Kejadian 6:9-22

The Judgment of the Flood

6:9 This is the account of Noah. ¹ 

Noah was a godly man; he was blameless ² 

among his contemporaries. ³  He ⁴  walked with ⁵  God. 6:10 Noah had ⁶  three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

6:11 The earth was ruined ⁷  in the sight of ⁸  God; the earth was filled with violence. ⁹  6:12 God saw the earth, and indeed ¹⁰  it was ruined, ¹¹  for all living creatures ¹²  on the earth were sinful. ¹³  6:13 So God said ¹⁴  to Noah, “I have decided that all living creatures must die, ¹⁵  for the earth is filled with violence because of them. Now I am about to destroy ¹⁶  them and the earth. 6:14 Make ¹⁷  for yourself an ark of cypress ¹⁸  wood. Make rooms in the ark, and cover ¹⁹  it with pitch inside and out. 6:15 This is how you should make it: The ark is to be 450 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet high. ²⁰  6:16 Make a roof for the ark and finish it, leaving 18 inches ²¹  from the top. ²²  Put a door in the side of the ark, and make lower, middle, and upper decks. 6:17 I am about to bring ²³  floodwaters ²⁴  on the earth to destroy ²⁵  from under the sky all the living creatures that have the breath of life in them. ²⁶  Everything that is on the earth will die, 6:18 but I will confirm ²⁷  my covenant with you. You will enter ²⁸  the ark – you, your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives with you. 6:19 You must bring into the ark two of every kind of living creature from all flesh, ²⁹  male and female, to keep them alive ³⁰  with you. 6:20 Of the birds after their kinds, and of the cattle after their kinds, and of every creeping thing of the ground after its kind, two of every kind will come to you so you can keep them alive. ³¹  6:21 And you must take ³²  for yourself every kind of food ³³  that is eaten, ³⁴  and gather it together. ³⁵  It will be food for you and for them.

6:22 And Noah did all ³⁶  that God commanded him – he did indeed. ³⁷ 

Kejadian 7:6-11

7:6 Noah ³⁸  was 600 years old when the floodwaters engulfed ³⁹  the earth. 7:7 Noah entered the ark along with his sons, his wife, and his sons’ wives because ⁴⁰  of the floodwaters. 7:8 Pairs ⁴¹  of clean animals, of unclean animals, of birds, and of everything that creeps along the ground, 7:9 male and female, came into the ark to Noah, ⁴²  just as God had commanded him. ⁴³  7:10 And after seven days the floodwaters engulfed the earth. ⁴⁴ 

7:11 In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month – on that day all the fountains of the great deep ⁴⁵  burst open and the floodgates of the heavens ⁴⁶  were opened.

Kejadian 7:13-16

7:13 On that very day Noah entered the ark, accompanied by his sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth, along with his wife and his sons’ three wives. ⁴⁷  7:14 They entered, ⁴⁸  along with every living creature after its kind, every animal after its kind, every creeping thing that creeps on the earth after its kind, and every bird after its kind, everything with wings. ⁴⁹  7:15 Pairs ⁵⁰  of all creatures ⁵¹  that have the breath of life came into the ark to Noah. 7:16 Those that entered were male and female, ⁵²  just as God commanded him. Then the Lord shut him in.

Kejadian 7:18-21

7:18 The waters completely overwhelmed ⁵³  the earth, and the ark floated ⁵⁴  on the surface of the waters. 7:19 The waters completely inundated ⁵⁵  the earth so that even ⁵⁶  all the high mountains under the entire sky were covered. 7:20 The waters rose more than twenty feet ⁵⁷  above the mountains. ⁵⁸  7:21 And all living things ⁵⁹  that moved on the earth died, including the birds, domestic animals, wild animals, all the creatures that swarm over the earth, and all humankind.

Kejadian 7:24--8:5

7:24 The waters prevailed over ⁶⁰  the earth for 150 days.

