Genesis 7:2-3

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

Genesis 7:8-9

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

Genesis 7:15-16

7:15 Pairs 10  of all creatures 11  that have the breath of life came into the ark to Noah. 7:16 Those that entered were male and female, 12  just as God commanded him. Then the Lord shut him in.

Genesis 8:17

8:17 Bring out with you all the living creatures that are with you. Bring out 13  every living thing, including the birds, animals, and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. Let them increase 14  and be fruitful and multiply on the earth!” 15 

Psalms 36:6

36:6 Your justice is like the highest mountains, 16 

your fairness like the deepest sea;

you preserve 17  mankind and the animal kingdom. 18 


tn Or “seven pairs” (cf. NRSV).

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

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.

tn Or “seven pairs” (cf. NRSV).

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

tn Heb “to keep alive offspring.”

tn Heb “two two” meaning “in twos.”

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.”

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

10 tn Heb “two two” meaning “in twos.”

11 tn Heb “flesh.”

12 tn Heb “Those that went in, male and female from all flesh they went in.”

13 tn The words “bring out” are not in the Hebrew text, but are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

14 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.

15 tn Heb “and let them swarm in the earth and be fruitful and multiply on the earth.”

16 tn Heb “mountains of God.” The divine name אֵל (’el, “God”) is here used in an idiomatic manner to indicate the superlative.

17 tn Or “deliver.”

18 sn God’s justice/fairness is firm and reliable like the highest mountains and as abundant as the water in the deepest sea. The psalmist uses a legal metaphor to describe God’s preservation of his creation. Like a just judge who vindicates the innocent, God protects his creation from destructive forces.