Genesis 6:14

New American Standard Bible

"Make for yourself an ark of gopher wood; you shall make the ark with compartments, and cover it inside and out with pitch.

Parallel Translations

English Standard Version
Make yourself an ark of gopher wood. Make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and out with pitch.

Update Bible Version
Make an ark of gopher wood. You shall make the ark with a series of compartments, and shall pitch it inside and outside with pitch.

New Century Version
Build a boat of cypress wood for yourself. Make rooms in it and cover it inside and outside with tar.

New English Translation
Make for yourself an ark of cypress wood. Make rooms in the ark, and cover it with pitch inside and out.

Webster's Bible Translation
Make thee an ark of gopher-wood: rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch.

World English Bible
Make an ark of gopher wood. You shall make rooms in the ark, and shall seal it inside and outside with pitch.

Amplified Bible
"Make yourself an ark of gopher wood; make in it rooms (stalls, pens, coops, nests, cages, compartments) and coat it inside and out with pitch (bitumen).

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Make thou to thee a schip of trees hewun and planed; thou schalt make dwellynge placis in the schip, and thou schalt anoynte it with pitche with ynne and with outforth.

Young's Literal Translation
`Make for thyself an ark of gopher-wood; rooms dost thou make with the ark, and thou hast covered it within and without with cypress;

Berean Standard Bible
Make for yourself an ark of gopher wood; make rooms in the ark and coat it with pitch inside and out.

Contemporary English Version
Get some good lumber and build a boat. Put rooms in it and cover it with tar inside and out.

Complete Jewish Bible
Make yourself an ark of gofer-wood; you are to make the ark with rooms and cover it with pitch both outside and inside.

American Standard Version
Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch.

Bible in Basic English
Make for yourself an ark of gopher wood with rooms in it, and make it safe from the water inside and out.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
Make thee an Arke of Pine trees: Habitations shalt thou make in the arke, and shalt pitch it within and with out with pitche.

Darby Translation
Make thyself an ark of gopher wood: [with] cells shalt thou make the ark; and pitch it inside and outside with pitch.

Easy-to-Read Version
Use cypress wood and build a boat for yourself. Make rooms in the boat and cover it with tar inside and out.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
Make thee an ark of gopher wood; with rooms shalt thou make the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch.

King James Version (1611)
Make thee an Arke of Gopher-wood: roomes shalt thou make in the arke, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch.

King James Version
Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch.

New Life Bible
Make a large boat of gopher wood for yourself. Build rooms in the boat. And cover it inside and out with tar.

New Revised Standard
Make yourself an ark of cypress wood; make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and out with pitch.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Make for thee an ark of timbers of gopher, Grooms, shalt thou make with the ark, - and - thou shalt cover it within and without with pitch.

Geneva Bible (1587)
Make thee an Arke of pine trees: thou shalt make cabines in the Arke, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch.

George Lamsa Translation
Make yourself an ark of gopher wood; make rooms in the ark and daub it without and within with pitch.

Good News Translation
Build a boat for yourself out of good timber; make rooms in it and cover it with tar inside and out.

Douay-Rheims Bible
Make thee an ark of timber planks: thou shalt make little rooms in the ark, and thou shalt pitch it within and without.

Revised Standard Version
Make yourself an ark of gopher wood; make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and out with pitch.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And the Lord God said to Noe, A period of all men is come before me; because the earth has been filled with iniquity by them, and, behold, I destroy them and the earth.

English Revised Version
Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch.

Christian Standard Bible®
“Make yourself an ark of gopher wood. Make rooms in the ark, and cover it with pitch inside and outside.

Hebrew Names Version
Make a teivah of gofer wood. You shall make rooms in the teivah, and shall seal it inside and outside with kofer.

Lexham English Bible
Make for yourself an ark of cypress wood; you must make the ark with rooms, then you must cover it with pitch, inside and outside.

Literal Translation
Make an ark of cyprus timbers for yourself. You shall make rooms in the ark; and you shall cover it with asphalt inside and out.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Make the an Arcke of Pyne tre, and make chambers in it, and pitch it within and without with pitch

THE MESSAGE
"Build yourself a ship from teakwood. Make rooms in it. Coat it with pitch inside and out. Make it 450 feet long, seventy-five feet wide, and forty-five feet high. Build a roof for it and put in a window eighteen inches from the top; put in a door on the side of the ship; and make three decks, lower, middle, and upper.

New King James Version
Make yourself an ark of gopherwood; make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and outside with pitch.

New Living Translation
"Build a large boat from cypress wood and waterproof it with tar, inside and out. Then construct decks and stalls throughout its interior.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
"Make for yourself an ark of gopher wood; you shall make the ark with rooms, and shall cover it inside and out with pitch.

