Genesis 7:9

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex)

English Translation

went by pairs to Noah into the ark, male and female, as God commanded Noah.

World English Bible · Public Domain

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Word by word

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וּנְקֵבָ֑ה

nᵉqêbâh

H5347

“and · woman”

Conjunction + Noun, Common, Feminine, Singular, Absolute

Appears 22× in the Hebrew Bible
First appears at Genesis 1:27

Full BDB Definition

Origin: from H5344

TWOT: 1409b

female - woman, female child - female animal

About this verse

These counts appear in no published source. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged text and Lemma’s own curated glosses. What Lemma adds →

14: words
11: distinct lemmas
Pentateuch: section

Notable vocabulary

The rarest word here is וּנְקֵבָ֑ה woman H5347 — appearing just 22 times in the whole Hebrew Bible.

Shared distinctive vocabulary

וּנְקֵבָ֑ה woman H5347 occurs in 22 verses of the Hebrew Bible. Also found in:

Grammatical profile

2 verbs
5 nouns
3 adjectives
2 prepositions
2 particles

Verb forms

בָּ֧אוּ Qal · Perfect
צִוָּ֥ה Piel · Perfect

Repetition

Words recur within this verse — often emphatic in Hebrew:

שְׁנַ֨יִם two H8147 ×2
נֹ֛חַ Noah H5146 ×2
אֶל to H413 ×2

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 15 words from the Hebrew and 15 from the Septuagint (LXX English) — the same length.

A rough comparison of the two English renderings, which tokenize alike — not a word-level alignment.

Word counts can differ between the Hebrew and the Greek without any difference in meaning — e.g. the Hebrew direct-object marker אֵת has no separate Greek word, and Greek often adds the article ὁ.

In the original languages it is 14 Hebrew tokens and 16 Greek tokens — but the two are counted differently (Hebrew bundles its prefixes and suffixes into one token; the Greek is in lemma form), so that isn’t a like-for-like length.

Cross-references

Topical passages linked to Genesis 7:9 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

Genesis 2:19 Out of the ground Yahweh God formed every animal of the field, and every bird of the sky, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. Whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name.
Genesis 7:16 Those who went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God commanded him; and Yahweh shut him in.
Isaiah 11:6–9 The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fattened calf together; and a little child shall lead them.
Isaiah 65:25 The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox; and dust shall be the serpent's food. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, says Yahweh.
Jeremiah 8:7 Yes, the stork in the sky knows her appointed times; and the turtle-dove and the swallow and the crane observe the time of their coming; but my people don't know Yahweh's law.
Acts 10:11–12 He saw heaven opened and a certain container descending to him, like a great sheet let down by four corners on the earth,
Galatians 3:28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
Colossians 3:11 where there can't be Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bondservant, freeman; but Christ is all, and in all.

Cross-references courtesy of OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0).

Hebrew and Greek witnesses Masoretic Hebrew ↔ Greek Septuagint

The same verse in the two great witnesses to the Old Testament, shown verse-for-verse.

These are two independent witnesses, not word-aligned to each other, and the Septuagint is shown in lemma (dictionary) form.

Hebrew Genesis 7:9 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

שְׁנַ֨יִם שְׁנַ֜יִם בָּ֧אוּ אֶל נֹ֛חַ אֶל הַתֵּבָ֖ה זָכָ֣ר וּנְקֵבָ֑ה כַּֽאֲשֶׁ֛ר צִוָּ֥ה אֱלֹהִ֖ים אֶת נֹֽחַ

went by pairs to Noah into the ark, male and female, as God commanded Noah.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX Genesis 7:9 Septuagint · lemma form

δύο δύο εἰςἔρχομαι πρός νωε εἰς ὁ κιβωτός ἄρσην καί θῆλυς καθά ἐντέλλομαι αὐτός ὁ θεός

pairs went in to Noe into the ark, male and female, as God commanded Noe.

LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) · Public Domain

On this verse, The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges discusses the Septuagint’s reading. Read the note in Commentary ↓

Hebrew: Westminster Leningrad Codex (CC BY 4.0). Greek: Septuagint (public domain); English from LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) (Public Domain). How the Septuagint differs from the Hebrew →

Targum (Aramaic paraphrase)

The Targum is the ancient Jewish Aramaic paraphrase of the Hebrew Scriptures — an interpretive translation, not the Hebrew text itself. Onkelos (literal) and Pseudo-Jonathan (expansive) render the Torah, and Jonathan the Prophets. Coverage is partial: where no permissively-licensed English translation exists for a verse, only the Aramaic is shown. This is verse-level text, not a word-by-word alignment to the Hebrew.

Targum Onkelos Torah (Genesis–Deuteronomy)

תְּרֵין תְּרֵין עַלּוּ לְוַת נֹחַ לְתֵבוֹתָא דְּכַר וְנוּקְבָא כְּמָא דִּי פַּקֵּיד יְיָ יָת נֹחַ

two and two, they entered with Noach into the ark, male and female, as the Lord had instructed Noach.