8:1 But God remembered ⁶¹  Noah and all the wild animals and domestic animals that were with him in the ark. God caused a wind to blow over ⁶²  the earth and the waters receded. 8:2 The fountains of the deep and the floodgates of heaven were closed, ⁶³  and the rain stopped falling from the sky. 8:3 The waters kept receding steadily ⁶⁴  from the earth, so that they ⁶⁵  had gone down ⁶⁶  by the end of the 150 days. 8:4 On the seventeenth day of the seventh month, the ark came to rest on one of the mountains of Ararat. ⁶⁷  8:5 The waters kept on receding ⁶⁸  until the tenth month. On the first day of the tenth month, the tops of the mountains became visible. ⁶⁹ 

Kejadian 8:13-19

8:13 In Noah’s six hundred and first year, ⁷⁰  in the first day of the first month, the waters had dried up from the earth, and Noah removed the covering from the ark and saw that ⁷¹  the surface of the ground was dry. 8:14 And by the twenty-seventh day of the second month the earth ⁷²  was dry.

8:15 Then God spoke to Noah and said, 8:16 “Come out of the ark, you, your wife, your sons, and your sons’ wives with you. 8:17 Bring out with you all the living creatures that are with you. Bring out ⁷³  every living thing, including the birds, animals, and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. Let them increase ⁷⁴  and be fruitful and multiply on the earth!” ⁷⁵ 

8:18 Noah went out along with his sons, his wife, and his sons’ wives. 8:19 Every living creature, every creeping thing, every bird, and everything that moves on the earth went out of the ark in their groups.

Kejadian 9:1-17

God’s Covenant with Humankind through Noah

9:1 Then God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. 9:2 Every living creature of the earth and every bird of the sky will be terrified of you. ⁷⁶  Everything that creeps on the ground and all the fish of the sea are under your authority. ⁷⁷  9:3 You may eat any moving thing that lives. ⁷⁸  As I gave you ⁷⁹  the green plants, I now give ⁸⁰  you everything.

9:4 But ⁸¹  you must not eat meat ⁸²  with its life (that is, ⁸³  its blood) in it. ⁸⁴  9:5 For your lifeblood ⁸⁵  I will surely exact punishment, ⁸⁶  from ⁸⁷  every living creature I will exact punishment. From each person ⁸⁸  I will exact punishment for the life of the individual ⁸⁹  since the man was his relative. ⁹⁰ 

9:6 “Whoever sheds human blood, ⁹¹ 

by other humans ⁹² 

must his blood be shed;

for in God’s image ⁹³ 

God ⁹⁴  has made humankind.”

9:7 But as for you, ⁹⁵  be fruitful and multiply; increase abundantly on the earth and multiply on it.”

9:8 God said to Noah and his sons, ⁹⁶  9:9 “Look! I now confirm ⁹⁷  my covenant with you and your descendants after you ⁹⁸  9:10 and with every living creature that is with you, including the birds, the domestic animals, and every living creature of the earth with you, all those that came out of the ark with you – every living creature of the earth. ⁹⁹  9:11 I confirm ¹⁰⁰  my covenant with you: Never again will all living things ¹⁰¹  be wiped out ¹⁰²  by the waters of a flood; ¹⁰³  never again will a flood destroy the earth.”

9:12 And God said, “This is the guarantee ¹⁰⁴  of the covenant I am making ¹⁰⁵  with you ¹⁰⁶  and every living creature with you, a covenant ¹⁰⁷  for all subsequent ¹⁰⁸  generations: 9:13 I will place ¹⁰⁹  my rainbow ¹¹⁰  in the clouds, and it will become ¹¹¹  a guarantee of the covenant between me and the earth. 9:14 Whenever ¹¹²  I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, 9:15 then I will remember my covenant with you ¹¹³  and with all living creatures of all kinds. ¹¹⁴  Never again will the waters become a flood and destroy ¹¹⁵  all living things. ¹¹⁶  9:16 When the rainbow is in the clouds, I will notice it and remember ¹¹⁷  the perpetual covenant between God and all living creatures of all kinds that are on the earth.”

9:17 So God said to Noah, “This is the guarantee of the covenant that I am confirming between me and all living things ¹¹⁸  that are on the earth.”

