Genesis 7:2-3

7:2 You must take with you seven ¹  of every kind of clean animal, ²  the male and its mate, ³  two of every kind of unclean animal, the male and its mate, 7:3 and also seven ⁴  of every kind of bird in the sky, male and female, ⁵  to preserve their offspring ⁶  on the face of the earth.

Genesis 7:8-9

7:8 Pairs ⁷  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, ⁸  just as God had commanded him. ⁹ 

¹ tn Or “seven pairs” (cf. NRSV).

² sn For a study of the Levitical terminology of “clean” and “unclean,” see L. E. Toombs, IDB 1:643.

³ tn Heb “a male and his female” (also a second time at the end of this verse). The terms used here for male and female animals (אִישׁ, ’ish) and אִשָּׁה, ’ishah) normally refer to humans.

⁴ tn Or “seven pairs” (cf. NRSV).

⁵ tn Here (and in v. 9) the Hebrew text uses the normal generic terms for “male and female” (זָכָר וּנְקֵבָה, zakhar unÿqevah).

⁶ tn Heb “to keep alive offspring.”

⁷ tn Heb “two two” meaning “in twos.”

⁸ 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.”

⁹ tn Heb “Noah”; the pronoun has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons.