Genesis 6:19
in Genesis 6And you are to bring two of every living creature into the ark—male and female—to keep them alive with you.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee; they shall be male and female.
KJV
And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee; they shall be male and female.
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This verse in Genesis 6
Commentary
8 notes on this verseTo keep them alive - God might have destroyed all the animal creation, and created others to occupy the new world, but he chose rather to preserve those already created. The Creator and Preserver of the universe does nothing but what is essentially necessary to be done. Nothing should be wantonly wasted; nor should power or skill be lavished where no necessity exists; and yet it required more means and economy to preserve the old than to have created new ones.
This site's exposition
I will establish My covenant with you
on Genesis 6:18-19
This is the first time the word covenant appears in the Bible. It is spoken before the flood comes, so the promise stands over Noah through the years he spends on the ark. His sons, his wife and his sons' wives are inside it, a household kept alive with him. 1 Peter 3:20 counts eight souls saved through water.
This site's exposition
two of every living creature
Two of each kind is the general rule, and 7:2 adds seven pairs of every clean animal. Male and female is the phrase of 1:27, and the pairs carry the blessing to multiply through the flood. Adam Clarke saw God preserving the creatures He had made.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
A further question asked by the curious concerns those tiny creatures, smaller even than mice and lizards, such as locusts, beetles, flies and even fleas. Were there not more of these in the ark than the number prescribed by God? Those who raise this difficulty must first be reminded that the words "that creep on the earth" imply that there was no need to preserve in the ark animals that live either in the water like fishes or on the water, as certain birds do. Second, the words "male and female" imply that there was no need to have in the ark such animals as are not born in the normal way but populate from putrid or inanimate matter. Or if they were in the ark, they could have been there as they are in our houses and not in any definite number. On the other hand, if the sacred mystery that was there being enacted demanded down to the last number of nonmarine animals the perfect accord of symbolic figure and historical fact, then God took care of this in his own way and did not leave it to Noah or his family.
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
This was a great honour put upon him, that not only in him the race of mankind should be kept up, and that from him should proceed a new world, the church, the soul of the world, and Messiah, the head of that church, but that he should be instrumental to preserve the inferior creatures, and so mankind should in him acquire a new title to them and their service.
And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark,....
This was a great honour put upon him, that not only in him the race of mankind should be kept up, and that from him should proceed a new world, the church, the soul of the world, and Messiah, the head of that church, but that he should be instrumental to preserve the inferior creatures, and so mankind should in him acquire a new title to them and their service.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood--The repetition of the announcement was to establish its certainty (Ge 41:32). Whatever opinion may be entertained as to the operation of natural laws and agencies in the deluge, it was brought on the world by God as a punishment for the enormous wickedness of its inhabitants.
The words behind it
14 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וּמִכָּל־ | umikol- | and of every | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| הָ֠חַי | hachai | <the> living [thing] | H2416 → | 498 times |
| מִֽכָּל־ | mikol | of all | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| בָּשָׂ֞ר | basar | flesh | H1320 → | 270 times |
| שְׁנַ֧יִם | shenayim | two | H8147 → | 768 times |
| מִכֹּ֛ל | mikol | of everything | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| תָּבִ֥יא | tavi' | you will bring | H935 → | 2568 times |
| אֶל־ | ʾel- | into | H413 → | 5510 times |
| הַתֵּבָ֖ה | hatevah | the ark | H8392 → | 28 times |
| לְהַחֲיֹ֣ת | lehachayot | to preserve alive | H2421 → | 282 times |
| אִתָּ֑ךְ | ʾitakh | with you | H854 → | 929 times |
| זָכָ֥ר | zakhar | male | H2145 → | 82 times |
| וּנְקֵבָ֖ה | unekevah | and female | H5347 → | 22 times |
| יִֽהְיֽוּ׃ | yihyu | they will be | H1961 → | 3559 times |
וּמִכָּל־and of every
umikol-H3605 →5413 times
הָ֠חַי<the> living [thing]
hachaiH2416 →498 times
מִֽכָּל־of all
mikolH3605 →5413 times
בָּשָׂ֞רflesh
basarH1320 →270 times
שְׁנַ֧יִםtwo
shenayimH8147 →768 times
מִכֹּ֛לof everything
mikolH3605 →5413 times
תָּבִ֥יאyou will bring
tavi'H935 →2568 times
אֶל־into
ʾel-H413 →5510 times
הַתֵּבָ֖הthe ark
hatevahH8392 →28 times
לְהַחֲיֹ֣תto preserve alive
lehachayotH2421 →282 times
אִתָּ֑ךְwith you
ʾitakhH854 →929 times
זָכָ֥רmale
zakharH2145 →82 times
וּנְקֵבָ֖הand female
unekevahH5347 →22 times
יִֽהְיֽוּ׃they will be
yihyuH1961 →3559 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 8:17Bring out all the living creatures that are with you—birds, livestock, and everything that crawls upon the ground—so that they can spread out over the earth and be fruitful and multiply upon it.”
it leads to
- Genesis 1:22
Then God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters of the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.”
- Genesis 9:1
And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.
- Psalms 107:38
He blesses them, and they multiply greatly; He does not let their herds diminish.
- Jeremiah 31:27–28
“The days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man and of beast.
- Genesis 1:22
Through
Psalms 36:6Your righteousness is like the highest mountains; Your judgments are like the deepest sea. O LORD, You preserve man and beast.
it leads to
- Romans 11:33
O, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments, and untraceable His ways!
- Isaiah 40:28
Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary; His understanding is beyond searching…
- Psalms 77:19
Your path led through the sea, Your way through the mighty waters, but Your footprints were not to be found.
- Job 37:23
The Almighty is beyond our reach; He is exalted in power! In His justice and great righteousness He does not oppress.
- Romans 11:33
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies11
On this verse
About Genesis
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Augustine of Hippo, City of God 15.27; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; 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.