Genesis 7: Repetitions in the story of Noah and the Ark

Genesis 7 continues the story of Noah. The text is choppy and awkward, with events in the story being repeated over and over. This post will highlight these repetitions by pulling out different parts of the text. My intention is not to take portions of the text out of context to enhance my argument, I am pulling out pieces to make my points more clear, but it is always best to see for yourself – you can read the full chapter here.

First up:

Noah enters the ark, then enters again, and again

From Genesis 7:1, 5
The Lord then said to Noah, “Go into the ark, you and your whole family, because I have found you righteous in this generation… And Noah did all that the Lord commanded him.

From Genesis 7:6-7
Noah was six hundred years old when the floodwaters came on the earth. And Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives entered the ark to escape the waters of the flood…

From Genesis 7:11, 13
In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, on the seventeenth day of the second month—on that day all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened… On that very day Noah and his sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth, together with his wife and the wives of his three sons, entered the ark.

Did you catch that? Noah enters the ark, then enters again to escape the flood, then the floodwaters begin to fall again, and Noah and his family enter the ark… Huh?

Next up is the gathering of the animals. Taking some of the same verses shown above and adding in parts about the animals:

The animals are gathered in pairs, then gathered again, and again

From Genesis 7:1-2, 5
The Lord then said to Noah, “Go into the ark, you and your whole family, because I have found you righteous in this generation. Take with you seven pairs of every kind of clean animal, a male and its mate, and one pair of every kind of unclean animal, a male and its mate… And Noah did all that the Lord commanded him.

From Genesis 7:6, 8-9
Noah was six hundred years old when the floodwaters came on the earth… Pairs of clean and unclean animals, of birds and of all creatures that move along the ground, male and female, came to Noah and entered the ark, as God had commanded Noah.

From Genesis 7:11, 13-15
In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, on the seventeenth day of the second month—on that day all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened… On that very day Noah and his sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth, together with his wife and the wives of his three sons, entered the ark. They had with them every wild animal according to its kind… Pairs of all creatures that have the breath of life in them came to Noah and entered the ark.

There’s a lot of overlap between these 2 examples, so I think it’s worth posting the full text of Genesis 7:1-16 so that you can read the whole thing together:

The Lord then said to Noah, “Go into the ark, you and your whole family, because I have found you righteous in this generation. Take with you seven pairs of every kind of clean animal, a male and its mate, and one pair of every kind of unclean animal, a male and its mate, and also seven pairs of every kind of bird, male and female, to keep their various kinds alive throughout the earth. Seven days from now I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights, and I will wipe from the face of the earth every living creature I have made.”

And Noah did all that the Lord commanded him.

Noah was six hundred years old when the floodwaters came on the earth. And Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives entered the ark to escape the waters of the flood. Pairs of clean and unclean animals, of birds and of all creatures that move along the ground, male and female, came to Noah and entered the ark, as God had commanded Noah. And after the seven days the floodwaters came on the earth.

In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, on the seventeenth day of the second month—on that day all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened. And rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights.

On that very day Noah and his sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth, together with his wife and the wives of his three sons, entered the ark. They had with them every wild animal according to its kind, all livestock according to their kinds, every creature that moves along the ground according to its kind and every bird according to its kind, everything with wings. Pairs of all creatures that have the breath of life in them came to Noah and entered the ark. The animals going in were male and female of every living thing, as God had commanded Noah. Then the Lord shut him in.

For the rest of the chapter, the repetitions continue. From verses 17-23, it seems each line is repeated. First, here is the whole passage:

For forty days the flood kept coming on the earth, and as the waters increased they lifted the ark high above the earth. The waters rose and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the water. They rose greatly on the earth, and all the high mountains under the entire heavens were covered. The waters rose and covered the mountains to a depth of more than fifteen cubits. Every living thing that moved on land perished—birds, livestock, wild animals, all the creatures that swarm over the earth, and all mankind. Everything on dry land that had the breath of life in its nostrils died. Every living thing on the face of the earth was wiped out; people and animals and the creatures that move along the ground and the birds were wiped from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those with him in the ark.

Here it is again, step by step, to point out the repetitions:

For forty days the flood kept coming on the earth, and as the waters increased they lifted the ark high above the earth.

Then again:
The waters rose and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the water.

They rose greatly on the earth, and all the high mountains under the entire heavens were covered.

Then again:
The waters rose and covered the mountains to a depth of more than fifteen cubits.

Every living thing that moved on land perished—birds, livestock, wild animals, all the creatures that swarm over the earth, and all mankind.

Then again:
Everything on dry land that had the breath of life in its nostrils died.

Then again:
Every living thing on the face of the earth was wiped out; people and animals and the creatures that move along the ground and the birds were wiped from the earth.

I have read theories on why these repetitions exist, of how multiple manuscripts were woven together to create the Genesis we know today. I’ve also read refutations of these theories, claiming that repetitions were normal in writings of the time of the Bible. I am not going to dig into that debate in this post. Right now, I am just pointing out that this story in particular seems very awkward and repetitive in a way that I have not experienced in other parts of the Bible. If the repetition was normal, I would expect to see it throughout, but I can’t think of another passage I’ve read that has been as repetitive as this one.

When I was a kid I never noticed the awkwardness of the story. I read the Bible as a collection of holy verses, one by one, and I had been taught the stories of Genesis so many times, it was very difficult to take a step back and really read it. But coming back to it years later with fresh eyes, and also having been exposed to different points of view, I can’t un-see the awkwardness. The more I read it, the more I just think “….what?” But please don’t take my word for it – read it in its entirety (available here).