And Hashem said to Noah: "Come you and all your house into the ark; for you have I seen righteous before Me in this generation.
verse value 3386 — יְהֹוָה֙ = 26 (Hashem)
Insights
Verse structure: 12 words, 55 letters. Notable word values: "Hashem" (יְהֹוָה֙) = 26, the value of the divine name Hashem. The shortest word is "to·Noah" (לְנֹ֔חַ, 3 letters) and the longest is "and·all·your·household" (וְכׇל־בֵּיתְךָ֖, 7 letters). 3 words in this verse appear nowhere else in Genesis. Unique to this verse in Genesis (hapax): "come·you" (בֹּֽא־אַתָּ֥ה), "and·all·your·household" (וְכׇל־בֵּיתְךָ֖), "in·the·generation" (בַּדּ֥וֹר). 12 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "and·said" (root אמר, 604x in Genesis); "come·you" (root בוא, 213x in Genesis); "for·you" (root כי, 167x in Genesis). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'into·the·ark', dividing the verse into phrases of 6 and 6 words. Full calculation: וַיֹּ֤אמֶר [and·said] (257) + יְהֹוָה֙ [Hashem] (26) + לְנֹ֔חַ [to·Noah] (88) + בֹּֽא־אַתָּ֥ה [come·you] (409) + וְכׇל־בֵּיתְךָ֖ [and·all·your·household] (488) + אֶל־הַתֵּבָ֑ה [into·the·ark] (443) + כִּֽי־אֹתְךָ֥ [for·you] (451) + רָאִ֛יתִי [I·have·seen] (621) + צַדִּ֥יק [righteous] (204) + לְפָנַ֖י [before·Me] (170) + בַּדּ֥וֹר [in·the·generation] (212) + הַזֶּֽה [this] (17) = 3386.
Onkelos
And Hashem said to Noah: Come, you and all the people of your household, into the ark, for I have seen that you are righteous before Me in this generation.
Rashi
ראיתי צדיק [THEE] HAVE I SEEN RIGHTEOUS — It does not say “righteous and wholehearted” (as it does at the beginning of the Sedrah); hence we may infer that only a part of a man’s good qualities should be enumerated in his presence (since here God is speaking to Noah and calls him only “righteous”), but that in his absence the whole of his good qualities may be told (since when the Torah speaks about him in the earlier passage it calls him “righteous and wholehearted”) (Eruvin 18b).
Ramban
AND THE ETERNAL SAID TO NOAH. G-d informed Noah that with the attribute of mercy [as indicated by the use of the Tetragrammaton, “the Eternal,”] He will save him and his family and that He will give life to their seed for all generations. This is the meaning of the phrase, to keep seed alive upon the face of all the earth. At first He said, to keep them alive with thee; but now with the attribute of mercy He hinted to him concerning the sacrifice to inform him that he will have regard for his offering and that by the merit of his offering, the world will exist, never again to be cut off by the waters of the flood. This is why the Tetragrammaton is mentioned here for in all matters concerning the sacrifices, Scripture does not mention Elokim (G-d), as I will elucidate when I reach there with the help of G-d. COME THOU AND ALL THY HOUSE INTO THE ARK. Noah constructed the ark many days before the flood, and when the time of the flood arrived on the tenth day of the second month, He again commanded him that he and all his household come into the ark. This is why He said to him at first: thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons’ wives with thee. He thereby informed him that on account of his merit alone they will be saved since He did not say, “Ye [in the plural] I have seen righteous before Me.” And He commanded that he take and bring of the clean beasts and clean fowl seven and seven, and then He informed him of the day of the flood, at which time he was to come into the ark. And Noah did so for in the selfsame day came Noah… into the ark. This refers to the day when the rains began, namely, the seventeenth day of the second month. This is the meaning of [the verse: And Noah came in… into the ark] because of the waters of the flood. But Rashi wrote: “Noah also was one of those who have little faith, and he did not enter the ark until the waters forced him to do so.” In the words of Bereshith Rabbah:9. “Noah was lacking in faith. Had the waters not reached his ankles he would not have entered the ark.” But if so, let him say that Noah did not enter there until the waters greatly increased and covered the whole face of the earth and he saw that he was drowning!
