The Law · Chapter 7 of 50

Genesis 7

God calls Noah, found righteous, to enter the ark with his family and animals gathered by pairs and by sevens. After seven days the flood comes as the fountains of the deep burst and the windows of heaven open. Rain falls forty days and nights, waters cover even the mountains, and all breathing life on dry land perishes. Only Noah and those with him remain alive, kept by God who shut them in.

What happens in Genesis 7

The LORD invites Noah and his whole house into the ark, having seen him righteous in this generation. Noah is to take clean animals by sevens and unclean by twos, and birds by sevens, to keep seed alive. In seven days the rain will come for forty days and nights. Noah, six hundred years old, obeys and enters with his sons, his wife, and his sons' wives. The animals come two by two, male and female, as God commanded.

On the appointed day the fountains of the great deep break up and the windows of heaven open. The rain falls forty days and nights. The waters rise and lift the ark, prevailing until all the high hills and mountains are covered by fifteen cubits. Every living thing on dry land dies. Only Noah and those in the ark remain, and the LORD shuts him in. The waters prevail one hundred and fifty days.

Genesis 7 in context

Genesis 7 carries out the judgment announced in chapter 6, moving from command to catastrophe. Within the Law it stands as the great undoing of creation, waters returning over the earth as in the beginning, and as the preservation of a remnant.

Its careful dates and numbers mark it as sober history to the ancient reader, not myth, and set up the covenant renewal that follows.

Main themes of Genesis 7

Genesis 7 (KJV)

1And 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. 2Of 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. 3Of fowls also of the air by sevens, the male and the 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 substance that I have made will I destroy from off the face of the earth. 5And Noah did according unto all that the LORD 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 fowls, and of every thing that creepeth upon the earth, 9There went in two and two unto Noah into the ark, the male and the female, as God had commanded Noah. 10And it came to pass after 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, 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. 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 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. 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 had commanded him: and the LORD shut him in. 17And 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. 18And the waters prevailed, and were 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 hills, 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 of fowl, and of cattle, and of beast, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, and every man: 22All in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land, died. 23And 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. 24And the waters prevailed upon the earth an hundred and fifty days.

Verses to carry from Genesis 7

“And Noah did according unto all that the LORD commanded him.”Genesis 7:5

“And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God had commanded him: and the LORD shut him in.”Genesis 7:16

“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.”Genesis 7:23

Reflection

Noah entered the ark and waited seven days before the first drop fell, trusting a word he could not yet see confirmed. Faith often means stepping into God's provision before the storm proves Him right. And when the door seems to close, remember it may be God Himself shutting you safely in.

A prayer from Genesis 7