King James Version
Genesis 7
24 verses with commentary
The Flood
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.
View commentary (4 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
<strong>And the LORD said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteou...</strong> This passage belongs to the primeval history section (Genesis 1-11) which establishes universal truths about God, humanity, sin, and divine purposes before focusing on Abraham and Israel. These chapters answer fundamental questions about human origins, the spread of wickedness, ...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
VII.
(1) **Come thou.**—The task of building the ark is over, and after a week, to be spent in collecting animals and birds, Noah is to take up his abode in it. Many commentators suppose that 120 years were spent in the work; but this view arises from an untenable interpretation of Genesis 6:3, which really fixes the future duration of human life.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**14. Make thee an ark--**ark, a hollow chest (Ex 2:3).
**gopher wood--**probably cypress, remarkable for its durability and abounding on the Armenian mountains.
**rooms--**cabins or small cells.
**pitch it within and without--**mineral pitch, asphalt, naphtha, or some bituminous substance, which, when smeared over and become hardened, would make it perfectly watertight.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 7
Chapter Outline
Noah, and his family and the living creatures, enter the ark, and the flood begins.(1-12)
Noah shut in the ark.(13-16)
The increase of the flood for forty days.(17-20)
All flesh is destroyed by the flood.(21-24)
**Verses 1-12**
The call to Noah is very kind, like that of a tender father to his children to come in-doors when he sees night or a sto...
Read full commentary →Of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee by sevens , the male and his female: and of beasts that are not clean by two, the male and his female. by sevens: Heb. seven seven
View commentary (4 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee by sevens, the male and his female: and of beasts that ...</strong> This passage belongs to the primeval history section (Genesis 1-11) which establishes universal truths about God, humanity, sin, and divine purposes before focusing on Abraham and Israel. These chapters answer fundamental questions about human origins, the spread of wickedness, ...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(2) **Of every clean beast**—**Heb., *of all clean cattle**—thou shalt take to thee by* **sevens**—Heb., *seven seven.*—This probably does not mean *seven pairs *of each, though many commentators so interpret it, but seven of each kind. If, however, *seven pairs *be the right interpretation, but few species could have been included, as to attend properly to so large a number of animals would have ...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**15. And this is the fashion--**According to the description, the ark was not a ship, but an immense house in form and structure like the houses in the East, designed not to sail, but only to float. Assuming the cubit to be 21.888 inches, the ark would be five hundred forty-seven feet long, ninety-one feet two inches wide, and forty-seven feet two inches high.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 7
Chapter Outline
Noah, and his family and the living creatures, enter the ark, and the flood begins.(1-12)
Noah shut in the ark.(13-16)
The increase of the flood for forty days.(17-20)
All flesh is destroyed by the flood.(21-24)
**Verses 1-12**
The call to Noah is very kind, like that of a tender father to his children to come in-doors when he sees night or a sto...
Read full commentary →Of fowls also of the air by sevens , the male and the female; to keep seed alive upon the face of all the earth. by sevens: Heb. seven seven
View commentary (3 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Of fowls also of the air by sevens, the male and the female; to keep seed alive upon the face of all...</strong> This passage belongs to the primeval history section (Genesis 1-11) which establishes universal truths about God, humanity, sin, and divine purposes before focusing on Abraham and Israel. These chapters answer fundamental questions about human origins, the spread of wickedness, ...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**16. A window--**probably a skylight, formed of some transparent substance unknown.
**in a cubit shalt thou finish it above--**a direction to raise the roof in the middle, seemingly to form a gentle slope for letting the water run off.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 7
Chapter Outline
Noah, and his family and the living creatures, enter the ark, and the flood begins.(1-12)
Noah shut in the ark.(13-16)
The increase of the flood for forty days.(17-20)
All flesh is destroyed by the flood.(21-24)
**Verses 1-12**
The call to Noah is very kind, like that of a tender father to his children to come in-doors when he sees night or a sto...
Read full commentary →For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights; and every living substance that I have made will I destroy from off the face of the earth. destroy: Heb. blot out
View commentary (4 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
<strong>For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights; and ever...</strong> This passage belongs to the primeval history section (Genesis 1-11) which establishes universal truths about God, humanity, sin, and divine purposes before focusing on Abraham and Israel. These chapters answer fundamental questions about human origins, the spread of wickedness, ...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(4) **Forty days.**—Henceforward forty became the sacred number of trial and patience, and, besides the obvious places in the Old Testament, it was the duration both of our Lord’s fast in the wilderness and of His sojourn on earth after the Resurrection.
