Of the birds after their kind, of animals after their kind, and of every creeping thing of the earth after its kind, two of every kind will come to you to keep them alive.
Parallel translations
- WEB 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.
- KJV 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.
- BSB Two of every kind of bird and animal and crawling creature will come to you to be kept alive.
- NASB Of the birds according to their kind, and of the animals according to their kind, of every crawling thing of the ground according to its kind, two of every kind will come to you to keep them alive.
- NLT Pairs of every kind of bird, and every kind of animal, and every kind of small animal that scurries along the ground, will come to you to be kept alive.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Birds, livestock, and creeping things will come to Noah by kinds to be kept alive. God himself directs the creatures to the ark.
Overview
That the animals "will come" to Noah shows God's sovereign superintendence over creation, drawing them to the place of safety. The repeated phrase "after their kind" echoes the ordered creation of Genesis 1. God's careful preservation of every kind testifies to his faithfulness to sustain the world he made.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 6
- Acts 10:11–12He saw heaven opened and a certain container descending to him, like a great sheet let down by four corners on the earth,
- Gen 2:19Out 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 became its name.
- John 5:40Yet you will not come to me, that you may have life.
- Gen 7:8–16Clean animals, unclean animals, birds, and everything that creeps on the ground
- Gen 1:20–24God said, “Let the waters abound with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth in the open expanse of the sky.”
- Gen 1:28God blessed them. God said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the sky, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
From the first promise that the seed of the woman would crush the serpent (3:15), through Abraham's blessing to all nations and Judah's coming ruler, Genesis sows every seed that flowers in Christ — the true offspring, the better Adam, the ram caught for Isaac.
How Genesis 6:20 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.