Genesis 7:21-23

7:21 And all living things¹ that moved on the earth died, including the birds, domestic animals, wild animals, all the creatures that swarm over the earth, and all humankind. 7:22 Everything on dry land that had the breath of life² in its nostrils died. 7:23 So the Lord³ destroyed⁴ every living thing that was on the surface of the ground, including people, animals, creatures that creep along the ground, and birds of the sky.⁵ They were wiped off the earth. Only Noah and those who were with him in the ark survived.⁶

Genesis 8:21-22

8:21 And the Lord smelled the soothing aroma⁷ and said⁸ to himself,⁹ “I will never again curse¹⁰ the ground because of humankind, even though¹¹ the inclination of their minds¹² is evil from childhood on.¹³ I will never again destroy everything that lives, as I have just done.

8:22 “While the earth continues to exist,¹⁴

planting time¹⁵ and harvest,

cold and heat,

summer and winter,

and day and night will not cease.”

Genesis 8:2

8:2 The fountains of the deep and the floodgates of heaven were closed,¹⁶ and the rain stopped falling from the sky.

Genesis 3:7

3:7 Then the eyes of both of them opened, and they knew they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.

Genesis 3:11

3:11 And the Lord God¹⁷ said, “Who told you that you were naked?¹⁸ Did you eat from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”¹⁹

¹tn Heb “flesh.”

²tn Heb “everything which [has] the breath of the spirit of life in its nostrils from all which is in the dry land.”

³tn Heb “and he”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁴tn Heb “wiped away” (cf. NRSV “blotted out”).

⁵tn Heb “from man to animal to creeping thing and to the bird of the sky.”

⁶tn The Hebrew verb שָׁאָר (sha’ar) means “to be left over; to survive” in the Niphal verb stem. It is the word used in later biblical texts for the remnant that escapes judgment. See G. F. Hasel, “Semantic Values of Derivatives of the Hebrew Root só’r,” AUSS 11 (1973): 152-69.

⁷tn The Lord “smelled” (וַיָּרַח, vayyarakh) a “soothing smell” (רֵיחַ הַנִּיהֹחַ, reakh hannihoakh). The object forms a cognate accusative with the verb. The language is anthropomorphic. The offering had a sweet aroma that pleased or soothed. The expression in Lev 1 signifies that God accepts the offering with pleasure, and in accepting the offering he accepts the worshiper.

⁸tn Heb “and the Lord said.”

⁹tn Heb “in his heart.”

¹⁰tn Here the Hebrew word translated “curse” is קָלָל (qalal), used in the Piel verbal stem.

¹¹tn The Hebrew particle כִּי (ki) can be used in a concessive sense (see BDB 473 s.v. כִּי), which makes good sense in this context. Its normal causal sense (“for”) does not fit the context here very well.

¹²tn Heb “the inclination of the heart of humankind.”

¹³tn Heb “from his youth.”

¹⁴tn Heb “yet all the days of the earth.” The idea is “[while there are] yet all the days of the earth,” meaning, “as long as the earth exists.”

¹⁵tn Heb “seed,” which stands here by metonymy for the time when seed is planted.

¹⁶tn 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.

¹⁷tn Heb “and he said.” The referent (the Lord God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹⁸sn Who told you that you were naked? This is another rhetorical question, asking more than what it appears to ask. The second question in the verse reveals the Lord God’s real concern.

¹⁹sn The Hebrew word order (“Did you from the tree – which I commanded you not to eat from it – eat?”) is arranged to emphasize that the man’s and the woman’s eating of the fruit was an act of disobedience. The relative clause inserted immediately after the reference to the tree brings out this point very well.