Passage

Genesis 6.20

Book: Genesis · NASB95

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV

18. But I will establish my covenant with thee; and thou shalt come into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons' wives with thee. 19. 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.

20. Of the birds after their kind, and of the cattle after their kind, of every creeping thing of the ground after its kind, two of every sort shall come unto thee, to keep them alive.

And take thou unto thee of all food that is eaten, and gather it to thee; and it shall be for food for thee, and for them. 22. Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he. (Genesis 6:18-22, ASV)

WEB

18. But I will establish my covenant with you. You shall come into the ship, you, your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives with you. 19. 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.

20. Of the birds after their kind, of the livestock after their kind, of every creeping thing of the ground after its kind, two of every sort will come to you, to keep them alive.

Take with you some of all food that is eaten, and gather it to yourself; and it will be for food for you, and for them.” 22. Thus Noah did. He did all that God commanded him. (Genesis 6:18-22, WEB)

KJV

18. But with thee will I establish my covenant; and thou shalt come into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons' wives with thee. 19. 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.

20. 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.

And take thou unto thee of all food that is eaten, and thou shalt gather it to thee; and it shall be for food for thee, and for them. 22. Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he. (Genesis 6:18-22, KJV)

YLT

18. 'And I have established My covenant with thee, and thou hast come in unto the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy son's wives with thee; 19. and of all that liveth, of all flesh, two of every [sort] thou dost bring in unto the ark, to keep alive with thee; male and female are they.

20. Of the fowl after its kind, and of the cattle after their kind, of every creeping thing of the ground after its kind, two of every [sort] they come in unto thee, to keep alive.

'And thou, take to thyself of all food that is eaten; and thou hast gathered unto thyself, and it hath been to thee and to them for food.' 22. And Noah doth according to all that God hath commanded him; so hath he done. (Genesis 6:18-22, YLT)

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Setting

Speaker: God, speaking to Noah
Audience: Noah
Location: the antediluvian world, location unnamed
Time period: the generation before the Flood

Theological reading

Of the birds after their kind, and of the cattle after their kind, of every creeping thing of the ground after its kind, two of every sort shall come unto thee, to keep them alive. The phrase after their kind is the refrain of Genesis 1:11-25, and the three groups named here, birds, cattle and creeping things, are creation-week categories. The Flood instructions are written in the vocabulary of creation because the Flood is a preservation of creation through judgment.

The verb matters: the animals shall come unto thee. Noah is told to bring them in verse 19, and here they are said to come. Genesis 7:9 and 7:15 repeat that they went in unto Noah. The narrative does not picture Noah searching the earth for specimens; the gathering is God's work, and Noah's part is to receive them.

The Hebrew min, translated kind, is broader than the modern biological species, and the text does not define it in modern taxonomic terms. How broad it is remains debated among creationist biologists, as discussed on Noahs Ark Feasibility.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word.

None of the words in this verse has its own lexicon entry yet.

Quoted in

Concepts:

Notes

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Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.