Genesis 6:16
in Genesis 6You are to make a roof for the ark, finish its walls a cubit from the top, place a door in the side of the ark, and build lower, middle, and upper decks.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
A light shalt thou make to the ark, and to a cubit shalt thou finish it upward; and the door of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof; with lower, second, and third stories shalt thou make it.
KJV
A window shalt thou make to the ark, and in a cubit shalt thou finish it above; and the door of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof; with lower, second, and third stories shalt thou make it.
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This verse in Genesis 6
Commentary
11 notes on this verse(Verse 16.) Assembling, you shall make an ark, and you shall finish it with a cubit from above. As for the reason why it says, assembling, you shall make an ark, in Hebrew it has, 'you shall make the middle of the ark,' which Symmachus interpreted more clearly, saying 'transparent,' that is, making the ark clear, intending for a window to be understood.
This site's exposition
The ark is to be 300 cubits long
on Genesis 6:15-16
The measurements are exact: 300 cubits long, 50 wide, 30 high. There is one door in the side and one roof above, and Genesis 7:16 adds that the LORD shut him in. Jerome read the 300 cubits as the letter Tau and a sign of the cross, and Clarke works the figures out in feet. Every part of it is specified for Noah.
This site's exposition
make a roof for the ark
The word for roof is tsohar, which Adam Clarke tied to a root meaning bright. Jerome read it as a window. The three decks share the ark's 30 cubits of height from verse 15.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church3 voices
You shall make a window in the ark, and you shall finish it to a cubit from above. A window is commanded to be made in the ark so that, after the rains ceased and the ark rested, Noah might release a bird through it …
You shall make upper rooms and lower rooms in it. Lower rooms denote a triple roof. For "stege" in Greek means "roof"; hence ancient interpreters for this word used "tricamerata."
You shall place the door of the ark on the lower side. This door, through which men and all the animals to be saved in the ark entered, signifies the unity of faith, without which no one can enter the Church; for there is one …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
God could have secured Noah by the ministration of angels, without putting him to any care, or pains, or trouble, himself; but he chose to employ him in making that which was to be the means of his preservation, both for the trial of his faith and obedience and to teach us that none shall be saved by Christ but those only that work out their salvation.
Noah was a just man - Justified before God by faith in the promised seed; for he was an heir of the righteousness which is by faith, Heb. xi, 7. He was sanctified, and had right principles and dispositions implanted in him: and he was righteous in his conversation, one that made conscience of rendering to all their due, to God his due, and to men theirs.
3 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
A window shalt thou make to the ark,.... Or a "light", such as is that at noon, for which the word in the dual number is used; and therefore Junius and Tremellius translate it a "clear light".
A window shalt thou make to the ark,.... Or a "light", such as is that at noon, for which the word in the dual number is used; and therefore Junius and Tremellius translate it a "clear light".
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A window shalt thou make - What this was cannot be absolutely ascertained. The original word צהר tsohar signifies clear or bright; the Septuagint translate it by επωυναγων, “collecting, thou shalt make the ark,” which plainly shows they did not understand the word as signifying any kind of window or light. Symmacbus translates it διαφανες, a transparency; and Aquila, μεσημβρινον, the noon. Jonathan ben Uzziel supposes that it was a precious luminous stone which Noah, by Divine command, brought from the river Pison.