Legacy Standard Bible
Make for yourself an ark of gopher wood; you shall make the ark with rooms, and you shall cover it inside and out with pitch.

Contextual Overview

¹³ Then God said to Noah, "The end of humanity has come before Me; for the earth is filled with violence because of people; and behold, I am about to destroy them with the earth. ¹⁴ "Make for yourself an ark of gopher wood; you shall make the ark with compartments, and cover it inside and out with pitch.¹⁵ "This is how you shall make it: the length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, its width fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits. ¹⁶ "You shall make a window for the ark, and finish it to a cubit from the top; and put the door of the ark on the side; you shall make it with lower, second, and third decks. ¹⁷ "Now behold, I Myself am bringing the flood of water upon the earth, to destroy all flesh in which there is the breath of life, from under heaven; everything that is on the earth shall perish. ¹⁸ "But I will establish My covenant with you; and you shall enter the ark—you, your sons, your wife, and your sons' wives with you. ¹⁹ "And of every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring two of every kind into the ark, to keep them alive with you; they shall be male and female. ²⁰ "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. ²¹ "As for you, take for yourself some of every food that is edible, and gather it to yourself; and it shall be food for you and them."

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

am 1536, bc 2468

Make: Matthew 24:38, Luke 17:27, 1 Peter 3:20

rooms: Heb. nests

shalt pitch: Exodus 2:3

Cross-References

Exodus 2:3
But when she could no longer hide him, she got him a papyrus basket and covered it with tar and pitch. Then she put the child in it and set it among the reeds by the bank of the Nile.

Matthew 24:38
"For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark,

Luke 17:27
people were eating, they were drinking, they were marrying, and they were being given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all.

1 Peter 3:20
who once were disobedient when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah, during the construction of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through the water.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Make thee an ark of Gopher wood,.... It is not called a ship, for it was not made for sailing to any distant parts, but an ark or chest, being like one, flat bottomed, and ridged and sloping upwards, and was made for floating on the waters for a little way. So Lucian c, and other Heathen writers, call it λαρναξ, "an ark" or "chest": this was made of "Gopher wood", which all the Targums, and the more ancient Rabbins, understand of cedar wood; some the box tree, as the Arabic version; others, the pine; others, fir; the Mahometans say it was the Indian plane tree; and others, the turpentine tree: but the cypress tree bids fairest to be the wood of which, the ark was made, as Fuller d, Bochart e, and others f have shown; that being nearest to "Gopher" in sound, and being a wood very durable and incorruptible, and fit for shipping. Alexander made a navy of cypress trees in the groves and gardens about Babylon, as Strabo g relates: where this ark was made, is not easy to say: some think in Palestine; others, near Mount Caucasus, on the borders of India; others, in China: but it is most likely it was near the garden of Eden, where Noah lived, and not far from Ararat, where the ark rested. Bochart h conjectures, that "Gopher" is the name of the place where it was made, as well as of the wood of which it was made; and that it might be Cupressetum or Cyparisson, which Strabo i places in Assyria. How long Noah was building the ark is variously conjectured: a Jewish k writer says fifty two years; and an Arabic writer l an hundred years; others think Noah was building it the whole one hundred and twenty years m, the time of God's longsuffering and forbearance, which some conclude from 1 Peter 3:20 but though it would require not a few years to build such a vessel, and prepare everything necessary for the use of it, yet one would think it should not take so many years as the least account gives unto it: it may be observed, the order is, "make thou", or "for thyself" n; for thy use and benefit, for the saving of thyself and family, as well as for the preservation of the several creatures which were for the service of him and his posterity:

rooms shalt thou make in the ark; or "nests" o; little apartments, and many of them for the several creatures, and for their provisions, as well as for Noah and his family. The Targum of Jonathan gives us the number of them, paraphrasing the words thus,

"one hundred and fifty cells shalt thou make for the ark on the left hand, and ten apartments in the middle to put food in, and five cabins on the right, and five on the left:''

and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch; it was pitched without to keep out the waters, and that they might more easily slide off, and to preserve the ark from being eat with worms, or hurt with the wind and sun; and it was pitched within, to take off the ill smell that might arise from the several creatures, as well as for the better security of the ark. Some take it to be bitumen, a sort of clay or slime like pitch, such as was used at the building of Babel, and of the walls of Babylon. De Dieu conjectures it was that kind of bitumen which the Arabs calls Kaphura, which agrees in sound with the word here used; but why not the pitch of the pine tree, or the rosin of the cypress tree, and especially the latter, if the ark was made of the wood of it p?