[6:9]  ¹ sn There is a vast body of scholarly literature about the flood story. The following studies are particularly helpful: A. Heidel, The Gilgamesh Epic and the Old Testament Parallels; M. Kessler, “Rhetorical Criticism of Genesis 7,” Rhetorical Criticism: Essays in Honor of James Muilenburg (PTMS), 1-17; I. M. Kikawada and A. Quinn, Before Abraham Was; A. R. Millard, “A New Babylonian ‘Genesis Story’,” TynBul 18 (1967): 3-18; G. J. Wenham, “The Coherence of the Flood Narrative,” VT 28 (1978): 336-48.

[6:9]  ² tn The Hebrew term תָּמִים (tamim, “blameless”) is used of men in Gen 17:1 (associated with the idiom “walk before,” which means “maintain a proper relationship with,” see 24:40); Deut 18:13 (where it means “blameless” in the sense of not guilty of the idolatrous practices listed before this; see Josh 24:14); Pss 18:23, 26 (“blameless” in the sense of not having violated God’s commands); 37:18 (in contrast to the wicked); 101:2, 6 (in contrast to proud, deceitful slanderers; see 15:2); Prov 2:21; 11:5 (in contrast to the wicked); 28:10; Job 12:4.

[6:9]  ³ tn Heb “Noah was a godly man, blameless in his generations.” The singular “generation” can refer to one’s contemporaries, i.e., those living at a particular point in time. The plural “generations” can refer to successive generations in the past or the future. Here, where it is qualified by “his” (i.e., Noah’s), it refers to Noah’s contemporaries, comprised of the preceding generation (his father’s generation), those of Noah’s generation, and the next generation (those the same age as his children). In other words, “his generations” means the generations contemporary with him. See BDB 190 s.v. דוֹר.

[6:9]  ⁴ tn Heb “Noah.” The proper name has been replaced with the pronoun in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[6:9]  ⁵ tn The construction translated “walked with” is used in Gen 5:22, 24 (see the note on this phrase in 5:22) and in 1 Sam 25:15, where it refers to David’s and Nabal’s men “rubbing shoulders” in the fields. Based on the use in 1 Sam 25:15, the expression seems to mean “live in close proximity to,” which may, by metonymy, mean “maintain cordial relations with.”

[6:10]  ⁶ tn Heb “fathered.”

[6:11]  ⁷ tn Apart from Gen 6:11-12, the Niphal form of this verb occurs in Exod 8:20 HT (8:24 ET), where it describes the effect of the swarms of flies on the land of Egypt; Jer 13:7 and 18:4, where it is used of a “ruined” belt and “marred” clay pot, respectively; and Ezek 20:44, where it describes Judah’s morally “corrupt” actions. The sense “morally corrupt” fits well in Gen 6:11 because of the parallelism (note “the earth was filled with violence”). In this case “earth” would stand by metonymy for its sinful inhabitants. However, the translation “ruined” works just as well, if not better. In this case humankind’s sin is viewed has having an adverse effect upon the earth. Note that vv. 12b-13 make a distinction between the earth and the living creatures who live on it.

[6:11]  ⁸ tn Heb “before.”

[6:11]  ⁹ tn The Hebrew word translated “violence” refers elsewhere to a broad range of crimes, including unjust treatment (Gen 16:5; Amos 3:10), injurious legal testimony (Deut 19:16), deadly assault (Gen 49:5), murder (Judg 9:24), and rape (Jer 13:22).

[6:12]  ¹⁰ tn Or “God saw how corrupt the earth was.”

[6:12]  ¹¹ tn The repetition in the text (see v. 11) emphasizes the point.

[6:12]  ¹² tn Heb “flesh.” Since moral corruption is in view here, most modern western interpreters understand the referent to be humankind. However, the phrase “all flesh” is used consistently of humankind and the animals in Gen 6-9 (6:17, 19; 7:15-16, 21; 8:17; 9:11, 15-17), suggesting that the author intends to picture all living creatures, humankind and animals, as guilty of moral failure. This would explain why the animals, not just humankind, are victims of the ensuing divine judgment. The OT sometimes views animals as morally culpable (Gen 9:5; Exod 21:28-29; Jonah 3:7-8). The OT also teaches that a person’s sin can contaminate others (people and animals) in the sinful person’s sphere (see the story of Achan, especially Josh 7:10). So the animals could be viewed here as morally contaminated because of their association with sinful humankind.

