Genesis 6:20 - Printer Friendly

ESV: Of the birds according to their kinds, and of the animals according to their kinds, of every creeping thing of the ground, according to its kind, two of every sort shall come in to you to keep them alive.

NIV: Two of every kind of bird, of every kind of animal and of every kind of creature that moves along the ground will come to you to be kept alive.

NASB: Of the birds according to their kind, and of the animals according to their kind, of every crawling thing of the ground according to its kind, two of every kind will come to you to keep them alive.

CSB: Two of everything--from the birds according to their kinds, from the livestock according to their kinds, and from the animals that crawl on the ground according to their kinds--will come to you so that you can keep them alive.

NLT: Pairs of every kind of bird, and every kind of animal, and every kind of small animal that scurries along the ground, will come to you to be kept alive.

KJV: Of fowls after their kind, and of cattle after their kind, of every creeping thing of the earth after his kind, two of every sort shall come unto thee, to keep them alive.

NKJV: Of the birds after their kind, of animals after their kind, and of every creeping thing of the earth after its kind, two of every kind will come to you to keep them alive.

In the previous verse, God commanded Noah to bring into the ark with him and his family a male/female pair of every kind of animal. Now God expands and clarifies the command. First, the animals will include birds, insects, and every other kind of land-dwelling animal. Second, all of these animals would come to Noah to be kept alive. These creatures would have been necessary to re-populate and replenish the land ravaged by the upcoming flood.

With the addition of the detail that the animals would come to him, Noah's impossible task of building the ark and collecting the animals becomes a little less impossible. God would exercise His supernatural authority over the animals to direct specific pairs to come to the ark to be saved from the flood. Noah isn't being asked to scour the earth capturing unwilling animals. He's being asked to prepare an ark for the ones which come to him. That's still daunting, but much more within the abilities of one man.

We see in this command that God's response to the great wickedness of humanity is not simply to destroy all life, but to preserve life, as well, for a new beginning. The flood is not an act of revenge, but of drastic healing.

Genesis 6:9-22 begins another new section in Genesis called the ''generations of Noah.'' Because of humanity's power and wickedness, the earth had become filled with violence and sinfulness. By contrast, Noah was a righteous, blameless man who walked with God. God chooses to declare to Noah His plan to end all land-dwelling life on earth, but also to save Noah and his family and two of every animal. Noah obeys God's command to build the ark that would preserve the human race from total destruction in the flood.

God sees. In the first chapter of Genesis, God saw that all He had made was good. Now, many generations after sin entered the world, God sees that all man has made is wickedness and evil. Human beings have used their power for violence and destruction. God declares His plan to wipe out all land-dwelling life on the face of the earth. He will however, preserve humanity and animal life for a new beginning through the one righteous man, Noah, and a huge life-giving structure called an ark.

The previous chapter traced the generations from Adam through his son Seth and all of the way to Noah. This chapter reveals that Noah will be the man through whom God will preserve humanity for a new beginning after wiping out all life on the face of the earth. God tells Noah to build an enormous structure, an ark, and prepare to welcome representatives of all of the animals on earth. Noah does exactly that, setting the stage for the cataclysmic judgment of God to come in chapter 7.

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.