Sforno
כי אותך ראיתי צדיק, not your family, therefore, אתה וכל ביתך, I will let them escape only on account of your merit.
Or HaChaim
ויאמד…בא אל התיבה. G'd said…."enter the ark!" Why did G'd have to repeat here that He had seen that Noach was a righteous man in his generation? G'd may have feared that Noach would misinterpret the command to enter the ark together with all his immediate family. He might have thought a) that every family member would be saved due to his or her individual merit; in that case the Torah should not have addressed the command to build the ark to Noach in the singular; b) he might have thought that his wife, children, and their respective wives were being saved because they had not yet reached the age of accountability. If Noach had thought this he might have been tempted to invite all those of his friends who were young enough to share the ark with him in order to survive. Even if he had not done so on his own initiative, he might have wondered why all these youngsters were doomed to perish. G'd told Noach once more that He had found only him as a righteous person at that time in order to lay to rest any of the other ideas Noach might have had on the subject. He now understood that any youngster who did not have a righteous father was caught in the sins of his father who was punished to die without issue. The statement of our sages that Jewish minors have a share in the world to come, whereas Gentile minors do not (Kohelet Rabbah 4,1 and Avot de Rabbi Nathan 36,1), may be based on our verse. In Noach's generation everyone was considered an idolator and it was reasonable to assume that the children would take after their fathers. Noach, on the other hand, took a more optimistic view of the possible development of the minors. G'd therefore had to tell him that he could not save any youngsters barrring his own.
Chizkuni
ויאמר ה׳, “The Lord said:” The previous time G-d had been reported as speaking to Noach, (6,13) it was His attribute of Justice speaking, whereas here it refers to His attribute of Mercy addressing him.
Kli Yakar
“For I have seen you as righteous before Me in this generation.” The reason He didn’t say this to him immediately when He commanded him to build the ark was because there was still doubt whether they might repent, and furthermore, Methuselah was still alive, so how could He say For I have seen you as righteous? And after God waited the seven days of mourning for Methuselah, as it is said For in seven days more (Genesis 7:4). What is the meaning of the word more? It teaches that this time period was equivalent to the 120 years, for just as He waited 120 years for them to perhaps repent, so too He waited these seven days of mourning for them to perhaps repent, because through mourning and eulogy the living take it to heart. And after they persisted in their rebellion, He said For I have seen you as righteous before Me. And the reason it doesn’t say “righteous and perfect” is because it was already said he was perfect in his generations (Genesis 6:9). This means that several generations passed over Noah and he was perfect in all of them, meaning he maintained one consistent level in his righteousness. Therefore it says For I have seen you as righteous before Me in this generation, for what need is there to mention that he was perfect also in previous generations, since his salvation depends on where he stands in his current generation, and what has passed has passed. And according to what was written above, the term “perfect” refers to abstaining from sexual immorality, while “righteous” means that he didn’t steal but rather gave righteously from his own possessions. Since their final judgment was sealed only because of theft, therefore He said For I have seen you as righteous. Thus you are not included in this sealed fate. And He mentioned righteous before Me because the generation of the flood would steal less than a perutah’s worth and would be justified before the judges, but nevertheless they were not innocent in heavenly judgment. But you are righteous even before Me because you didn’t take from others even less than a perutah’s worth.
Tur HaArokh
ויאמר ה' אל נח, “The Lord said to Noach, etc.” the use of the tetragram indicated to Noach that he was being saved as a manifestation of Gd’s attribute of Mercy, at work on his behalf and that of his offspring. בא אתה וכל ביתך אל התיבה, “enter the ark, you and your whole family.” Seeing that Noach had spent many years building the ark, now that the time for the deluge had drawn near, G’d instructed him to make his home forthwith inside the ark together with his family. Seeing that originally, G’d had described what would happen to him with the words: אתה ובניך ואשתך ונשי בניך אתך, “you and your sons and your wife and your sons’ wives with you,” it was made clear now by not listing his wife and children individually, that they were being saved due to Noach’s merit, not due to their own merit. The absence of the word אתך on this occasion makes plain that they were not considered on a moral par with their father/husband or father-in-law. Had they been, the Torah would have written אתכם ראיתי צדיקים, “I have viewed you (pl.) as righteous people, etc.” G’d continued to order him to take the extra “pure” domestic animals and birds, as well as telling him the date on which the deluge would commence.