**Every living substance.**—The word “living” is found neither in the Hebrew nor in the ancient versions, and limits the sense unnecessarily. The...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**17-22. And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood--**The repetition of the announcement was to establish its certainty (Ge 41:32). Whatever opinion may be entertained as to the operation of natural laws and agencies in the deluge, it was brought on the world by God as a punishment for the enormous wickedness of its inhabitants.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 7
Chapter Outline
Noah, and his family and the living creatures, enter the ark, and the flood begins.(1-12)
Noah shut in the ark.(13-16)
The increase of the flood for forty days.(17-20)
All flesh is destroyed by the flood.(21-24)
**Verses 1-12**
The call to Noah is very kind, like that of a tender father to his children to come in-doors when he sees night or a sto...
Read full commentary →And Noah did according unto all that the LORD commanded him.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>And Noah did according unto all that the LORD commanded him....</strong> This passage belongs to the primeval history section (Genesis 1-11) which establishes universal truths about God, humanity, sin, and divine purposes before focusing on Abraham and Israel. These chapters answer fundamental questions about human origins, the spread of wickedness, God's judgment, and the preservation of ...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**17-22. And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood--**The repetition of the announcement was to establish its certainty (Ge 41:32). Whatever opinion may be entertained as to the operation of natural laws and agencies in the deluge, it was brought on the world by God as a punishment for the enormous wickedness of its inhabitants.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 7
Chapter Outline
Noah, and his family and the living creatures, enter the ark, and the flood begins.(1-12)
Noah shut in the ark.(13-16)
The increase of the flood for forty days.(17-20)
All flesh is destroyed by the flood.(21-24)
**Verses 1-12**
The call to Noah is very kind, like that of a tender father to his children to come in-doors when he sees night or a sto...
Read full commentary →And Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters was upon the earth.
View commentary (4 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
<strong>And Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters was upon the earth....</strong> This passage belongs to the primeval history section (Genesis 1-11) which establishes universal truths about God, humanity, sin, and divine purposes before focusing on Abraham and Israel. These chapters answer fundamental questions about human origins, the spread of wickedness, God's judgment, and t...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(6) **Noah was six hundred years old.**—It follows that Shem was about one hundred years of age (comp. Genesis 5:32), and his two brothers younger; but all were married, though apparently without children. (Comp. Genesis 11:10.)
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**17-22. And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood--**The repetition of the announcement was to establish its certainty (Ge 41:32). Whatever opinion may be entertained as to the operation of natural laws and agencies in the deluge, it was brought on the world by God as a punishment for the enormous wickedness of its inhabitants.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 7
Chapter Outline
Noah, and his family and the living creatures, enter the ark, and the flood begins.(1-12)
Noah shut in the ark.(13-16)
The increase of the flood for forty days.(17-20)
All flesh is destroyed by the flood.(21-24)
**Verses 1-12**
The call to Noah is very kind, like that of a tender father to his children to come in-doors when he sees night or a sto...
Read full commentary →And Noah went in, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives with him, into the ark, because of the waters of the flood.
View commentary (3 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
<strong>And Noah went in, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives with him, into the ark, because of...</strong> This passage belongs to the primeval history section (Genesis 1-11) which establishes universal truths about God, humanity, sin, and divine purposes before focusing on Abraham and Israel. These chapters answer fundamental questions about human origins, the spread of wickedness, ...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**17-22. And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood--**The repetition of the announcement was to establish its certainty (Ge 41:32). Whatever opinion may be entertained as to the operation of natural laws and agencies in the deluge, it was brought on the world by God as a punishment for the enormous wickedness of its inhabitants.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 7
Chapter Outline
Noah, and his family and the living creatures, enter the ark, and the flood begins.(1-12)
Noah shut in the ark.(13-16)
The increase of the flood for forty days.(17-20)
All flesh is destroyed by the flood.(21-24)
**Verses 1-12**
The call to Noah is very kind, like that of a tender father to his children to come in-doors when he sees night or a sto...