c De Dea Syria. d Miscellan. Sacr. l. 4. c. 5. e Phaleg. l. 1. c. 4. col. 22, 23. f Vid. Scheuchzer. Physic. Sacr. vol. 1. p. 35. g Geograph, l. 16. p. 510. h Ut supra. (Phaleg. l. 1. c. 4. col. 22, 23.) i Ib. p. 508. k Pirke Eliezer, c. 23. l Elmacinus, p. 11. apud Hottinger, Smegma, l. 1. c. 8. p. 249. m Shalshalet Hakabala, fol. 1, 2. n לך "tibi", Pagninus, Montanus, &c. o קנים "nidos", Pagninus, Montanus. p Vid. Scheuchzer. p. 35.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

- Section VI - The Deluge

- XXIII. The Ark

9. דור dôr “age, time from birth to death,” applied either to an individual or the whole contemporary race, running parallel with some leading individual. Hence, the “race” or “generation” living during that time.

14. תבה tēbâh “chest, ark.” It is used only of this vessel of Noah’s construction, and of the little vessel in which Moses was put Exodus 2:3, Exodus 2:5. The root, according to Furst, means “to be hollow.” אבה 'ēbeh a cognate word, signifies “a reed;” κιβωτός kibōtos Septuagint. גפר goper α. λ., perhaps “fir, cypress, resinous wood.” קן qēn “nest, room; related: prepare, rear up.”

16. צהר tsohar “shining, light;” not the same as the חלון chalôn Genesis 8:6, or the aperture through which Noah let out the raven.

18. ברית b^erı̂yt “covenant; related: cut, eat, choose, decide.”

The close of the preceding document introduces the opening topic of this one. The same rule applies to all that have gone before. The generations of the skies and the land Genesis 2:4 are introduced by the finishing of the skies and the land Genesis 2:1; the generations of man in the line of Sheth Genesis 5:1, by the birth of Sheth Genesis 4:25; and now the generations of Noah, by the notice that Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. The narrative here also, as usual, reverts to a point of time before the stage of affairs described in the close of the preceding passage. Yet there is nothing here that seems to indicate a new author. The previous paragraph is historical, and closely connected with the end of the fourth chapter; and it suitably prepares for the proceedings of Noah, under the divine direction, on the eye of the deluge. We have now a recapitulation of the agent and the occasion, and then the divine commission and its execution.

Genesis 6:9-12

Here are the man and the occasion.

Genesis 6:9-10

The generations of Noah. - In the third document we had the generations of man; now we are limited to Noah, because he is himself at peace with God, and is now the head and representative of those who are in the same blessed relation. The narrative, therefore, for the first time, formally confines itself to the portion of the human family in communion with God, Noah is here characterized by two new and important epithets - “just” and “perfect.” It is to be remembered that he had already found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Adam was created good; but by disobedience he became guilty, and all his race, Noah among the rest, became involved in that guilt. To be just is to be right in point of law, and thereby entitled to all the blessings of the acquitted and justified. When applied to the guilty, this epithet implies pardon of sin among other benefits of grace. It also presupposes that spiritual change by which the soul returns from estrangement to reconciliation with God. Hence, Noah is not only just, but perfect. This attribute of character imports not only the turning from darkness to light, from error to truth, from wrong to right, but the stability of moral determination which arises from the struggle, the trial, the victory of good over evil, therein involved. The just is the right in law; the perfect is the tested in holiness. “In his ages;” among the men of his age. This phrase indicates the contrast between Noah and the men of his day. It is probable, moreover, that he was of pure descent, and in that respect also distinguished from his contemporaries who were the offspring of promiscuous intermarriage between the godly and the ungodly. “Noah walked with God,” like Henok. This is the native consequence of his victory over sin, and his acceptance with God. His sons are mentioned, as they are essentially connected with the following events.

Genesis 6:11-12

And the land was corrupt. - In contrast with Noah, the rest of the race were corrupt - entirely depraved by sin. “It was filled with violence” - with the outward exhibition of inward carnality. “And God saw this.” It was patent to the eye of Heaven. This is the ground of the following commission.

Genesis 6:13-21

The directions concerning the ark embrace the purpose to destroy the race of man Genesis 6:13, the plan and specification of the ark Genesis 6:14-16, the announcement of the deluge Genesis 6:17, the arrangements for the preservation of Noah and his family, and certain kinds of animals Genesis 6:18-21.

Genesis 6:13

The end of all flesh. - The end may mean either the point to which it tends, or the extermination of the race. The latter is the simpler. All flesh is to be understood of the whole race, while yet it does not preclude the exception of Noah and his family. This teaches us to beware of applying an inflexible literality to such terms as all, when used in the sense of ordinary conversation. “Is come before me,” is in the contemplation of my mind as an event soon to be realized. “For the land is filled with violence.” The reason. “I will destroy them.” The resolve. There is retribution here, for the words “corrupt” and “destroy” are the same in the original.

