Genesis 7:1-7

7:1 The Lord said to Noah, “Come into the ark, you and all your household, for I consider you godly among this generation. ¹  7:2 You must take with you seven ²  of every kind of clean animal, ³  the male and its mate, ⁴  two of every kind of unclean animal, the male and its mate, 7:3 and also seven ⁵  of every kind of bird in the sky, male and female, ⁶  to preserve their offspring ⁷  on the face of the earth. 7:4 For in seven days ⁸  I will cause it to rain ⁹  on the earth for forty days and forty nights, and I will wipe from the face of the ground every living thing that I have made.”

7:5 And Noah did all ¹⁰  that the Lord commanded him.

7:6 Noah ¹¹  was 600 years old when the floodwaters engulfed ¹²  the earth. 7:7 Noah entered the ark along with his sons, his wife, and his sons’ wives because ¹³  of the floodwaters.

Genesis 7:13

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. ¹⁴ 

Genesis 7:23

7:23 So the Lord ¹⁵  destroyed ¹⁶  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. ¹⁷  They were wiped off the earth. Only Noah and those who were with him in the ark survived. ¹⁸ 

Genesis 8:1

8:1 But God remembered ¹⁹  Noah and all the wild animals and domestic animals that were with him in the ark. God caused a wind to blow over ²⁰  the earth and the waters receded.

Genesis 8:18

8:18 Noah went out along with his sons, his wife, and his sons’ wives.

Matthew 7:14

7:14 But the gate is narrow and the way is difficult that leads to life, and there are few who find it.

Luke 12:32

12:32 “Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father is well pleased ²¹  to give you the kingdom.

Luke 13:24-25

13:24 “Exert every effort ²²  to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to. 13:25 Once ²³  the head of the house ²⁴  gets up ²⁵  and shuts the door, then you will stand outside and start to knock on the door and beg him, ‘Lord, ²⁶  let us in!’ ²⁷  But he will answer you, ²⁸  ‘I don’t know where you come from.’ ²⁹ 

Luke 13:2

13:2 He ³⁰  answered them, “Do you think these Galileans were worse sinners ³¹  than all the other Galileans, because they suffered these things?

Luke 2:5

2:5 He went ³²  to be registered with Mary, who was promised in marriage to him, ³³  and who was expecting a child.

[7:1]  ¹ tn Heb “for you I see [as] godly before me in this generation.” The direct object (“you”) is placed first in the clause to give it prominence. The verb “to see” here signifies God’s evaluative discernment.

[7:2]  ² tn Or “seven pairs” (cf. NRSV).

[7:2]  ³ sn For a study of the Levitical terminology of “clean” and “unclean,” see L. E. Toombs, IDB 1:643.

[7:2]  ⁴ 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.

[7:3]  ⁵ tn Or “seven pairs” (cf. NRSV).

[7:3]  ⁶ tn Here (and in v. 9) the Hebrew text uses the normal generic terms for “male and female” (זָכָר וּנְקֵבָה, zakhar unÿqevah).

[7:3]  ⁷ tn Heb “to keep alive offspring.”

[7:4]  ⁸ tn Heb “for seven days yet,” meaning “after [or “in”] seven days.”

[7:4]  ⁹ tn The Hiphil participle מַמְטִיר (mamtir, “cause to rain”) here expresses the certainty of the act in the imminent future.

[7:5]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “according to all.”

[7:6]  ¹¹ 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]  ¹² 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]  ¹³ tn The preposition מִן (min) is causal here, explaining why Noah and his family entered the ark.

[7:13]  ¹⁴ 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.”

[7:23]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “and he”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[7:23]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “wiped away” (cf. NRSV “blotted out”).

[7:23]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “from man to animal to creeping thing and to the bird of the sky.”

[7:23]  ¹⁸ tn 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.

[8:1]  ¹⁹ 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]  ²⁰ tn Heb “to pass over.”

[12:32]  ²¹ tn Or perhaps, “your Father chooses.”

[13:24]  ²² tn Or “Make every effort” (L&N 68.74; cf. NIV); “Do your best” (TEV); “Work hard” (NLT); Grk “Struggle.” The idea is to exert one’s maximum effort (cf. BDAG 17 s.v. ἀγωνίζομαι 2.b, “strain every nerve to enter”) because of the supreme importance of attaining entry into the kingdom of God.

[13:25]  ²³ tn The syntactical relationship between vv. 24-25 is disputed. The question turns on whether v. 25 is connected to v. 24 or not. A lack of a clear connective makes an independent idea more likely. However, one must then determine what the beginning of the sentence connects to. Though it makes for slightly awkward English, the translation has opted to connect it to “he will answer” so that this functions, in effect, as an apodosis. One could end the sentence after “us” and begin a new sentence with “He will answer” to make simpler sentences, although the connection between the two sentences is thereby less clear. The point of the passage, however, is clear. Once the door is shut, because one failed to come in through the narrow way, it is closed permanently. The moral: Do not be too late in deciding to respond.

[13:25]  ²⁴ tn Or “the master of the household.”

[13:25]  ²⁵ tn Or “rises,” or “stands up.”

[13:25]  ²⁶ tn Or “Sir.”

[13:25]  ²⁷ tn Grk “Open to us.”

[13:25]  ²⁸ tn Grk “and answering, he will say to you.” This is redundant in contemporary English and has been simplified to “he will answer you.”

[13:25]  ²⁹ sn For the imagery behind the statement “I do not know where you come from,” see Ps 138:6; Isa 63:16; Jer 1:5; Hos 5:3.

[13:2]  ³⁰ tn Grk “And he.” Here καί (kai) has been translated as “now” to indicate the transition to a new topic.

[13:2]  ³¹ sn Jesus did not want his hearers to think that tragedy was necessarily a judgment on these people because they were worse sinners.

[2:5]  ³² tn The words “He went” are not in the Greek text, but have been supplied to begin a new sentence in the translation. The Greek sentence is longer and more complex than normal contemporary English usage.

[2:5]  ³³ tn Traditionally, “Mary, his betrothed.” Although often rendered in contemporary English as “Mary, who was engaged to him,” this may give the modern reader a wrong impression, since Jewish marriages in this period were typically arranged marriages. The term ἐμνηστευμένῃ (emnhsteumenh) may suggest that the marriage is not yet consummated, not necessarily that they are not currently married. Some mss read “the betrothed to him wife”; others, simply “his wife.” These readings, though probably not original, may give the right sense.