[6:12]  ¹³ tn Heb “had corrupted its way.” The third masculine singular pronominal suffix on “way” refers to the collective “all flesh.” The construction “corrupt one’s way” occurs only here (though Ezek 16:47 uses the Hiphil in an intransitive sense with the preposition בְּ [bet, “in”] followed by “ways”). The Hiphil of שָׁחָת (shakhat) means “to ruin, to destroy, to corrupt,” often as here in a moral/ethical sense. The Hebrew term דֶּרֶךְ (derekh, “way”) here refers to behavior or moral character, a sense that it frequently carries (see BDB 203 s.v. דֶּרֶךְ 6.a).

[6:13]  ¹⁴ sn On the divine style utilized here, see R. Lapointe, “The Divine Monologue as a Channel of Revelation,” CBQ 32 (1970): 161-81.

[6:13]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “the end of all flesh is coming [or “has come”] before me.” (The verb form is either a perfect or a participle.) The phrase “end of all flesh” occurs only here. The term “end” refers here to the end of “life,” as v. 3 and the following context (which describes how God destroys all flesh) make clear. The statement “the end has come” occurs in Ezek 7:2, 6, where it is used of divine judgment. The phrase “come before” occurs in Exod 28:30, 35; 34:34; Lev 15:14; Num 27:17; 1 Sam 18:13, 16; 2 Sam 19:8; 20:8; 1 Kgs 1:23, 28, 32; Ezek 46:9; Pss 79:11 (groans come before God); 88:3 (a prayer comes before God); 100:2; 119:170 (prayer comes before God); Lam 1:22 (evil doing comes before God); Esth 1:19; 8:1; 9:25; 1 Chr 16:29. The expression often means “have an audience with” or “appear before.” But when used metaphorically, it can mean “get the attention of” or “prompt a response.” This is probably the sense in Gen 6:13. The necessity of ending the life of all flesh on earth is an issue that has gotten the attention of God. The term “end” may even be a metonymy for that which has prompted it – violence (see the following clause).

[6:13]  ¹⁶ tn The participle, especially after הִנֵּה (hinneh) has an imminent future nuance. The Hiphil of שָׁחָת (shakhat) here has the sense “to destroy” (in judgment). Note the wordplay involving this verb in vv. 11-13: The earth is “ruined” because all flesh has acted in a morally “corrupt” manner. Consequently, God will “destroy” all flesh (the referent of the suffix “them”) along with the ruined earth. They had ruined themselves and the earth with violence, and now God would ruin them with judgment. For other cases where “earth” occurs as the object of the Hiphil of שָׁחָת, see 1 Sam 6:5; 1 Chr 20:1; Jer 36:29; 51:25.

[6:14]  ¹⁷ sn The Hebrew verb is an imperative. A motif of this section is that Noah did as the Lord commanded him – he was obedient. That obedience had to come from faith in the word of the Lord. So the theme of obedience to God’s word is prominent in this prologue to the law.

[6:14]  ¹⁸ tn A transliteration of the Hebrew term yields “gopher (גֹּפֶר, gofer) wood” (so KJV, NAB, NASB). While the exact nature of the wood involved is uncertain (cf. NLT “resinous wood”), many modern translations render the Hebrew term as “cypress” (so NEB, NIV, NRSV).

[6:14]  ¹⁹ tn The Hebrew term כָּפָר (kafar, “to cover, to smear” [= to caulk]) appears here in the Qal stem with its primary, nonmetaphorical meaning. The Piel form כִּפֶּר (kipper), which has the metaphorical meaning “to atone, to expiate, to pacify,” is used in Levitical texts (see HALOT 493-94 s.v. כפר). Some authorities regard the form in v. 14 as a homonym of the much more common Levitical term (see BDB 498 s.v. כָּפָר).

[6:15]  ²⁰ tn Heb “300 cubits long, 50 cubits wide, and 30 cubits high.” The standard cubit in the OT is assumed by most authorities to be about 18 inches (45 cm) long.

[6:16]  ²¹ tn Heb “a cubit.”

