Genesis 6:19-21

6:19 You must bring into the ark two of every kind of living creature from all flesh, ¹  male and female, to keep them alive ²  with you. 6:20 Of the birds after their kinds, and of the cattle after their kinds, and of every creeping thing of the ground after its kind, two of every kind will come to you so you can keep them alive. ³  6:21 And you must take ⁴  for yourself every kind of food ⁵  that is eaten, ⁶  and gather it together. ⁷  It will be food for you and for them.

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¹ tn Heb “from all life, from all flesh, two from all you must bring.” The disjunctive clause at the beginning of the verse (note the conjunction with prepositional phrase, followed by two more prepositional phrases in apposition and then the imperfect verb form) signals a change in mood from announcement (vv. 17-18) to instruction.

² tn The Piel infinitive construct לְהַחֲיוֹת (lÿhakhayot, here translated as “to keep them alive”) shows the purpose of bringing the animals into the ark – saving life. The Piel of this verb means here “to preserve alive.”

³ tn Heb “to keep alive.”

⁴ tn The verb is a direct imperative: “And you, take for yourself.” The form stresses the immediate nature of the instruction; the pronoun underscores the directness.

⁵ tn Heb “from all food,” meaning “some of every kind of food.”

⁶ tn Or “will be eaten.”

⁷ tn Heb “and gather it to you.”