Of every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring two of every sort into the ship, to keep them alive with you. They shall be male and female.
Parallel Translations
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Of every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring two of every sort into the ship, to keep them alive with you. They shall be male and female.
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And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee; they shall be male and female.
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And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee; they shall be male and female.
Examined in Scripture Analysis
Contradictions (1)
Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
Cross-references (5)
Passages linked to Genesis 6:19 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Genesis 7:8-9 Clean animals, unclean animals, birds, and everything that creeps on the ground went by pairs to Noah into the ship, male and female, as God commanded Noah.
- Genesis 7:15-16 Pairs from all flesh with the breath of life in them went into the ship to Noah. Those who went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God commanded him; then Yahweh shut him in.
- Genesis 7:2-3 You shall take seven pairs of every clean animal with you, the male and his female. Of the animals that are not clean, take two, the male and his female. Also of the birds of the sky, seven and seven, male and female, to keep seed alive on the surface of all the earth.
- Genesis 8:17 Bring out with you every living thing that is with you of all flesh, including birds, livestock, and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, that they may breed abundantly in the earth, and be fruitful, and multiply on the earth.”
- Psalms 36:6 Your righteousness is like the mountains of God. Your judgments are like a great deep. Yahweh, you preserve man and animal.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (11 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 19. And of every living thing of all flesh.…
19. And of every living thing of all flesh. “All flesh” is the name he gives to animals of whatsoever kind they may be. He says they went in two and two; not that a single pair of each kind was received into the ark, (for we shall soon see that there were three pairs of the clean kinds, and one animal over, which Noah afterwards offered in sacrifice;) but whereas here mention is made only of offspring, he does not expressly state the number, but simply couples males with females, that Noah might hence perceive how the world was to be replenished.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Of all flesh two; i.e. either,
Of all flesh two; i.e. either,
1. By couples, or male and female; but this is mentioned as a distinct thing in the close of the verse. Or rather,
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2. Two at least of every sort, even of the unclean; but of the clean more, as is noted Gen 7:2.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain And take thou unto thee of all food that…
And take thou unto thee of all food that is eaten,.... By man and beast; of which see Gen 1:29.
and thou shall gather it to thee; to lay up in the ark:
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and it shall be for food for thee, and for them: during the flood, a quantity sufficient for them: and according to the calculation of learned men (n), well versed in mathematics, there was room enough in the ark, and to spare, to put food for them all during the time the flood was on the earth.
(n) Buteo de Area Noe, Wilkins's Essay towards a real Character, Bedford's Chronology, &c.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 19. To keep them alive] God might have…
Verse 19. To keep them alive] God might have destroyed all the animal creation, and created others to occupy the new world, but he chose rather to preserve those already created. The Creator and Preserver of the universe does nothing but what is essentially necessary to be done. Nothing should be wantonly wasted; nor should power or skill be lavished where no necessity exists; and yet it required more means and economy to preserve the old than to have created new ones. Such respect has God to the work of his hands, that nothing but what is essential to the credit of his justice and holiness shall ever induce him to destroy any thing he has made.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Two, intended for the propagation of their kind. God…
Two, intended for the propagation of their kind. God afterwards specifies what more Noe should preserve for food, chap. vii. 2. (Calmet). --- Wild beasts forgot their savage nature, and became subject to the just Noe; and all came readily at his beck, in the same manner as domestic animals come when we offer them food. Yet, in all this we must acknowledge the work of God, and a sort of miracle. (Haydock)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 19. Two of every sort — From this statement,…
19. Two of every sort — From this statement, repeated in the next verse, as well as from that made in Gen_7:15-16, it would be understood that only a pair of the animals were to be preserved; but from Gen_7:2-3, we see that the clean beasts and fowls went into the ark by seven pairs. Animals instinctively foresee great natural convulsions or earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and tornadoes, and often, on such occasions, quite subdued by fear, seek human protection. It is natural to suppose that there would have been in the earth, atmosphere, and clouds fearful premonitions of this unparalleled convulsion, which lasted through forty days, and which is described as opening the windows of heaven and breaking up “the fountains of the great deep.” Beasts and birds of all kinds, that is, of all the species in that region, affrighted by these signs of the coming tempest, and tamed by their fears, may be reasonably believed to have gathered around or settled on the vast ark, during the few days before the deluge actually began. From these Noah selected twos or sevens of each kind. Instinct was thus providentially (we need not say miraculously) made the means of their preservation.
Shalt thou bring — They came unto Noah, (Gen_5:20,) and he caused them to come (for this is the true idea of the word rendered bring) into the ark.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 19. two of every sort] Observe that here one…
19. two of every sort] Observe that here one pair of every kind of living creature is to be brought into the ark.
“Male and female,” as in Gen_1:27 (P). A different phrase is used in Gen_7:2 (J), where see note.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (19-22) of every living thing of all flesh, two…
(19-22) of every living thing of all flesh, two . . . —The vast size of the ark and the wide terms used of the animals to be collected into it, make it evident that Noah was to save not merely his domestic cattle, but many wild species of beasts, birds, and creeping things. But the terms are conditioned by the usual rules for the interpretation of the language of Holy Scripture, and by the internal necessities of the event itself. Thus the animals in the ark could not have been more in number than four men and four women could attend to Next, the terms exclude the carnivora (see also Note on Gen_9:5). Not only was there no supply of animals taken on board to feed them, but half-tamed as they would have been by a year’s sojourn in the ark, they would have remained in Noah’s neighbourhood, and very soon have destroyed all the cattle which had been saved, especially as far and wide no other living creatures would have existed for their food. But if miracles are to be invoked to obviate these and similar difficulties. not only would it have been easier to save Noah and the denizens of the ark by one display of supernatural power, but the ark was the means provided by God for this purpose; and if He wrought thus far by human instrumentality, in accordance with the usual law of the Divine working on earth, to help out the human means employed by repeated acts of omnipotence would have been to proclaim it as insufficient. It does not follow from this that no special providence watched over and guided the ark; such providence is often exercised now, but it works through and in accordance with the ordinary laws by which God governs the world.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Vers. 19-21. And of every living thing of all…
Vers. 19-21. And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort (literally, by twos, i.e. in pairs) shalt thou bring into or cause to enter, i.e. receive them when they come (ver. 20) the ark, to keep them alive literally, to cause to live; ina trefhv (LXX); in order to preserve alive (sc. the animals)with thee; they shall be male and female. Of fowls after their kind (literally, of the fowl after its kind), and of cattle after their kind (literally, of the cattle after its kind), of every creeping thing of the earth after its bind, two of every sort shall come unto thee. "Non hominis actu, sed Dei nutu" (Augustine). Perhaps through an instinctive presentment of the impending calamity (Lange, "Speaker"s Commentary").
And take thou unto thee of all food that is eaten, and thou shalt gather it to thee (collecting sufficient for a twelvemonths sustenance); and it shall be for food for thee, and for them.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain two of every sort
two of every sort
Cf Gen 7:2.
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In addition to two animals, etc., commanded (Gen 6:19) to be preserved for future increase ("they shall be male and female"), the further command was given more than 100 years later to take of clean beasts, i.e, acceptable for sacrifice, seven each. Exodus gives ten such beasts, or but seventy in all. Modern ships carry hundreds of live beasts, with their food, besides scores of human beings.
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 6:19-20 God’s instructions to Noah repeat the language of…
6:19-20 God’s instructions to Noah repeat the language of creation (every kind, cp. 1:24). • a male and a female: These animals would procreate and repopulate the earth after the flood.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.