[6:16]  ²² tn Heb “to a cubit you shall finish it from above.” The idea is that Noah was to leave an 18-inch opening from the top for a window for light.

[6:17]  ²³ tn The Hebrew construction uses the independent personal pronoun, followed by a suffixed form of הִנֵּה (hinneh, “look”) and the a participle used with an imminent future nuance: “As for me, look, I am going to bring.”

[6:17]  ²⁴ tn Heb “the flood, water.”

[6:17]  ²⁵ tn The verb שָׁחָת (shakhat, “to destroy”) is repeated yet again, only now in an infinitival form expressing the purpose of the flood.

[6:17]  ²⁶ tn The Hebrew construction here is different from the previous two; here it is רוּחַ חַיִּים (ruakh khayyim) rather than נֶפֶשׁ הַיָּה (nefesh khayyah) or נִשְׁמַת חַיִּים (nishmat khayyim). It refers to everything that breathes.

[6:18]  ²⁷ tn The Hebrew verb וַהֲקִמֹתִי (vahaqimoti) is the Hiphil perfect with a vav (ו) consecutive (picking up the future sense from the participles) from קוּם (qum, “to rise up”). This may refer to the confirmation or fulfillment of an earlier promise, but it is more likely that it anticipates the unconditional promise made to humankind following the flood (see Gen 9:9, 11, 17).

[6:18]  ²⁸ tn The perfect verb form with vav (ו) consecutive is best understood as specific future, continuing God’s description of what will happen (see vv. 17-18a).

[6:19]  ²⁹ tn Heb “from all life, from all flesh, two from all you must bring.” The disjunctive clause at the beginning of the verse (note the conjunction with prepositional phrase, followed by two more prepositional phrases in apposition and then the imperfect verb form) signals a change in mood from announcement (vv. 17-18) to instruction.

[6:19]  ³⁰ tn The Piel infinitive construct לְהַחֲיוֹת (lÿhakhayot, here translated as “to keep them alive”) shows the purpose of bringing the animals into the ark – saving life. The Piel of this verb means here “to preserve alive.”

[6:20]  ³¹ tn Heb “to keep alive.”

[6:21]  ³² tn The verb is a direct imperative: “And you, take for yourself.” The form stresses the immediate nature of the instruction; the pronoun underscores the directness.

[6:21]  ³³ tn Heb “from all food,” meaning “some of every kind of food.”

[6:21]  ³⁴ tn Or “will be eaten.”

[6:21]  ³⁵ tn Heb “and gather it to you.”

[6:22]  ³⁶ tn Heb “according to all.”

[6:22]  ³⁷ tn The last clause seems redundant: “and thus (כֵּן, ken) he did.” It underscores the obedience of Noah to all that God had said.

[7:6]  ³⁸ tn Heb “Now Noah was.” The disjunctive clause (conjunction + subject + predicate nominative after implied “to be” verb) provides background information. The age of Noah receives prominence.

[7:6]  ³⁹ tn Heb “and the flood was water upon.” The disjunctive clause (conjunction + subject + verb) is circumstantial/temporal in relation to the preceding clause. The verb הָיָה (hayah) here carries the nuance “to come” (BDB 225 s.v. הָיָה). In this context the phrase “come upon” means “to engulf.”

[7:7]  ⁴⁰ tn The preposition מִן (min) is causal here, explaining why Noah and his family entered the ark.

[7:8]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “two two” meaning “in twos.”

[7:9]  ⁴² tn The Hebrew text of vv. 8-9a reads, “From the clean animal[s] and from the animal[s] which are not clean and from the bird[s] and everything that creeps on the ground, two two they came to Noah to the ark, male and female.”

[7:9]  ⁴³ tn Heb “Noah”; the pronoun has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[7:10]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “came upon.”

[7:11]  ⁴⁵ tn The Hebrew term תְּהוֹם (tÿhom, “deep”) refers to the watery deep, the salty ocean – especially the primeval ocean that surrounds and underlies the earth (see Gen 1:2).

