BIBLE CHAPTER STUDY
Genesis 7: Noah Enters the Ark and the Flood Comes
God commands Noah to enter the ark with his household and the animals; after seven days the flood begins, lifting the ark and destroying all land creatures.
Scripture
1And Jehovah said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation.
2Of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee seven and seven, the male and his female; and of the beasts that are not clean two, the male and his female:
3of the birds also of the heavens, seven and seven, male and female, to keep seed alive upon the face of all the earth.
4For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights; and every living thing that I have made will I destroy from off the face of the ground.
5And Noah did according unto all that Jehovah commanded him.
6And Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters was upon the earth.
7And 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.
8Of clean beasts, and of beasts that are not clean, and of birds, and of everything that creepeth upon the ground,
9there went in two and two unto Noah into the ark, male and female, as God commanded Noah.
10And it came to pass after the seven days, that the waters of the flood were upon the earth.
11In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.
12And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights.
13In 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;
14they, and every beast after its kind, and all the cattle after their kind, and every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth after its kind, and every bird after its kind, every bird of every sort.
15And they went in unto Noah into the ark, two and two of all flesh wherein is the breath of life.
16And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God commanded him: and Jehovah shut him in.
17And the flood was forty days upon the earth; and the waters increased, and bare up the ark, and it was lifted up above the earth.
18And the waters prevailed, and increased greatly upon the earth; and the ark went upon the face of the waters.
19And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth; and all the high mountains that were under the whole heaven were covered.
20Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail; and the mountains were covered.
21And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, both birds, and cattle, and beasts, and every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, and every man:
22all in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life, of all that was on the dry land, died.
23And every living thing was destroyed that was upon the face of the ground, both man, and cattle, and creeping things, and birds of the heavens; and they were destroyed from the earth: and Noah only was left, and they that were with him in the ark.
24And the waters prevailed upon the earth a hundred and fifty days.
What this passage means
Genesis 7 is structured around three divine speeches and three fulfillments: the command to enter the ark (vv. 1–3), the command to take the animals (vv. 2–3, restated in vv. 8–9), and the announcement of seven days followed by forty days of rain (v. 4). After each speech, the text notes that Noah did 'according unto all that Jehovah commanded him' (vv. 5, 9, 16). This repetitive obedience motif ties the chapter back to Genesis 6:22 and turns Noah's actions into a sustained pattern of compliance.
The flood narrative proper begins in v. 11 with a precise dating — 'In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month.' Two cosmic sources are named: 'all the fountains of the great deep broken up' and 'the windows of heaven were opened.' The wording deliberately echoes Genesis 1: creation-order imagery is reversed as waters above and below the firmament return to cover the land. Forty days of rain (vv. 12, 17) are then followed by 150 days of waters 'prevailing' upon the earth (v. 24).
Verse 16 closes with the striking statement 'Jehovah shut him in.' The verb highlights that Noah's safety is not his own achievement but God's act: the same God who orders the entry seals it. The chapter ends with total destruction — every creature with 'the breath of the spirit of life' in its nostrils dies (v. 22) — and only Noah and those with him in the ark remain (v. 23). The chapter's literary weight rests on this contrast between divine closure (salvation) and divine opening (judgment).
Context
Chapter 7 sits at the climax of the flood narrative that began in Genesis 6:9–22, where Noah is described as righteous and where God announces the coming destruction. Genesis 7:1 opens with God's address to Noah, and the chapter continues seamlessly into Genesis 8, which records the receding of the waters. The cross-references confirm this positioning: 2 Peter 2:5 describes the event as God sparing 'the ancient world' and preserving 'Noah with seven others,' echoing the eight people aboard (Noah, his wife, three sons, three daughters-in-law) listed in 7:13.
Within the chapter itself, the internal seams are deliberate. Verse 13 repeats the entry list already given in v. 7, a literary device that places the human entry precisely on the same day as the cosmic disruption of v. 11. The transition from forty days of rain to 150 days of prevailing waters (vv. 17, 24) also prepares the reader for the chronological notices that structure Genesis 8.
Key words in the original
- H8392 תֵּבָה (tēḇāh) is glossed 'ark' and defined as 'a box.' It appears only here and in Exodus 2:3 for Moses' basket, creating a verbal link between the two rescue narratives.
- H6662 צַדִּיק (ṣaddiyq) is glossed 'righteous' and defined as 'just.' In 7:1, Noah's righteousness is the stated reason God addresses him directly to enter the ark.
- H2889 טָהֹר (ṭəhôrāh) is glossed 'clean' and defined as 'pure (in a physical, chemical, ceremonial or moral sense).' In 7:2 it distinguishes the seven-of-each clean animals from the two-of-each unclean animals.
Related verses
- Genesis 6:9 This verse supplies the prior description of Noah as righteous that Genesis 7:1 invokes when God says 'thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation.'
- Genesis 6:22 The earlier obedience summary is echoed by the repeated refrain 'Noah did according unto all that Jehovah commanded him' in 7:5, 9, and 16.
- Hebrews 11:7 This verse retrospectively frames Noah's ark-building and entry as acts of faith, casting 7:1–16 as obedience to unseen warning.
Common questions
Why does the chapter repeat the entry of Noah's family twice (vv. 7 and 13)?
Verse 7 places Noah's entry during the general narrative, while v. 13 aligns it precisely with the cosmic events of v. 11. The repetition emphasizes that humans and animals entered on the very day the fountains of the deep broke open.
What is the significance of 'Jehovah shut him in' in v. 16?
The verse attributes the closing of the ark's door to God rather than to Noah. Salvation is shown as God's act: the same Lord who commands entry also secures it against the coming waters.
How do the numbers (7 days, 40 days, 150 days) structure the chapter?
Seven days separate the command from the flood's start (v. 10), forty days measure the rain and the initial rise (vv. 12, 17), and 150 days mark the full period the waters prevailed upon the earth (v. 24). These numbers bracket the destruction and prepare the chronological framework continued in Genesis 8.