Of every clean beast you shall take to you seven and seven, each with his mate; and of the beasts that are not clean two [and two], each with his mate;
verse value 5053
Insights
Verse structure: 16 words, 67 letters. The shortest word is "not" (לֹ֣א, 2 letters) and the longest is "and·from·the·cattle" (וּמִן־הַבְּהֵמָ֡ה, 8 letters). Words sharing gematria 713: and·his·mate, and·his·mate. 1 word in this verse appears nowhere else in Genesis. Unique to this verse in Genesis (hapax): "you·shall·take" (תִּֽקַּח־לְךָ֛). The root בהמה appears 2 times in this verse. 11 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "which" (root אשר, 313x in Genesis); "man" (root איש, 153x in Genesis); "and·his·mate" (root אשה, 148x in Genesis). First appearance of the root טהור ("the·clean") in Genesis. The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'and·his·mate', dividing the verse into phrases of 8 and 8 words.
Onkelos
Of every clean animal you shall take for yourself seven, seven, male and female; and of the animal that is not clean, two, male and female.
Rashi
הטהורה CLEAN—It means those cattle which will in future be permitted to Israel as clean; we thus learn that Noah studied the Torah. שבעה שבעה SEVEN AND SEVEN — so many, in order that he might offer some of them as a sacrifice when leaving the Ark (Genesis Rabbah 34:9).
Sforno
הטהורה, at that time all of the pure animals [including free roaming ones] were acceptable as potential offerings to G’d.
Or HaChaim
מכל הבהמה הטהורה תקח לך שבעה. "Take with you for yourself seven (pairs) each of the pure mammals." The expression תקח לך has a dual meaning. 1) He should make the effort to secure these animals as his eventual "payment" [expression of his gratitude to G'd for being saved. Ed.]. The words "for your own self" are therefore justified. If not for this verse we might have asked who had given Noach permission to simply kill these animals? After all, Noach had been commanded to keep the species alive, not to slaughter them! Noach would have reasoned that inasmuch as these categories of beasts are urgently needed for man G'd had commanded to take 7 pairs instead of just a single pair. G'd therefore had to indicate to Noach that the greater number was for his own good, not for the general good. Had Noach simply wanted to slaughter these animals and to eat their meat this too would have been in order.
Chizkuni
מכל הבהמה הטהורה, “of all the pure mammals, etc;” according to Rash, i we can learn from this verse that Noach had studied the Torah. [from where else would he know which of the mammals are “pure” mammals. Ed.] If you were to counter that in the Talmud Zevachim 116, we find the question: “since when did there exist a difference between the pure and the impure mammals at that period,” and the answer given to this question is that indeed at that time there did not exist a difference,” [If so what does Rashi mean seeing that he was familiar with the section of the Talmud? Ed.] The answer given there is that all the animals which the ark accepted without delay were the species which had never been used as sacrifices for idols. The others were rejected by the ark. This still does not solve our question. On the contrary, it shows that seeing that Noach apparently had brought more than one pair of the impure animals to the ark he had been unaware that that species was going to be impure according to the Torah in the future! We therefore have to resort to a different answer; any category of mammal of which Noach knew that it mated only with members of its own species, was recognised by Noach as one that in the future would be categorised by the Torah as a “pure species,” fit as an offering to the Lord;”When the Talmud referred to some categories of mammals initially being rejected by the ark, this indicated to Noach that the “concept” of purity and impurity had to do with the manner in which these species conducted their mating practices. In the Torah, in the future, the concept of purity and impurity is repeatedly used in respect to incestuous relationships in the Book of Leviticus chapter 18,34 and 20,25. In those chapters the term “pure” and “impure,” refers to which of these animals may be used as food for members of the Jewish people. Seeing that Noach recognised which of these species were (to be) allowed as food, we can understand Rashi’s comment. [which incidentally is based also on a statement in Sanhedrin 118. Ed.] A different approach to the questions raised by our verse: the Talmud quoted in the tractate Zevachim did not