Read full commentary →Of clean beasts, and of beasts that are not clean, and of fowls, and of every thing that creepeth upon the earth,
View commentary (4 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Of clean beasts, and of beasts that are not clean, and of fowls, and of every thing that creepeth up...</strong> This passage belongs to the primeval history section (Genesis 1-11) which establishes universal truths about God, humanity, sin, and divine purposes before focusing on Abraham and Israel. These chapters answer fundamental questions about human origins, the spread of wickedness, ...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(8) **Beasts.**—Heb., *of the clean cattle and of the cattle that was not clean. *In the *Chaldean Genesis, *Xisuthrus takes also wild animals, seeds of all kinds of plants, gold and silver, male and female slaves, the “sons of the best,” and the “sons of the people” (pp. 280-283). There it is a whole tribe, with their chief, who are saved—here one family only.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**17-22. And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood--**The repetition of the announcement was to establish its certainty (Ge 41:32). Whatever opinion may be entertained as to the operation of natural laws and agencies in the deluge, it was brought on the world by God as a punishment for the enormous wickedness of its inhabitants.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 7
Chapter Outline
Noah, and his family and the living creatures, enter the ark, and the flood begins.(1-12)
Noah shut in the ark.(13-16)
The increase of the flood for forty days.(17-20)
All flesh is destroyed by the flood.(21-24)
**Verses 1-12**
The call to Noah is very kind, like that of a tender father to his children to come in-doors when he sees night or a sto...
Read full commentary →There went in two and two unto Noah into the ark, the male and the female, as God had commanded Noah.
View commentary (3 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
<strong>There went in two and two unto Noah into the ark, the male and the female, as God had commanded Noah...</strong> This passage belongs to the primeval history section (Genesis 1-11) which establishes universal truths about God, humanity, sin, and divine purposes before focusing on Abraham and Israel. These chapters answer fundamental questions about human origins, the spread of wickedness, ...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**17-22. And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood--**The repetition of the announcement was to establish its certainty (Ge 41:32). Whatever opinion may be entertained as to the operation of natural laws and agencies in the deluge, it was brought on the world by God as a punishment for the enormous wickedness of its inhabitants.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 7
Chapter Outline
Noah, and his family and the living creatures, enter the ark, and the flood begins.(1-12)
Noah shut in the ark.(13-16)
The increase of the flood for forty days.(17-20)
All flesh is destroyed by the flood.(21-24)
**Verses 1-12**
The call to Noah is very kind, like that of a tender father to his children to come in-doors when he sees night or a sto...
Read full commentary →And it came to pass after seven days, that the waters of the flood were upon the earth. after: or, on the seventh day
View commentary (3 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
<strong>And it came to pass after seven days, that the waters of the flood were upon the earth....</strong> This passage belongs to the primeval history section (Genesis 1-11) which establishes universal truths about God, humanity, sin, and divine purposes before focusing on Abraham and Israel. These chapters answer fundamental questions about human origins, the spread of wickedness, God's judgmen...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(10) **After seven days.**—Said, in Jewish tradition, to have been the seven days of mourning for Methuselah, who died in the year of the flood.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 7
Chapter Outline
Noah, and his family and the living creatures, enter the ark, and the flood begins.(1-12)
Noah shut in the ark.(13-16)
The increase of the flood for forty days.(17-20)
All flesh is destroyed by the flood.(21-24)
**Verses 1-12**
The call to Noah is very kind, like that of a tender father to his children to come in-doors when he sees night or a sto...
Read full commentary →In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened. windows: or, floodgates
View commentary (4 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
<strong>In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the...</strong> This passage belongs to the primeval history section (Genesis 1-11) which establishes universal truths about God, humanity, sin, and divine purposes before focusing on Abraham and Israel. These chapters answer fundamental questions about human origins, the spread of wickedness, ...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(11) **In the second month.**—That is, of the civil year, which commenced in Tisri, at the autumnal equinox. The flood thus began towards the end of October, and lasted till the spring. The ecclesiastical year began in Abib, or April; but it was instituted in remembrance of the deliverance from Egypt (Exodus 12:2; Exodus 23:15), and can have no place here. The year was evidently the lunar year of ...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
CHAPTER 7 Ge 7:1-24. Entrance into the Ark.
