Genesis 6:20
in Genesis 6Two of every kind of bird and animal and crawling creature will come to you to be kept alive.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Of the birds after their kind, and of the cattle after their kind, of every creeping thing of the ground after its kind, two of every sort shall come unto thee, to keep them alive.
KJV
Of fowls after their kind, and of cattle after their kind, of every creeping thing of the earth after his kind, two of every sort shall come unto thee, to keep them alive.
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This verse in Genesis 6
Commentary
7 notes on this verseOn that same day elephants came from the east, apes and peacocks approached from the south, other animals gathered from the west, and still others hastened to come from the north. Lions came from the jungles, and wild beasts arrived from their lairs.
This site's exposition
will come to you to be kept alive
on Genesis 6:20-22
The creatures come to Noah on their own, two of every kind, to be kept alive. What he is told to do is gather food for himself and for the animals. The chapter closes on one line, that Noah did everything as God commanded. 2 Peter 2:5 calls him a preacher of righteousness.
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.
) that they shall of their own accord come to him. He that makes the ox to know his owner and his crib then made him know his preserver and his ark. (2.) He was to provide sustenance for them, that they might not be starved,
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
Of fowls after their kind, and of cattle after their kind, of every creeping thing of the earth after his kind,....
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| מֵהָע֣וֹף | mehaof | of the bird[s] | H5775 → | 71 times |
| לְמִינֵ֗הוּ | leminehu | to kind its | H4327 → | 31 times |
| וּמִן־ | umin- | and of | H4480 → | 1188 times |
| הַבְּהֵמָה֙ | habehemah | the animal[s] | H929 → | 190 times |
| לְמִינָ֔הּ | leminah | to kind its | H4327 → | 31 times |
| מִכֹּ֛ל | mikol | from every | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| רֶ֥מֶשׂ | remes | <the> creeping thing of | H7431 → | 17 times |
| הָֽאֲדָמָ֖ה | haadamah | the ground | H127 → | 225 times |
| לְמִינֵ֑הוּ | leminehu | to kind its | H4327 → | 31 times |
| שְׁנַ֧יִם | shenayim | two | H8147 → | 768 times |
| מִכֹּ֛ל | mikol | of everything | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| יָבֹ֥אוּ | yavou | they will come | H935 → | 2568 times |
| אֵלֶ֖יךָ | ʾeleikha | to you | H413 → | 5510 times |
| לְהַֽחֲיֽוֹת׃ | lehachayot | to preserve alive | H2421 → | 282 times |
מֵהָע֣וֹףof the bird[s]
mehaofH5775 →71 times
לְמִינֵ֗הוּto kind its
leminehuH4327 →31 times
וּמִן־and of
umin-H4480 →1188 times
הַבְּהֵמָה֙the animal[s]
habehemahH929 →190 times
לְמִינָ֔הּto kind its
leminahH4327 →31 times
מִכֹּ֛לfrom every
mikolH3605 →5413 times
רֶ֥מֶשׂ<the> creeping thing of
remesH7431 →17 times
הָֽאֲדָמָ֖הthe ground
haadamahH127 →225 times
לְמִינֵ֑הוּto kind its
leminehuH4327 →31 times
שְׁנַ֧יִםtwo
shenayimH8147 →768 times
מִכֹּ֛לof everything
mikolH3605 →5413 times
יָבֹ֥אוּthey will come
yavouH935 →2568 times
אֵלֶ֖יךָto you
ʾeleikhaH413 →5510 times
לְהַֽחֲיֽוֹת׃to preserve alive
lehachayotH2421 →282 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
John 5:40yet you refuse to come to Me to have life.
it leads to
- John 3:19
And this is the verdict: The Light has come into the world, but men loved the darkness rather than the Light because their deeds were evil.
- John 1:11
He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him.
- Psalms 81:11
But My people would not listen to Me, and Israel would not obey Me.
- John 6:37
Everyone the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will never drive away.
- John 7:37–38
On the last and greatest day of the feast, Jesus stood up and called out in a loud voice, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink.
- John 3:19
Through
Genesis 2:19And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and He brought them to the man to see what he would name each…
it leads to
- Psalms 8:4–8
what is man that You are mindful of him, or the son of man that You care for him?
- Genesis 1:28
God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and every creature…
- Genesis 9:2
The fear and dread of you will fall on every living creature on the earth, every bird of the air, every creature that crawls on the ground, and all the fish of the sea.…
- Psalms 8:4–8
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; Ephrem the Syrian, COMMENTARY ON GENESIS 6.9.2; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.