deal with mammals, but with birds, so that the question raised referred only to how Noach could know which birds would qualify as the ones of which he was to take seven pairs each into the ark. Seeing that there are an innumerable number of “impure” birds, and even the written Torah had not revealed how to know which was which, the question of how Noach could know what even the written Torah did not reveal to us in Moses’ time was most appropriate. The Talmud’s answer that this was revealed to Noach when he watched what happened when the birds tried to enter the ark is therefore very reasonable. Noach had to rely on Divine guidance. The Talmud did not refer to the same problem concerning pure mammals, as there are only a small number of such, and Noach was familiar with the mating habits of these mammals. This led Rashi to conclude that Noach had foreknowledge of what the Torah would decree at some time in the future. Seeing that due to the fact that these species would be allowed as food, the dangers that unless there were multiple pairs of them in the ark, they might die out, make it plausible that the Torah ordered him to take seven pairs of each. [Eating of meat had been completely forbidden prior to the deluge. Ed.] Even though certain other non pure mammals serve as food for the gentiles, such as pigs, etc, the fact that these give birth to multiple young made it unlikely that they would die out even if only a single pair of them would be taken into the ark.ft npn, “take for yourself;” seven males and seven females each, so as to diminish the chances that they would die out. If any of the animals that were not considered as worth eating would die out this was a minor concern, as man would not miss that species. Seeing that the word שבעה, masculine for seven, was repeated by the Torah, led Noach to believe that he was meant to sacrifice some of these after surviving the flood. שבעה שבעה איש ואשתו, “seven pairs each.” Seeing that among the mammals the males and the females of the animal kingdom are similar to that of human beings, the Torah describes the males and females as איש and אשתו. When speaking of the birds, which are not sexually recognisable by similar means, the Torah does not use this expression, but contents itself with writing: שבעה שבעה.
Rabbeinu Bahya
מכל הבהמה הטהורה תקח לך שבעה שבעה, “from every species of pure domestic animal take for yourself seven pairs each.” In order to keep the species alive it would have been sufficient to take a single pair of each species. The reason G-d commanded Noach to take seven pairs of each of these species was to ensure that he would have sufficient animals to offer some as a sacrifice. There is a mystical connotation for this number seven which our author discusses in connection with Numbers 23,4 where we read about the number of animals Bileam offered before he hoped to curse the Jewish people. Why did the Torah add the words זכר ונקבה לחיות זרע על פני כל הארץ, “male and female in order to keep seed alive on the face of the whole earth? Did Noach really require seven pairs of each of these species in order to prevent them from dying out? If he only needed one pair each of the impure animals, why did he need seven pairs for the same purpose in the case of the pure species? After all the Torah had already specified that Noach was to take of each species איש ואשתו “man and its wife,” i.e. a pair which were suitably matched to enable them to produce offspring! In order to understand these verses correctly we have to translate them as follows: “of all the pure domestic animals take for yourself seven, seven i.e. each one with its mate; also from amongst the birds seven each, male and female; (all of this in order to offer a sacrifice) however, from the impure domestic animals you take two, i.e. the male and its mate in order for these to be able to keep seed alive on the face of the whole earth; for in another seven days I am going to bring a deluge upon the earth. This is why you have to take these animals in order to preserve the species.” There is a reason why the Torah employs the unusual phrase איש ואשתו, “man and his wife,” and applies it to the four-legged animals although they are in the habit of mating at random, changing partners at will, and in the case of the birds the Torah speaks only about the need to take זכר ונקבה, a male and a female specimen. The mating habits of the four-legged animals are different from the mating habits of the birds. The mammals give birth to live young ones, similar to humans, whereas the