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 

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 

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.

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.