The words behind it
15 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| צֹ֣הַר׀ | tzohar | a roof | H6672 → | 24 times |
| תַּֽעֲשֶׂ֣ה | taaseh | you will make | H6213 → | 2628 times |
| לַתֵּבָ֗ה | latevah | for the ark | H8392 → | 28 times |
| וְאֶל־ | veel- | and to | H413 → | 5510 times |
| אַמָּה֙ | ʾamah | a cubit | H520 → | 247 times |
| תְּכַלֶ֣נָּה | tekhalenah | you will finish it | H3615 → | 208 times |
| מִלְמַ֔עְלָה | milma'lah | from to above <towards> | H4605 → | 140 times |
| וּפֶ֥תַח | ufetach | and [the] entrance of | H6607 → | 164 times |
| הַתֵּבָ֖ה | hatevah | the ark | H8392 → | 28 times |
| בְּצִדָּ֣הּ | betzidah | in side its | H6654 → | |
| תָּשִׂ֑ים | tasim | you will put | H7760 → | 584 times |
| תַּחְתִּיִּ֛ם | tachtiyim | lower [decks] | H8482 → | |
| שְׁנִיִּ֥ם | sheniyim | second [decks] | H8145 → | 156 times |
| וּשְׁלִשִׁ֖ים | ushelishim | and third [decks] | H7992 → | 107 times |
| תַּֽעֲשֶֽׂהָ׃ | taaseha | you will make it | H6213 → | 2628 times |
צֹ֣הַר׀a roof
tzoharH6672 →24 times
תַּֽעֲשֶׂ֣הyou will make
taasehH6213 →2628 times
לַתֵּבָ֗הfor the ark
latevahH8392 →28 times
וְאֶל־and to
veel-H413 →5510 times
אַמָּה֙a cubit
ʾamahH520 →247 times
תְּכַלֶ֣נָּהyou will finish it
tekhalenahH3615 →208 times
מִלְמַ֔עְלָהfrom to above <towards>
milma'lahH4605 →140 times
וּפֶ֥תַחand [the] entrance of
ufetachH6607 →164 times
הַתֵּבָ֖הthe ark
hatevahH8392 →28 times
בְּצִדָּ֣הּin side its
betzidahH6654 →
תָּשִׂ֑יםyou will put
tasimH7760 →584 times
תַּחְתִּיִּ֛םlower [decks]
tachtiyimH8482 →
שְׁנִיִּ֥םsecond [decks]
sheniyimH8145 →156 times
וּשְׁלִשִׁ֖יםand third [decks]
ushelishimH7992 →107 times
תַּֽעֲשֶֽׂהָ׃you will make it
taasehaH6213 →2628 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Genesis 7:16And they entered, the male and female of every living thing, as God had commanded Noah. Then the LORD shut him in.
it leads to
- Luke 13:25
After the master of the house gets up and shuts the door, you will stand outside knocking and saying, ‘Lord, open the door for us.’ But he will reply, ‘I do not know where…
- Matthew 25:10
But while they were on their way to buy it, the bridegroom arrived. Those who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet, and the door was shut.
- Luke 13:25
Through
2 Samuel 6:16As the ark of the LORD was entering the City of David, Saul’s daughter Michal looked down from a window and saw King David leaping and dancing before the LORD, and she despised him…
it leads to
- 1 Corinthians 2:14
The natural man does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God. For they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.
- 1 Chronicles 15:29
As the ark of the covenant of the LORD was entering the City of David, Saul’s daughter Michal looked down from a window and saw King David dancing and celebrating, and she despised him…
- 2 Samuel 3:14
Then David sent messengers to say to Ish-bosheth son of Saul, “Give me back my wife, Michal, whom I betrothed to myself for a hundred Philistine foreskins.”
- 1 Corinthians 2:14
Through
Luke 13:25After the master of the house gets up and shuts the door, you will stand outside knocking and saying, ‘Lord, open the door for us.’ But he will reply, ‘I do not know where…
it leads to
- Matthew 25:10–12
But while they were on their way to buy it, the bridegroom arrived. Those who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet, and the door was shut.
- Luke 13:27
And he will answer, ‘I tell you, I do not know where you are from. Depart from me, all you evildoers.’
- Matthew 7:21–23
Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of My Father in heaven.
- Matthew 25:10–12
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies11
About Genesis
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Bede, Commentary on Genesis (Hexaemeron); Jerome, Hebrew Questions on Genesis; Jerome, Homilies; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.