[7:11]  sn The watery deep. The same Hebrew term used to describe the watery deep in Gen 1:2 (תְּהוֹם, tihom) appears here. The text seems to picture here subterranean waters coming from under the earth and contributing to the rapid rise of water. The significance seems to be, among other things, that in this judgment God was returning the world to its earlier condition of being enveloped with water – a judgment involving the reversal of creation. On Gen 7:11 see G. F. Hasel, “The Fountains of the Great Deep,” Origins 1 (1974): 67-72; idem, “The Biblical View of the Extent of the Flood,” Origins 2 (1975): 77-95.

[7:11]  ⁴⁶ sn On the prescientific view of the sky reflected here, see L. I. J. Stadelmann, The Hebrew Conception of the World (AnBib), 46.

[7:13]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “On that very day Noah entered, and Shem and Ham and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and the wife of Noah, and the three wives of his sons with him into the ark.”

[7:14]  ⁴⁸ tn The verb “entered” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[7:14]  ⁴⁹ tn Heb “every bird, every wing.”

[7:15]  ⁵⁰ tn Heb “two two” meaning “in twos.”

[7:15]  ⁵¹ tn Heb “flesh.”

[7:16]  ⁵² tn Heb “Those that went in, male and female from all flesh they went in.”

[7:18]  ⁵³ tn Heb “and the waters were great and multiplied exceedingly.” The first verb in the sequence is וַיִּגְבְּרוּ (vayyigbÿru, from גָּבַר, gavar), meaning “to become great, mighty.” The waters did not merely rise; they “prevailed” over the earth, overwhelming it.

[7:18]  ⁵⁴ tn Heb “went.”

[7:19]  ⁵⁵ tn Heb “and the waters were great exceedingly, exceedingly.” The repetition emphasizes the depth of the waters.

[7:19]  ⁵⁶ tn Heb “and.”

[7:20]  ⁵⁷ tn Heb “rose fifteen cubits.” Since a cubit is considered by most authorities to be about eighteen inches, this would make the depth 22.5 feet. This figure might give the modern reader a false impression of exactness, however, so in the translation the phrase “fifteen cubits” has been rendered “more than twenty feet.”

[7:20]  ⁵⁸ tn Heb “the waters prevailed fifteen cubits upward and they covered the mountains.” Obviously, a flood of twenty feet did not cover the mountains; the statement must mean the flood rose about twenty feet above the highest mountain.

[7:21]  ⁵⁹ tn Heb “flesh.”

[7:24]  ⁶⁰ sn The Hebrew verb translated “prevailed over” suggests that the waters were stronger than the earth. The earth and everything in it were no match for the return of the chaotic deep.

[8:1]  ⁶¹ tn The Hebrew word translated “remembered” often carries the sense of acting in accordance with what is remembered, i.e., fulfilling covenant promises (see B. S. Childs, Memory and Tradition in Israel [SBT], especially p. 34).

[8:1]  ⁶² tn Heb “to pass over.”

[8:2]  ⁶³ tn Some (e.g., NIV) translate the preterite verb forms in this verse as past perfects (e.g., “had been closed”), for it seems likely that the sources of the water would have stopped before the waters receded.

[8:3]  ⁶⁴ tn The construction combines a Qal preterite from שׁוּב (shuv) with its infinitive absolute to indicate continuous action. The infinitive absolute from הָלָךְ (halakh) is included for emphasis: “the waters returned…going and returning.”

[8:3]  ⁶⁵ tn Heb “the waters.” The pronoun (“they”) has been employed in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[8:3]  ⁶⁶ tn The vav (ו) consecutive with the preterite here describes the consequence of the preceding action.

[8:4]  ⁶⁷ tn Heb “on the mountains of Ararat.” Obviously a boat (even one as large as the ark) cannot rest on multiple mountains. Perhaps (1) the preposition should be translated “among,” or (2) the plural “mountains” should be understood in the sense of “mountain range” (see E. A. Speiser, Genesis [AB], 53). A more probable option (3) is that the plural indicates an indefinite singular, translated “one of the mountains” (see GKC 400 §124.o).

[8:4]  sn Ararat is the Hebrew name for Urartu, the name of a mountainous region located north of Mesopotamia in modern day eastern Turkey. See E. M. Yamauchi, Foes from the Northern Frontier (SBA), 29-32; G. J. Wenham, Genesis (WBC), 1:184-85; C. Westermann, Genesis, 1:443-44.

