How does the flood account distinguish those preserved in the ark from the life destroyed outside it?

Atlas of Saints · Chapter summary

Noe’s household and the commanded animal kinds enter the ark, and the Lord shuts him in. The waters carry the ark and cover the mountains; the account says that only Noe and those with him remain.

Chapter breakdown

The Lord tells Noe to enter the ark with his whole household because he has seen Noe as just in this generation. Clean beasts are to be taken seven and seven, male and female; unclean beasts are to be taken two and two, male and female. Birds are also to be taken seven and seven, male and female, so that their seed may be preserved on the earth. Challoner observes that the clean/unclean distinction appears before the law of Moses. His note dates that law to the year of the world 2514.

God announces that after seven days he will send rain for forty days and forty nights and destroy the substances he has made from the face of the earth. Noe does everything the Lord commands.

Noe is 600 years old when the floodwaters overflow the earth. He enters the ark with his sons, his wife and his sons’ wives because of the floodwaters. Clean and unclean beasts, birds and creatures moving on earth enter with him two and two, male and female, as commanded. After the seven days pass, the waters overflow the earth.

In Noe’s 600th year, on the seventeenth day of the second month, all the fountains of the great deep break open and the floodgates of heaven open. Rain falls on the earth for forty days and forty nights.

On that same day Noe enters with Sem, Cham and Japheth, his wife, and the three wives of his sons. Beasts, cattle, creeping creatures and every kind of bird enter according to their kinds. They come to Noe two and two, with the breath of life, male and female, as God commands. The Lord shuts him in from the outside.

The flood is on the earth for forty days. The increasing waters lift the ark above the ground and carry it. They overflow the earth and cover all the high mountains under heaven. The water is fifteen cubits above the mountains it covers.

Living flesh moving on the earth is destroyed: birds, cattle, beasts, creeping creatures and people. All things on earth with the breath of life die. The account repeats the destruction of these groups, then states that only Noe and those with him in the ark remain.

The waters prevail upon the earth for 150 days.

The story inside

The account follows entry before describing destruction. It names the household and the creature groups, records male and female entering, and says that the Lord shuts Noe in. The same rising waters that overwhelm the earth lift and carry the ark. The final contrast is then explicit: living flesh on earth is destroyed, while Noe and those with him remain. The account gives different numbers for the seven-day warning, forty days and nights of rain, and 150 days of prevailing waters; these should not be collapsed into a single duration.

Lessons worth keeping

1
The animal instructions make distinctions. Clean beasts and birds are commanded in seven-and-seven groups, while unclean beasts are two and two; male and female are specified. Challoner notes that the clean/unclean distinction precedes the law of Moses. The chapter does not state a future food or sacrifice motive for the larger groups (7:2–3).
2
The time markers concern different parts of the event. Seven days precede the flood, rain falls for forty days and nights, and the waters prevail for 150 days. Retaining these separately prevents the rain’s duration from replacing the full period of prevailing water (7:4, 7:10–12, 7:24).
3
The outcome is stated in relation to the ark. The waters lift and carry it while covering the high mountains; the destruction outside is followed by the statement that Noe and those with him remain. This explains the ark’s role through recorded events rather than imagined conditions onboard (7:17–23).

Test your recall

How do the rising waters affect the ark and the life outside it differently, and which three time markers describe the warning, rain and prevailing waters?

Show answer

The waters lift and carry the ark, while the living creatures outside it die. Noe and those with him in the ark remain alive. The warning gives seven days before the flood; the rain lasts forty days and forty nights; and the waters prevail for 150 days. These are three different time statements.

Quotes from Scripture

Exact Scripture quotations from the Douay–Rheims Bible, revised by Bishop Richard Challoner (1749–1752), the same edition used for these chapters. Source: Project Gutenberg no. 1581.

And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God had commanded him: and the Lord shut him in on the outside.

Genesis 7:16 · Douay–Rheims / Challonerpg1581.txt · lines 897–898

Source edition and notes

Douay–Rheims, revised by Richard Challoner (1749–1752). Project Gutenberg no. 1581. Locators refer to lines in the admitted pg1581.txt edition. Source notes may include Challoner commentary.

Lines 841–856
Genesis Chapter 7 Noe with his family go into the ark. The deluge overflows the earth. 7:1. And the Lord said to him: Go in, thou and all thy house, into the ark: for thee I have seen just before me in this generation. 7:2. Of all clean beasts take seven and seven, the male and the female. Of all clean.... The distinction of clean and unclean beasts appears to have been made before the law of Moses, which was not promulgated till the year of the world 2514. 7:3. But of the beasts that are unclean two and two, the male and the female. Of the fowls also of the air seven and seven, the male and the female: that seed may be saved upon the face of the whole earth.
Lines 858–863
7:4. For yet a while, and after seven days, I will rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights: and I will destroy every substance that I have made, from the face of the earth. 7:5. And Noe did all things which the Lord had commanded him.
Lines 864–878
7:6. And he was six hundred years old, when the waters of the flood overflowed the earth. 7:7. And Noe went in and his sons, his wife and the wives of his sons with him into the ark, because of the waters of the flood. 7:8. And of beasts clean and unclean, and of fowls, and of every thing that moveth upon the earth, 7:9. Two and two went in to Noe into the ark, male and female, as the Lord had commanded Noe. 7:10. And after the seven days were passed, the waters of the flood overflowed the earth.
Lines 879–884
7:11. In the six hundredth year of the life of Noe, in the second month, in the seventeenth day of the month, all the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the floodgates of heaven were opened: 7:12. And the rain fell upon the earth forty days and forty nights.
Lines 885–899
7:13. In the selfsame day Noe, and Sem, and Cham, and Japheth, his sons: his wife, and the three wives of his sons with them, went into the ark. 7:14. They and every beast according to its kind, and all the cattle in their kind, and every thing that moveth upon the earth, according to its kind, and every fowl according to its kind, all birds, and all that fly, 7:15. Went in to Noe into the ark, two and two of all flesh, wherein was the breath of life. 7:16. And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God had commanded him: and the Lord shut him in on the outside.
Lines 900–911
7:17. And the flood was forty days upon the earth: and the waters increased, and lifted up the ark on high from the earth. 7:18. For they overflowed exceedingly: and filled all on the face of the earth: and the ark was carried upon the waters. 7:19. And the waters prevailed beyond measure upon the earth: and all the high mountains under the whole heaven were covered. 7:20. The water was fifteen cubits higher than the mountains which it covered.
Lines 912–923
7:21. And all flesh was destroyed that moved upon the earth, both of fowl and of cattle, and of beasts, and of all creeping things that creep upon the earth: and all men. 7:22. And all things wherein there is the breath of life on the earth, died. 7:23. And he destroyed all the substance that was upon the earth, from man even to beast, and the creeping things and fowls of the air: and they were destroyed from the earth: and Noe only remained, and they that were with him in the ark.
Lines 924–926
7:24. And the waters prevailed upon the earth a hundred and fifty days.