**1. And the Lord said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark--**The ark was finished; and Noah now, in the spirit of implicit faith, which had influenced his whole conduct, waited for directions from God.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 7
Chapter Outline
Noah, and his family and the living creatures, enter the ark, and the flood begins.(1-12)
Noah shut in the ark.(13-16)
The increase of the flood for forty days.(17-20)
All flesh is destroyed by the flood.(21-24)
**Verses 1-12**
The call to Noah is very kind, like that of a tender father to his children to come in-doors when he sees night or a sto...
Read full commentary →And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights.
View commentary (3 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
<strong>And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights....</strong> This passage belongs to the primeval history section (Genesis 1-11) which establishes universal truths about God, humanity, sin, and divine purposes before focusing on Abraham and Israel. These chapters answer fundamental questions about human origins, the spread of wickedness, God's judgment, and the preservation of ...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**2-3. Of every clean beast ... fowls--**Pairs of every species of animals, except the tenants of the deep, were to be taken for the preservation of their respective kinds. This was the general rule of admission, only with regard to those animals which are styled "clean," three pairs were to be taken, whether of beasts or birds; and the reason was that their rapid multiplication was a matter of th...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 7
Chapter Outline
Noah, and his family and the living creatures, enter the ark, and the flood begins.(1-12)
Noah shut in the ark.(13-16)
The increase of the flood for forty days.(17-20)
All flesh is destroyed by the flood.(21-24)
**Verses 1-12**
The call to Noah is very kind, like that of a tender father to his children to come in-doors when he sees night or a sto...
Read full commentary →In the selfsame day entered Noah, and Shem, and Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noah's wife, and the three wives of his sons with them, into the ark;
View commentary (4 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
<strong>In the selfsame day entered Noah, and Shem, and Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noah's wife,...</strong> This passage belongs to the primeval history section (Genesis 1-11) which establishes universal truths about God, humanity, sin, and divine purposes before focusing on Abraham and Israel. These chapters answer fundamental questions about human origins, the spread of wickedness, ...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(13) **In the selfsame day.**—Heb., *in the bone of this day. *(See Note on Genesis 2:23.)
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**2-3. Of every clean beast ... fowls--**Pairs of every species of animals, except the tenants of the deep, were to be taken for the preservation of their respective kinds. This was the general rule of admission, only with regard to those animals which are styled "clean," three pairs were to be taken, whether of beasts or birds; and the reason was that their rapid multiplication was a matter of th...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 13-16**
The ravenous creatures were made mild and manageable; yet, when this occasion was over, they were of the same kind as before; for the ark did not alter their natures. Hypocrites in the church, who outwardly conform to the laws of that ark, are yet unchanged; and it will appear, one time or other, what kind they are after. God continued his care of Noah. God shut the door, to s...
Read full commentary →They, and every beast after his kind, and all the cattle after their kind, and every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind, and every fowl after his kind, every bird of every sort. sort: Heb. wing
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>They, and every beast after his kind, and all the cattle after their kind, and every creeping thing ...</strong> This passage belongs to the primeval history section (Genesis 1-11) which establishes universal truths about God, humanity, sin, and divine purposes before focusing on Abraham and Israel. These chapters answer fundamental questions about human origins, the spread of wickedness, ...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(14) **Every beast.**—Heb., *every living thing *(as in Genesis 8:1), but probably we are to supply “of the field,” and thus it would mean the wild animals.
**The cattle**—*Behêmâh. *(See Note on Genesis 1:24.)
**Creeping thing.**—Not specially reptiles, but alt small animals (see *ibid.*)*. *The last clause literally is, *every fowl after its kind, every bird, every wing; *whence some understand ...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**4. For yet seven days--**A week for a world to repent! What a solemn pause! Did they laugh and ridicule his folly still? He whose eyes saw and whose heart felt the full amount of human iniquity and perverseness has told us of their reckless disregard (Lu 17:27).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 13-16**
The ravenous creatures were made mild and manageable; yet, when this occasion was over, they were of the same kind as before; for the ark did not alter their natures. Hypocrites in the church, who outwardly conform to the laws of that ark, are yet unchanged; and it will appear, one time or other, what kind they are after. God continued his care of Noah. God shut the door, to s...