Genesis 6:14-16

The ark. - Reckoning the cubit at 1.8 feet, we find the length to be about 540, the breadth 90, and the height 54 feet. The construction of such a vessel implies great skill in carpentry. The lighting apparatus is not described so particularly that we can form any conception of it. It was probably in the roof. The roof may have been flat. “And to a cubit shalt thou finish it above.” The cubit is possibly the height of the parapet round the lighting and ventilating aperture. The opening occupied, it may be, a considerable portion of the roof, and was covered during the rain with an awning מכסה mı̂ksēh, Genesis 8:13. If, however, it was in the sides of the ark, the cubit was merely its height. It was then finished with a strong railing, which went round the whole ark, and over which the covering, above mentioned, hung down on every side. The door was in the side, and the stories were three. In each were of course many “nests” or chambers, for animals and stores. It may be curious to a mechanical mind to frame the details of this structure from the general hints here given; but it could not serve any practical end. Only the animals necessary to man, or unusual to the region covered by the deluge, required to be included in the ark. It seems likely that wild animals in general were not included. It is obvious, therefore, that we cannot calculate the number of animals preserved in the ark, or compare the space they would require with its recorded dimensions. We may rest assured that there was accommodation for all that needed to be there.

Genesis 6:17

The method of destruction is now specified. A water flood shall cover the land, in which all flesh shall perish. I, “behold,” I. This catastrophe is due to the interposition of the Creator. It does not come according to the ordinary laws of physics, but according to the higher law of ethics.

Genesis 6:18-21

The covenant with Noah. Here is the first appearance of a covenant between God and man on the face of Scripture. A covenant is a solemn compact, tacit or express, between two parties, in which each is bound to perform his part. Hence, a covenant implies the moral faculty; and wherever the moral faculty exists, there must needs be a covenant. Consequently, between God and man there was of necessity a covenant from the very beginning, though the name do not appear. At first it was a covenant of works, in regard to man; but now that works have failed, it can only be a covenant of grace to the penitent sinner. “My covenant.” The word “my” points to its original establishment with Adam. My primeval covenant, which I am resolved not to abandon. “Will I establish.” Though Adam has failed, yet will I find means of maintaining my covenant of life with the seed of the woman. “With thee.” Though all flesh be to perish through breach of my covenant, yet will I uphold it with thee. “Go into the ark.” This is the means of safety. Some may say in their hearts, this is a clumsy way to save Noah. But if he is to be saved, there must be some way. And it is not a sign of wisdom to prescribe the way to the All-wise. Rather let us reflect that the erection of this ark was a daily warning to a wicked race, a deepening lesson of reliance on God to Noah and his household, and a most salutary occupation for the progenitors of the future race of mankind. “And thy sons, etc.” Noah’s household share in the covenant.

Genesis 6:19-20

And of all the living. - For the sake of Noah, the animal species also shall be preserved, “two of each, male and female.” They are to come in pairs for propagation. The fowl, the cattle, the creeping thing or smaller animals, are to come. From this it appears that the wild animals are not included among the inmates of the ark. (See Genesis 7:2-3, Genesis 7:8.) The word “all” is not to be pressed beyond the specification of the writer. As the deluge was universal only in respect to the human race, it was not necessary to include any animals but those that were near man, and within the range of the overwhelming waters. Fodder and other provisions for a year have to be laid in.

Genesis 6:22

The obedience of Noah and the accomplishment of his task are here recorded. The building of so enormous a fabric must have occupied many years.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Genesis 6:14. Make thee an ark — תבת tebath, a word which is used only to express this vessel, and that in which Moses was preserved, Exodus 2:3; Exodus 2:5. It signifies no more than our word vessel in its common acceptation - a hollow place capable of containing persons, goods, c., without any particular reference to shape or form.

Gopher wood — Some think the cedar is meant others, the cypress. Bochart renders this probable,

1. From the appellation, supposing the Greek word κυπαρισσος, cypress, was formed from the Hebrew גפר, gopher; for take away the termination ισσος, and then gopher and κυπαρ will have a near resemblance.

2. Because the cypress is not liable to rot, nor to be injured by worms.

3. The cypress was anciently used for ship-building.

4. This wood abounded in Assyria, where it is probable Noah built the ark. After all, the word is of doubtful signification, and occurs nowhere else in the Scriptures.

The Septuagint render the place, εκ ξυλων τετπαγωνων, "of square timber;" and the Vulgate, de lignis laevigatis, "of planed timber;" so it is evident that these translators knew not what kind of wood was intended by the original. The Syriac and Arabic trifle with the passage, rendering it wicker work, as if the ark had been a great basket! Both the Targums render it cedar; and the Persian, pine or fir.