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You must take with you seven pairs[a] of every kind of clean animal,[b] the male and its mate,[c] two of every kind of unclean animal, the male and its mate, and also seven pairs[d] of every kind of bird in the sky, male and female,[e] to preserve their offspring[f] on the face of the entire earth. For in seven days[g] I will cause it to rain[h] on the earth for forty days and forty nights, and I will wipe from the face of the ground every living thing that I have made.”

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Footnotes

  1. Genesis 7:2 tn Or “seven” (cf. NIV). Since seven is an odd number, and “seven” is qualified as male and female, only seven pairs can match the description (cf. TNIV, NRSV, HCSB).
  2. Genesis 7:2 sn For a study of the Levitical terminology of “clean” and “unclean,” see L. E. Toombs, IDB 1:643.
  3. Genesis 7:2 tn Heb “a male and his female” (also a second time at the end of this verse). The terms used here for male and female animals (אִישׁ, ʾish and אִשָּׁה, ʾishah) normally refer to humans.
  4. Genesis 7:3 tn Or “seven” (cf. NIV).
  5. Genesis 7:3 tn Here (and in v. 9) the Hebrew text uses the normal generic terms for “male and female” (זָכָר וּנְקֵבָה, zakhar uneqevah).
  6. Genesis 7:3 tn Heb “to keep alive offspring.”
  7. Genesis 7:4 tn Heb “for seven days yet,” meaning “after [or “in”] seven days.”
  8. Genesis 7:4 tn The Hiphil participle מַמְטִיר (mamtir, “cause to rain”) here expresses the certainty of the act in the imminent future.