Targum Onkelos — Aramaic: “Onkelos Genesis” (public domain); “Onkelos Exodus” (public domain); “Onkelos Leviticus” (public domain); “Onkelos Numbers” (public domain); “Onkelos Deuteronomy” (public domain). English: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “J.W. Etheridge. The Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan Ben Uzziel on the Pentateuch. London: Longmans, Green, 1862” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.
Targum Pseudo-Jonathan Torah (Genesis–Deuteronomy)

תְּרֵין תְּרֵין עָאלוּ לְנחַ לְתֵבוּתָא דְכַר וְנוּקְבָא הֵיכְמָא דְפַקֵיד יְיָ יַת נחַ

two and two they entered unto Noah into the ark, male and female, as the Lord had instructed Noah.

Targum Pseudo-Jonathan — Aramaic: “Targum Jonathan on Genesis” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Exodus” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Leviticus” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Numbers” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Deuteronomy” (public domain). English: “The Targum of Jonathan ben Uzziel, trans. J. W. Etheridge, London, 1862” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.

Commentary

Notes on Genesis 7:9 from classic Christian and Jewish commentators (each source and its license shown beneath its notes). The classic Christian expositions comment on the surrounding passage and are grouped to its opening verse, so a note may address several verses; the Jewish commentaries on the Tanakh (Rashi and others) are per-verse, so they appear only where the commentator wrote on this verse.

Lemma curates 59 commentaries, every one of them public domain or Creative Commons licensed, each selected and text-cleaned for this edition rather than reprinted as found. About our sources →

Trapp's Complete Commentary

John Trapp

Gen 7:9 There went in two and two unto Noah into the ark, the male and the female, as God had commanded Noah.

Ver. 9. There went in two and two.] Of their own accord, by divine instinct. Noah was not put to the pains of hunting after them, or driving them in. Only he seems to have been six days in receiving and disposing of them in their various cells, and fetching in food. When God bids us do this or that, never stand to cast perils; but set upon the work, yield "the obedience of faith," and fear nothing. The creatures came in to Noah, without his care or cost. He had no more to do, but to take them in, and place them. The prophet alludes hereto in Isa 11:6-7, - all bloodiness and rapine aside.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Geneva Bible (1599)

Geneva Bible translators

God compelled them to present themselves to Noah, as they did before to Adam, when he gave them names, Gen. 2:19.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown

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.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne

9. two and two] Apparently these words are introduced in order to harmonize the account in this verse with the command in Gen_6:19, and with the description in Gen_7:15. There is no mention of the admission of seven, or of seven pairs, of “clean” animals.

male and female] The same phrase as in Gen_7:3, Gen_6:19 : cf. Gen_1:27. It is not the expression of Gen_7:2, “the male and his female” (see note). The compiler is following P, who gives one pair of each kind.

God] Elohim. So LXX ὁ Θεός; but the LXX text is not uniform. God. E and other MSS. κύριος; Lat. Dominus, and the Samaritan version, and the Targum, represent a text which read “Jehovah.” The work of the compiler, which is obvious in these verses, has left the reading in doubt.

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.

John Gill's Exposition

And it came to pass after seven days,.... Were ended, or on the seventh day, after God had given the orders to Noah, to prepare for his going into the ark, with his family, and all the creatures:

that the waters of the flood were upon the earth: that is, they began to be upon the earth; for it continued to rain from hence forty days and forty nights; and still the waters continued to increase, and it was an hundred and fifty days before they began to ebb.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations

They went by the secret impulse of their great Creator and Governor, (see Gen 2:19; 6:20)

two and two; of which see above, Gen 4:20.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Scofield Reference Notes

C. I. Scofield

two of every sort

Cf. Gen 7:2. 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. beasts 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.

Rashi

Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki (Rashi)

שנים שנים TWO AND TWO —In this number they were all equal — the least number was two.

באו אל נח THEY CAME TO NOAH — of their own accord (Genesis Rabbah 32).

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

Radak

Rabbi David Kimhi (Radak)

שנים שנים, in pairs. Seeing that a pair is made up of a male and a female, two pairs of each species came. כאשר צוה אלוקים את נח, the animals came of their own accord, but Noach brought them into the ark as G’d had commanded him to do.

Radak on the Tanakh — English translations: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “Eliyahu Munk, HaChut Hameshulash” (CC BY 4.0); “Rabbi Mike Feuer, Jerusalem Anthology” (CC BY 4.0); and “R. David Kimhi on the first book of Psalms, Translated by R.G. Finch, London, 1919” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.

Lesson kit

Teaching starters — assembled from the data on this page, not authored interpretation. Every prompt links to the verse data it draws on. Edit before teaching.

Genesis, in the Pentateuch, opens this verse with 14 words (11 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is nᵉqêbâh (“woman”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

The word nᵉqêbâh carries the sense “woman.” How does it shape the verse?
Genesis 1:27 shares the word «woman» with this verse. How do the two illuminate each other?
“two” occurs 2× in this one verse. What is the effect of the repetition?
These translations render this verse differently. What is at stake in choosing one wording over another?
The verb «בָּ֧אוּ» is Qal Perfect. How does its form color the action?
Reading how Trapp's Complete Commentary and Geneva Bible (1599) read this verse, where do the two commentators agree and where do they part?

Things to notice

This verse counts 14 Hebrew ↔ 16 Greek words.
These translations choose different wording for 5 words in this verse.
“two” occurs 2× in this single verse.
11 distinct Hebrew lemmas span 14 words in this verse.