UNROLL
The finished ark, a huge closed wooden box, standing on a dark plain as gray curtains of rain sweep in across the ground.

The Book of

Genesis 7

Seven days of waiting, then the rain. One family inside, and a door shut by God Himself.

24 verses≈ 4 min4 peopleBSB

Images are artistic interpretations.

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In this chapter

Where we are

  1. 1–11BeginningsCreation, fall, flood, BabelChapter 7
  2. 12–24AbrahamThe call and the promise
  3. 25–36Isaac and JacobThe promise passed on
  4. 37–50JosephGod meant it for good

The Great Flood

God
God

Then the LORD said to Noah, “Go into the ark, you and all your family, because I have found you righteous in this generation.

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You are to take with you seven pairs of every kind of clean animal, a male and its mate; a pair of every kind of unclean animal, a male and its mate; and seven pairs of every kind of bird of the air, male and female, to preserve their offspring on the face of all the earth. For 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 thing I have made.”

And Noah did all that the LORD had commanded him.

Genesis 7:5

Now Noah was 600 years old when the floodwaters came upon the earth.

And Noah and his wife, with his sons and their wives, entered the ark to escape the waters of the flood. The clean and unclean animals, the birds, and everything that crawls along the ground came to Noah to enter the ark, two by two, male and female, as God had commanded Noah.

Reflect

All that the LORD commanded

Twice in a few verses Genesis says it: “Noah did all that the LORD had commanded him,” and the animals came “as God had commanded Noah.” Noah had no rain yet, only God’s word and seven days to wait. Where is God asking you to obey before you can see why? Write down one step you can take this week.

And after seven days the floodwaters came upon the earth.

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

Genesis 7:11–12

On that very day Noah entered the ark, along with his sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and his wife, and the three wives of his sons— they and every kind of wild animal, livestock, crawling creature, bird, and winged creature.

They came to Noah to enter the ark, two by two of every creature with the breath of life. And they entered, the male and female of every living thing, as God had commanded Noah.

Then the LORD shut him in.

Genesis 7:16

Pray

Shut in by God

Noah didn’t close the door. “Then the LORD shut him in.” Outside, the waters were coming; inside, Noah’s family was kept by God’s own hand. Thank God that in Christ you are kept safe by Him, not by your own grip. Bring Him whatever storm is rising around you today, and rest in His keeping.

The ark alone and very small on a vast calm gray sea under a low sky, the rain thinning.

And every living thing that moved upon the earth perished—birds, livestock, animals, every creature that swarms upon the earth, and all mankind. Of all that was on dry land, everything that had the breath of life in its nostrils died. And every living thing on the face of the earth was destroyed—man and livestock, crawling creatures and birds of the air; they were blotted out from the earth, and only Noah and those with him in the ark remained.

0:27

Narrated by Bob Souer · BSB audio, public domain

And the waters prevailed upon the earth for 150 days.

Question

Quick question

The rain and the waters keep different clocks.

The rain fell for forty days. How long did the waters prevail upon the earth?

You’ve experienced

Genesis 7

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A verse to carry with you

And Noah did all that the LORD had commanded him.

Genesis 7:5

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