was a pattern of how God saves His people through judgment.

Did You Know?

Ancient Mesopotamian flood stories like the Epic of Gilgamesh describe floods lasting only six days. Moses’s account spans over a year, emphasizing not just divine power but divine patience – giving the world time to repent even as judgment unfolds.

The repeated phrase “as God commanded” (verses 5, 9, 16) would have resonated powerfully with Israelites learning to follow God’s instructions in the wilderness. Noah’s obedience becomes a model – when God speaks, immediate compliance isn’t just wise, it’s life-saving.

Wrestling with the Text

Here’s where things get challenging for modern readers. The global scope of this flood raises scientific and theological questions that ancient audiences probably wouldn’t have asked in the same way. Were kangaroos really on Noah’s ark? How did all those animals fit?

But here’s what’s fascinating – the Hebrew text itself suggests the author was more interested in theological truth than zoological inventory. The phrase “every living thing” (kol-chai) is used flexibly throughout Scripture, sometimes meaning “everything in the immediate area” rather than literally every creature on earth.

The flood narrative uses highly structured, almost poetic language that suggests we’re dealing with something more like theological history than a modern documentary. Moses is answering the question “Who is God and how does He deal with human rebellion?” not “How exactly did the water levels work?”

Wait, That’s Strange…

Notice that Genesis 7:17 says the flood lasted 40 days, but Genesis 7:24 says the waters prevailed for 150 days. The Hebrew distinguishes between the active flooding (40 days) and the time when waters dominated the earth (150 days) – it’s precise, just not in the way we might expect.

How This Changes Everything

The flood story reveals something crucial about God’s character that runs throughout Scripture: He is both perfectly just and incredibly merciful, and sometimes these attributes work together in ways that surprise us.

God’s justice demanded a response to human violence and corruption. But His mercy provided an escape route – not just for Noah, but ultimately for all humanity. The ark becomes a preview of every other rescue God orchestrates throughout biblical history.

This pattern – judgment that preserves a remnant for future blessing – shows up everywhere. Israel preserved through exile, a faithful remnant returning to Jerusalem, Jesus dying so others might live. The flood isn’t just about ancient history; it’s about how God works in every generation.

“When God shuts you in, He’s not locking you up – He’s sealing you safe.”

For Noah’s family, those long months in the ark must have felt like imprisonment. They couldn’t see what was happening outside, couldn’t control their circumstances, couldn’t even open the door themselves. But God’s silence wasn’t abandonment – it was protection. Sometimes our seasons of waiting, of being “shut in” by circumstances beyond our control, are actually God’s way of keeping us safe until it’s time to emerge into something new.

Key Takeaway

God’s judgments always serve His mercy. Even when circumstances feel overwhelming and we can’t see the bigger picture, God is actively working to preserve what matters most – not just our physical lives, but His purposes through us for future generations.

Further Reading

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