Genesis 8:17

Gen 8:17 Bring forth with thee every living thing that [is] with thee, of all flesh, [both] of fowl, and of cattle, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth; that they may breed abundantly in the earth, and be fruitful, and multiply upon the earth.

Ver. 17. That they may breed abundantly.] R. Solomon thinks that not only reasonable, but unreasonable creatures also did forbear carnal copulation during the flood; {See Trapp on "Gen 7:7"} which yet Mercer holds not probable.

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.

8:17 be fruitful and multiply: See 9:1.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

17. That they may breed abundantly, etc. With these words the Lord would cheer the mind of Noah, and inspire him with confidence, that a seed had been preserved in the ark which should increase till it replenished the whole earth. In short, the renovation of the earth is promised to Noah; to the end that he may know that the world itself was inclosed in the ark, and that the solitude and devastation, at the sight of which his heart might faint, would not be perpetual.

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.

17. that they may breed abundantly] The same word as in Gen_1:20, “let the waters bring forth abundantly” (see note). Cf. Gen_9:7.

be fruitful, and multiply] as in Gen_1:22; Gen_1:24-28. The repetition of the Creation command marks the beginning of a new era in the history of the world. The fuller blessing, according to P, is given in chap. 9 (Gen_8:1-7). For the detailed enumeration in Gen_8:18-19, cf. Gen_7:13-14 P.

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.

And Noah went forth,.... Being obedient to the divine command, and no doubt with great pleasure in his countenance, and with a heart full of thankfulness for so great a deliverance:

and his sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives with him: in all eight persons, and no more were saved in the ark, as Peter observes, Pe1 3:20 and the Arabic writers say (a), Noah and his sons built a city near the place where they came out of the ark, and called it Themanin, giving this as a reason of the name, we are eight, that is, who have escaped; so Berosus says (b), that the earth being dried of the waters, there were then only eight men in Armenia, from whence all mankind sprung.

(a) Elmacleus, p. 12. Patricides, p. 10. apud Hottinger. Smegma Oriental. l. 1. c. 8. p. 282. (b) Hist. l. 2. fol. 11. 1.

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

Increase. Hebrew, "let them increase." This is spoken of the brute creation, the blessing is given to men. (chap. ix.) --- Neither Noe’s family, nor any of the animals, had any young in the ark. (Calmet)

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).

Quest. How could these creatures which came out of the ark in Asia get thence to America, or to the islands remote from the continent?

Answ. 1. As for America, it is thought by divers learned men, that it is either joined to this continent, or separated from it only by a narrow sea, which divers living creatures could easily swim over.

2. Many living creatures are, and always were, transported by men in their vessels, either for their supply, or profit, or diversion, or other ends, and thence might easily be propagated there.

3. The same God who made all these creatures, and caused them to come first to Adam, and afterwards to Noah, could afterwards both incline and empower them to go whither he pleased, without the advice of these vain men, who will believe nothing of God which themselves either do not see or cannot do.

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

הוצא BRING FORTH — The Ketib is הוצא and the Keri היצא —;היצא means, “tell them to go forth”, הוצא means, ‘‘if they do not wish (if they refuse) to go forth, you make them go out”.

ושרצו בארץ THAT THEY MAY BRING FORTH ABUNDANTLY IN THE EARTH but not in the Ark: this teaches that cattle and fowls also were separated, male and female, in the Ark (Genesis Rabbah 34:8).

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.

כל החיה, a general clause followed by a specific clause. The meaning of the expression כל החיה is “all the living creatures,” as in מכל בשר on a previous occasion, whereas the meaning of the words later on in 9,10 is the same. The verse speaks about the life-force {abstract, i.e. נפש החיה, often equated in the Torah with the life-blood, Ed.] hence the prefixes ב before the words עוף, בהמה כל הרמש.

הוצא, the letter ו in the middle instead of the letter י is not unusual in verbs whose first root letter is supplanted by the letter ו. Nonetheless the ו is read as if it were a י. We have a similar construction in Psalms 5,9 הישר לפני דרכך, which is spelled הושר, “make Your way straight before me.” Proverbs 4,25 יישירו נגדך is another such example. The meaning of the instruction is: “take them out just as you have brought them in!”

ושרצו בארץ, a duplication of the blessing/command after the living creatures had been created (Genesis 1,22. The reason why this time G’d uses the word שרץ previously applied to the multiple births by fish, (1,20) is because this time only a very few of each species left the ark so that they needed the encouragement by being told they would once more be very numerous. ושרצו ופרו ורבו, this is a most unusual sequence, beginning with the word שרצו, implying the very least individuality, switching to relative individuality by the use of the word פרו, implying single births, and ending with the word רבו implying single births at frequent intervals (compare our comments in chapter 1 20 and 28 on the meaning of these terms. In Bereshit Rabbah 34,8 the emphasis in this verse is on the word בארץ, meaning that whereas it had been forbidden to engage in reproduction while in the ark, now this could all be made up for.

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.