Of fowls also of the air by sevens, the male and the female; to keep seed alive upon the face of all the earth.

of the birds also of the heavens, seven and seven, male and female, to keep seed alive upon the face of all the earth.

But of the beasts that are unclean two and two, the male and female. Of the fowls also of the air seven and seven,the male and the female: that seed may be saved upon the face of the whole earth.

Also of the fowl of the heavens by sevens, male and female; to keep seed alive on the face of all the earth.

of the fowl also of the air, seven and seven, male and female: to keep seed alive upon the face of all the earth.

Of fowls of the air also by sevens, the male and the female; to keep seed alive on the face of all the earth.

also, of fowl of the heavens seven pairs, a male and a female, to keep alive seed on the face of all the earth;

And of the birds of the air, seven males and seven females, so that their seed may still be living on the face of the earth.

Also of the clean birds of the sky, seven pairs, a male and a female, and of all the unclean birds, one pair, a male and a female, to preserve their offspring on the surface of all the earth.

But also from the birds of the air, take seven and seven, the male and the female, so that offspring may be saved upon the face of the whole earth.

Etiam ex volatili coeli septena, masculum et foemellam: ut vivum conservetur semen in superficie omnis terrae.

To keep seed alive upon the face of all the earth. That is, that hence offspring might be born. But this is referred to Noah; for although, properly speaking, God alone gives life, yet God here refers to those duties which he had enjoined upon his servant: and it is with respect to his appointed office, that God commands him to collect animals that he may keep seed alive. Nor is this extraordinary, seeing that the ministers of the gospel are said, in a sense, to confer spiritual life. In the clause which next follows, upon the face of all the earth, there is a twofold consolation: that the waters, after they had covered the earth for a time, would again cease, so that the dry surface of the earth should appear; and then, that not only should Noah himself survive, but, by the blessing of God, the number of animals should be so increased, as to spread far and wide through the whole world. Thus, in the midst of ruin, future restoration is promised to him. Moses is very earnest in showing that God took care, by every means, to retain Noah in obedience to his word, and that the holy man entirely acquiesced. This doctrine is very useful, especially when God either promises or threatens anything incredible, since men do not willingly receive what seems to them improbable. For nothing was less accordant with the judgment of the flesh, than that the world should be destroyed by its Creator; because this was to subvert the whole order of nature which he had established. Wherefore, unless Noah had been well admonished of this terrible judgment of God, he never would have ventured to believe it; lest he should conceive of God as acting in contradiction to himself. The word hyqvm (hayekom,) which Moses here uses has its origin from a word signifying to stand; but it properly means whatever lives and flourishes.

Of fowls also of the air by sevens, the male and his female,.... That is, of such as were clean; seven couple of these were to be brought into the ark, for the like use as of the clean beasts, and those under the law; and so at this time, and here meant were turtledoves, and young pigeons that were for sacrifice; and the rest were for food: and the design of bringing both into the ark was:
to keep seed alive upon the face of all the earth; that the species of creatures might be continued, both of beasts and birds, clean and unclean.