Genesis 6:17-21

6:17 I am about to bring ¹  floodwaters ²  on the earth to destroy ³  from under the sky all the living creatures that have the breath of life in them. ⁴  Everything that is on the earth will die, 6:18 but I will confirm ⁵  my covenant with you. You will enter ⁶  the ark – you, your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives with you. 6:19 You must bring into the ark two of every kind of living creature from all flesh, ⁷  male and female, to keep them alive ⁸  with you. 6:20 Of the birds after their kinds, and of the cattle after their kinds, and of every creeping thing of the ground after its kind, two of every kind will come to you so you can keep them alive. ⁹  6:21 And you must take ¹⁰  for yourself every kind of food ¹¹  that is eaten, ¹²  and gather it together. ¹³  It will be food for you and for them.

[6:17]  ¹ tn The Hebrew construction uses the independent personal pronoun, followed by a suffixed form of הִנֵּה (hinneh, “look”) and the a participle used with an imminent future nuance: “As for me, look, I am going to bring.”

[6:17]  ² tn Heb “the flood, water.”

[6:17]  ³ tn The verb שָׁחָת (shakhat, “to destroy”) is repeated yet again, only now in an infinitival form expressing the purpose of the flood.

[6:17]  ⁴ tn The Hebrew construction here is different from the previous two; here it is רוּחַ חַיִּים (ruakh khayyim) rather than נֶפֶשׁ הַיָּה (nefesh khayyah) or נִשְׁמַת חַיִּים (nishmat khayyim). It refers to everything that breathes.

[6:18]  ⁵ tn The Hebrew verb וַהֲקִמֹתִי (vahaqimoti) is the Hiphil perfect with a vav (ו) consecutive (picking up the future sense from the participles) from קוּם (qum, “to rise up”). This may refer to the confirmation or fulfillment of an earlier promise, but it is more likely that it anticipates the unconditional promise made to humankind following the flood (see Gen 9:9, 11, 17).

[6:18]  ⁶ tn The perfect verb form with vav (ו) consecutive is best understood as specific future, continuing God’s description of what will happen (see vv. 17-18a).

[6:19]  ⁷ tn Heb “from all life, from all flesh, two from all you must bring.” The disjunctive clause at the beginning of the verse (note the conjunction with prepositional phrase, followed by two more prepositional phrases in apposition and then the imperfect verb form) signals a change in mood from announcement (vv. 17-18) to instruction.

[6:19]  ⁸ tn The Piel infinitive construct לְהַחֲיוֹת (lÿhakhayot, here translated as “to keep them alive”) shows the purpose of bringing the animals into the ark – saving life. The Piel of this verb means here “to preserve alive.”

[6:20]  ⁹ tn Heb “to keep alive.”

[6:21]  ¹⁰ tn The verb is a direct imperative: “And you, take for yourself.” The form stresses the immediate nature of the instruction; the pronoun underscores the directness.

[6:21]  ¹¹ tn Heb “from all food,” meaning “some of every kind of food.”

[6:21]  ¹² tn Or “will be eaten.”

[6:21]  ¹³ tn Heb “and gather it to you.”