Genesis 7:1 - Printer Friendly

ESV: Then the Lord said to Noah, "Go into the ark, you and all your household, for I have seen that you are righteous before me in this generation.

NIV: The Lord then said to Noah, "Go into the ark, you and your whole family, because I have found you righteous in this generation.

NASB: Then the Lord said to Noah, 'Enter the ark, you and all your household, for you alone I have seen to be righteous before Me in this generation.

CSB: Then the Lord said to Noah, "Enter the ark, you and all your household, for I have seen that you alone are righteous before me in this generation.

NLT: When everything was ready, the Lord said to Noah, 'Go into the boat with all your family, for among all the people of the earth, I can see that you alone are righteous.

KJV: And the Lord said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation.

NKJV: Then the Lord said to Noah, “Come into the ark, you and all your household, because I have seen that you are righteous before Me in this generation.

A common theme of the book of Genesis is the fact that God "sees." God observes what is true and acts on it. In Genesis 1, He saw what He had made was good. In the previous chapter, He saw all the wickedness which man's sinfulness had made on the earth (Genesis 6:5).

Now God says He has seen Noah's righteousness. Specifically, God has noticed the contrast between Noah's choices and those of his generation. Throughout Scripture, God calls His people not to allow their peers, culture, or the moral standards of their times to set the direction of their lives. Instead, He calls His people to be committed to obeying Him. Noah did that. The last verse of the prior chapter specifically says that Noah obeyed all that God told him, exactly as it was told him (Genesis 6:22).

Now that Noah has obeyed God by building the ark according to the Lord's specifications, God commands Noah to take his family into the boat to be saved from the coming flood while the rest of his generation remains unprotected.

Genesis 7:1–10 confirms that Noah fulfilled all that he was commanded in chapter 6. In addition to the two pairs of all animals, Noah is also told to bring seven (total) pairs of ''clean'' animals, most likely for sacrificial purposes. God gives Noah a last-minute warning of the coming flood. As the preparations are completed, the great catastrophe occurs, just as God said it would. The next passage describes the colossal event.

Genesis 7 tells the story of the actual flood itself. God again commends Noah for his righteousness. The animals of every kind come to the ark. God shuts Noah and his family and the animals in, and it begins to rain. Water pours from above and bursts forth from below with incredible intensity. This outpouring of water lasts for 40 days, and covers the surface of the earth for another 110 days. The ark floats, rises, moves across the surface of the water. Outside of it, every land-dwelling, air-breathing thing dies. God wipes it all out, including every human being other than Noah and his family.

In chapter 6, God saw the wickedness and violence of humanity and resolved to wipe it all out. He revealed that plan to Noah, and He commanded Noah to build the ark. In chapter 7, the ark is finished, the animals arrive, the door is shut, and the rain begins on a specific date in the history of the world. All life aboard the ark is saved; all land-dwelling, air-breathing life outside of it is ended. The waters burst from below the earth and pour from above with great intensity for 40 days and then covered the earth for another 110. In the following chapter, the ark will come to rest, and the remade earth will begin to dry out.

The book of Genesis establishes fundamental truths about God. Among these are His role as the Creator, His holiness, His hatred of sin, His love for mankind, and His willingness to provide for our redemption. We learn not only where mankind has come from, but why the world is in its present form. The book also presents the establishment of Israel, God's chosen people. Many of the principles given in other parts of Scripture depend on the basic ideas presented here in the book of Genesis. Within the framework of the Bible, Genesis explains the bare-bones history of the universe leading up to the captivity of Israel in Egypt, setting the stage for the book of Exodus.

Accessed 12/4/2024 3:42:48 AM