Read full commentary →And they went in unto Noah into the ark, two and two of all flesh, wherein is the breath of life.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>And they went in unto Noah into the ark, two and two of all flesh, wherein is the breath of life....</strong> This passage belongs to the primeval history section (Genesis 1-11) which establishes universal truths about God, humanity, sin, and divine purposes before focusing on Abraham and Israel. These chapters answer fundamental questions about human origins, the spread of wickedness, God...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 13-16**
The ravenous creatures were made mild and manageable; yet, when this occasion was over, they were of the same kind as before; for the ark did not alter their natures. Hypocrites in the church, who outwardly conform to the laws of that ark, are yet unchanged; and it will appear, one time or other, what kind they are after. God continued his care of Noah. God shut the door, to s...
Read full commentary →And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God had commanded him: and the LORD shut him in.
View commentary (3 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
<strong>And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God had commanded him: and the LORD ...</strong> This passage belongs to the primeval history section (Genesis 1-11) which establishes universal truths about God, humanity, sin, and divine purposes before focusing on Abraham and Israel. These chapters answer fundamental questions about human origins, the spread of wickedness, ...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(16) **The Lord (*Jehovah**) shut him in.*—The assigning to Jehovah of this act of personal care for Noah is very remarkable. In the *Chaldean Genesis *(p. 283), the Deity commands Xisuthrus to shut himself in.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 13-16**
The ravenous creatures were made mild and manageable; yet, when this occasion was over, they were of the same kind as before; for the ark did not alter their natures. Hypocrites in the church, who outwardly conform to the laws of that ark, are yet unchanged; and it will appear, one time or other, what kind they are after. God continued his care of Noah. God shut the door, to s...
Read full commentary →And the flood was forty days upon the earth; and the waters increased, and bare up the ark, and it was lift up above the earth.
View commentary (3 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
<strong>And the flood was forty days upon the earth; and the waters increased, and bare up the ark, and it w...</strong> This passage belongs to the primeval history section (Genesis 1-11) which establishes universal truths about God, humanity, sin, and divine purposes before focusing on Abraham and Israel. These chapters answer fundamental questions about human origins, the spread of wickedness, ...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(17-19) **The waters increased . . . —**The swelling of the flood is told with great power in these verses but every stage and detail has reference to the ark, as if the author of the narrative was one of those on board. First, the “waters increased,” and raised up the ark till it floated. Next, “they became strong and increased exceedingly”—the word rendered “prevailed” really signifying the sett...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 17-20**
The flood was increasing forty days. The waters rose so high, that the tops of the highest mountains were overflowed more than twenty feet. There is no place on earth so high as to set men out of the reach of God's judgments. God's hand will find out all his enemies, Psa 21:8. When the flood thus increased, Noah's ark was lifted up, and the waters which broke down every thing ...
Read full commentary →And the waters prevailed, and were increased greatly upon the earth; and the ark went upon the face of the waters.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>And the waters prevailed, and were increased greatly upon the earth; and the ark went upon the face ...</strong> This passage belongs to the primeval history section (Genesis 1-11) which establishes universal truths about God, humanity, sin, and divine purposes before focusing on Abraham and Israel. These chapters answer fundamental questions about human origins, the spread of wickedness, ...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 17-20**
The flood was increasing forty days. The waters rose so high, that the tops of the highest mountains were overflowed more than twenty feet. There is no place on earth so high as to set men out of the reach of God's judgments. God's hand will find out all his enemies, Psa 21:8. When the flood thus increased, Noah's ark was lifted up, and the waters which broke down every thing ...
Read full commentary →And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth; and all the high hills, that were under the whole heaven, were covered.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth; and all the high hills, that were under the who...</strong> This passage belongs to the primeval history section (Genesis 1-11) which establishes universal truths about God, humanity, sin, and divine purposes before focusing on Abraham and Israel. These chapters answer fundamental questions about human origins, the spread of wickedness, ...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**9. There went in two and two--**Doubtless they were led by a divine impulse. The number would not be so large as at first sight one is apt to imagine. It has been calculated that there are not more than three hundred distinct species of beasts and birds, the immense varieties in regard to form, size, and color being traceable to the influence of climate and other circumstances.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 17-20**
The flood was increasing forty days. The waters rose so high, that the tops of the highest mountains were overflowed more than twenty feet. There is no place on earth so high as to set men out of the reach of God's judgments. God's hand will find out all his enemies, Psa 21:8. When the flood thus increased, Noah's ark was lifted up, and the waters which broke down every thing ...