[8:5]  ⁶⁸ tn Heb “the waters were going and lessening.” The perfect verb form הָיָה (hayah) is used as an auxiliary verb with the infinitive absolute חָסוֹר (khasor, “lessening”), while the infinitive absolute הָלוֹךְ (halokh) indicates continuous action.

[8:5]  ⁶⁹ tn Or “could be seen.”

[8:13]  ⁷⁰ tn Heb In the six hundred and first year.” Since this refers to the six hundred and first year of Noah’s life, the word “Noah’s” has been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[8:13]  ⁷¹ tn Heb “and saw and look.” As in v. 11, the deictic particle הִנֵּה (hinneh) invites readers to enter into the story, as it were, and look at the dry ground with their own eyes.

[8:14]  ⁷² tn In v. 13 the ground (הָאֲדָמָה, ha’adamah) is dry; now the earth (הָאָרֶץ, ha’arets) is dry.

[8:17]  ⁷³ tn The words “bring out” are not in the Hebrew text, but are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[8:17]  ⁷⁴ tn Following the Hiphil imperative, “bring out,” the three perfect verb forms with vav (ו) consecutive carry an imperatival nuance. For a discussion of the Hebrew construction here and the difficulty of translating it into English, see S. R. Driver, A Treatise on the Use of the Tenses in Hebrew, 124-25.

[8:17]  ⁷⁵ tn Heb “and let them swarm in the earth and be fruitful and multiply on the earth.”

[9:2]  ⁷⁶ tn Heb “and fear of you and dread of you will be upon every living creature of the earth and upon every bird of the sky.” The suffixes on the nouns “fear” and “dread” are objective genitives. The animals will fear humans from this time forward.

[9:2]  ⁷⁷ tn Heb “into your hand are given.” The “hand” signifies power. To say the animals have been given into the hands of humans means humans have been given authority over them.

[9:3]  ⁷⁸ tn Heb “every moving thing that lives for you will be for food.”

[9:3]  ⁷⁹ tn The words “I gave you” are not in the Hebrew text, but are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[9:3]  ⁸⁰ tn The perfect verb form describes the action that accompanies the declaration.

[9:4]  ⁸¹ tn Heb “only.”

[9:4]  ⁸² tn Or “flesh.”

[9:4]  ⁸³ tn Heb “its life, its blood.” The second word is in apposition to the first, explaining what is meant by “its life.” Since the blood is equated with life, meat that had the blood in it was not to be eaten.

[9:4]  ⁸⁴ tn The words “in it” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[9:4]  sn You must not eat meat with its life…in it. Because of the carnage produced by the flood, people might conclude that life is cheap and therefore treat it lightly. But God will not permit them to kill or even to eat anything with the lifeblood still in it, serving as a reminder of the sanctity of life.

[9:5]  ⁸⁵ tn Again the text uses apposition to clarify what kind of blood is being discussed: “your blood, [that is] for your life.” See C. L. Dewar, “The Biblical Use of the Term ‘Blood,’” JTS 4 (1953): 204-8.

[9:5]  ⁸⁶ tn The word “punishment” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarification. The verb דָּרָשׁ (darash) means “to require, to seek, to ask for, to exact.” Here it means that God will exact punishment for the taking of a life. See R. Mawdsley, “Capital Punishment in Gen. 9:6,” CentBib 18 (1975): 20-25.

[9:5]  ⁸⁷ tn Heb “from the hand of,” which means “out of the hand of” or “out of the power of” and is nearly identical in sense to the preposition מִן (min) alone.

[9:5]  ⁸⁸ tn Heb “and from the hand of the man.” The article has a generic function, indicating the class, i.e., humankind.

[9:5]  ⁸⁹ tn Heb “of the man.”

[9:5]  ⁹⁰ tn Heb “from the hand of a man, his brother.” The point is that God will require the blood of someone who kills, since the person killed is a relative (“brother”) of the killer. The language reflects Noah’s situation (after the flood everyone would be part of Noah’s extended family), but also supports the concept of the brotherhood of humankind. According to the Genesis account the entire human race descended from Noah.