Read full commentary →Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail; and the mountains were covered.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail; and the mountains were covered....</strong> This passage belongs to the primeval history section (Genesis 1-11) which establishes universal truths about God, humanity, sin, and divine purposes before focusing on Abraham and Israel. These chapters answer fundamental questions about human origins, the spread of wickedness, God's judgment, and the...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(20) **Fifteen cubits upward.**—This apparently was the draught of the ark, computed after it had settled. in the region of Ararat. Fifteen cubits would be about twenty-two feet, and as the ark floated onward without interruption until it finally grounded, there must have been this depth of water even on the highest summit in its course. Continuous rains for forty days and nights would scarcely pr...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 17-20**
The flood was increasing forty days. The waters rose so high, that the tops of the highest mountains were overflowed more than twenty feet. There is no place on earth so high as to set men out of the reach of God's judgments. God's hand will find out all his enemies, Psa 21:8. When the flood thus increased, Noah's ark was lifted up, and the waters which broke down every thing ...
Read full commentary →And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of beast, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, and every man:
View commentary (2 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
<strong>And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of beast, and of ever...</strong> This passage belongs to the primeval history section (Genesis 1-11) which establishes universal truths about God, humanity, sin, and divine purposes before focusing on Abraham and Israel. These chapters answer fundamental questions about human origins, the spread of wickedness, ...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 21-24**
All the men, women, and children, that were in the world, excepting those in the ark, died. We may easily imagine what terror seized them. Our Saviour tells us, that till the very day that the flood came, they were eating and drinking, Lu 17:26, 27; they were deaf and blind to all Divine warnings. In this posture death surprised them. They were convinced of their folly when it...
Read full commentary →All in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land, died. the breath: Heb. the breath of the spirit of life
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>All in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land, died....</strong> This passage belongs to the primeval history section (Genesis 1-11) which establishes universal truths about God, humanity, sin, and divine purposes before focusing on Abraham and Israel. These chapters answer fundamental questions about human origins, the spread of wickedness, God's judgment, ...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 21-24**
All the men, women, and children, that were in the world, excepting those in the ark, died. We may easily imagine what terror seized them. Our Saviour tells us, that till the very day that the flood came, they were eating and drinking, Lu 17:26, 27; they were deaf and blind to all Divine warnings. In this posture death surprised them. They were convinced of their folly when it...
Read full commentary →And every living substance was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground, both man, and cattle, and the creeping things, and the fowl of the heaven; and they were destroyed from the earth: and Noah only remained alive, and they that were with him in the ark.
View commentary (3 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
<strong>And every living substance was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground, both man, and cattle...</strong> This passage belongs to the primeval history section (Genesis 1-11) which establishes universal truths about God, humanity, sin, and divine purposes before focusing on Abraham and Israel. These chapters answer fundamental questions about human origins, the spread of wickedness, ...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(23) **Every living substance.**—*Every thing that stood erect *(See Note on Genesis 7:4.)
**Upon the face of the ground.**—The *adâmâh, *the portion subdued to his use by the *adam, *man.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 21-24**
All the men, women, and children, that were in the world, excepting those in the ark, died. We may easily imagine what terror seized them. Our Saviour tells us, that till the very day that the flood came, they were eating and drinking, Lu 17:26, 27; they were deaf and blind to all Divine warnings. In this posture death surprised them. They were convinced of their folly when it...
Read full commentary →And the waters prevailed upon the earth an hundred and fifty days.
View commentary (3 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
<strong>And the waters prevailed upon the earth an hundred and fifty days....</strong> This passage belongs to the primeval history section (Genesis 1-11) which establishes universal truths about God, humanity, sin, and divine purposes before focusing on Abraham and Israel. These chapters answer fundamental questions about human origins, the spread of wickedness, God's judgment, and the preservati...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(24) **prevailed.**—Heb., *were strong, *as in Genesis 7:18. The rains lasted forty days; for one hundred and ten more days they still bore up the ark, and then it grounded. But though still mighty, they had by this time “abated” (see Genesis 8:3), inasmuch as, instead of covering the hills to the depth of nearly four fathoms, the ark now had touched dry land. Again, then, the narrative seems to g...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 21-24**
All the men, women, and children, that were in the world, excepting those in the ark, died. We may easily imagine what terror seized them. Our Saviour tells us, that till the very day that the flood came, they were eating and drinking, Lu 17:26, 27; they were deaf and blind to all Divine warnings. In this posture death surprised them. They were convinced of their folly when it...
Read full commentary →