[9:6]  ⁹¹ tn Heb “the blood of man.”

[9:6]  ⁹² tn Heb “by man,” a generic term here for other human beings.

[9:6]  ⁹³ sn See the notes on the words “humankind” and “likeness” in Gen 1:26, as well as J. Barr, “The Image of God in the Book of Genesis – A Study of Terminology,” BJRL 51 (1968/69): 11-26.

[9:6]  ⁹⁴ tn Heb “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[9:7]  ⁹⁵ sn The disjunctive clause (conjunction + pronominal subject + verb) here indicates a strong contrast to what has preceded. Against the backdrop of the warnings about taking life, God now instructs the people to produce life, using terms reminiscent of the mandate given to Adam (Gen 1:28).

[9:8]  ⁹⁶ tn Heb “to Noah and to his sons with him, saying.”

[9:9]  ⁹⁷ tn Heb “I, look, I confirm.” The particle הִנְנִי (hinni) used with the participle מֵקִים (meqim) gives the sense of immediacy or imminence, as if to say, “Look! I am now confirming.”

[9:9]  ⁹⁸ tn The three pronominal suffixes (translated “you,” “your,” and “you”) are masculine plural. As v. 8 indicates, Noah and his sons are addressed.

[9:10]  ⁹⁹ tn The verbal repetition is apparently for emphasis.

[9:11]  ¹⁰⁰ tn The verb וַהֲקִמֹתִי (vahaqimoti) is a perfect with the vav (ו) consecutive and should be translated with the English present tense, just as the participle at the beginning of the speech was (v. 9). Another option is to translate both forms with the English future tense (“I will confirm”).

[9:11]  ¹⁰¹ tn Heb “all flesh.”

[9:11]  ¹⁰² tn Heb “cut off.”

[9:11]  ¹⁰³ tn Heb “and all flesh will not be cut off again by the waters of the flood.”

[9:12]  ¹⁰⁴ tn Heb “sign.”

[9:12]  ¹⁰⁵ sn On the making of covenants in Genesis, see W. F. Albright, “The Hebrew Expression for ‘Making a Covenant’ in Pre-Israelite Documents,” BASOR 121 (1951): 21-22.

[9:12]  ¹⁰⁶ tn Heb “between me and between you.”

[9:12]  ¹⁰⁷ tn The words “a covenant” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[9:12]  ¹⁰⁸ tn The Hebrew term עוֹלָם (’olam) means “ever, forever, lasting, perpetual.” The covenant would extend to subsequent generations.

[9:13]  ¹⁰⁹ tn The translation assumes that the perfect verbal form is used rhetorically, emphasizing the certainty of the action. Other translation options include “I have placed” (present perfect; cf. NIV, NRSV) and “I place” (instantaneous perfect; cf. NEB).

[9:13]  ¹¹⁰ sn The Hebrew word קֶשֶׁת (qeshet) normally refers to a warrior’s bow. Some understand this to mean that God the warrior hangs up his battle bow at the end of the flood, indicating he is now at peace with humankind, but others question the legitimacy of this proposal. See C. Westermann, Genesis, 1:473, and G. J. Wenham, Genesis (WBC), 1:196.

[9:13]  ¹¹¹ tn The perfect verbal form with vav (ו) consecutive here has the same aspectual function as the preceding perfect of certitude.

[9:14]  ¹¹² tn The temporal indicator (וְהָיָה, vÿhayah, conjunction + the perfect verb form), often translated “it will be,” anticipates a future development.

[9:15]  ¹¹³ tn Heb “which [is] between me and between you.”

[9:15]  ¹¹⁴ tn Heb “all flesh.”

[9:15]  ¹¹⁵ tn Heb “to destroy.”

[9:15]  ¹¹⁶ tn Heb “all flesh.”

[9:16]  ¹¹⁷ tn The translation assumes that the infinitive לִזְכֹּר (lizkor, “to remember”) here expresses the result of seeing the rainbow. Another option is to understand it as indicating purpose, in which case it could be translated, “I will look at it so that I may remember.”

[9:17]  ¹¹⁸ tn Heb “all flesh.”