birds merely lay eggs, i.e. something in an early stage of development. Our sages in Sanhedrin 108 have said that seeing that it is not the habit of the mammals to try and mate with other species G-d honoured them by describing their mating habits as similar to those of “man and his wife.” You should also be aware that in the previous paragraph where G-d informed Noach for the first time that He would bring a deluge upon earth, He employed the name applicable to the attribute of Justice, i.e. ויאמר אלוקים, “the attribute of Justice spoke to Noach,” and the paragraph also concludes by referring to G-d as “the attribute of Justice.” In chapter 7,1 when G-d speaks about who is going to be saved (and hinted at the thanksgiving-offering), the Torah changes its syntax and reports ויאמר ה' לנח, “the attribute of Mercy spoke to Noach,” and the same applies at the end of that paragraph when the Torah tells us that He closed the door of the Ark from the outside. This is intended to teach us that sacrifices are always directed at G-d in His capacity as the attribute of Mercy. Our sages in Menachot 110 have stated that whenever the Torah speaks about sacrificial offerings the only name of G-d mentioned in that connection is the attribute of Mercy, i.e. the name י-ה-ו-ה. One of the reasons for this is so as not to allow anyone to think that there is another deity to whom it is appropriate to offer sacrifices.
Kli Yakar
Take for yourself seven pairs. Rashi explains that He commanded to bring seven of the clean animals in order to offer them as sacrifices. However, this reason alone is not sufficient, because not all clean animals are suitable for sacrifice, such as deer and wild rams, and not all clean birds are fit for sacrifice. So how did Rashi deduce from this that Noah learned Torah? Rather, the main reason is that because they are clean animals, people eat them frequently, therefore they need to multiply and reproduce more abundantly for the sake of Torah observers. As for what is written And he took of every clean animal, etc. (Genesis 8:20), which implies that he sacrificed from every clean species, even those that would not be suitable for sacrifice according to the Torah, the answer is that Noah did not yet know that the Holy One, Blessed be He, would permit him to eat animals. He thought to himself, “Surely the reason He commanded me to bring seven pairs of all these species was to offer all of them as sacrifices.” However, the Holy One, Blessed be He, knew that He would eventually permit all clean animals to him, therefore He commanded to take seven pairs because people hunt many of them. For one cannot say that He desired the sacrifice of all species, because if so, why didn’t He permit future generations to sacrifice from all clean species when they would be available to people, and why did He command specifically Noah? And regarding what is written And God smelled the pleasing aroma (Genesis 8:21), this refers to those species that were suitable for sacrifice, while the others were merely like cutting ordinary meat.
Tur HaArokh
מכל הבהמה הטהורה, “of all the ‘pure domesticated beasts, etc.” Seeing that there had not been any legislation distinguishing between “pure” and “impure” beasts, Rashi understands the word as describing those beasts which would, -after the revelation at Mount Sinai- be characterised as “pure.” This would be a veiled hint that Noach studied the Torah already at his time. [otherwise how would he have known which animals were “pure”? Ed.] Nachmanides writes that G’d informed him about the specific characteristics of the animals which He had referred to as “pure.” The Torah simply condenses G’d’s instructions. Whereas when speaking of the mammals, i.e. בהמה, the Torah describes a pair as איש ואשתו, “man and his wife,” when speaking of the birds which are pure it describes them merely as זכר ונקבה, “male and female.” The reason for this different description is accounted for by the fact that when mammals cross breed or attempt to do so, this is forbidden, i.e. monogamy or its equivalent exists among mammals. Such indiscriminate mating between birds is not forbidden. The Torah refers indirectly to the more intimate relationship between male and female mammals by referring to them as איש ואשתו. מכל הבהמה הטהורה... שבעה, שבעה, “from all the domesticated pure beasts seven, seven.” This instruction alerted Noach to G’d’s desire that he use them as offerings when he would leave the ark. Had they been required to preserve their respective species, there would not have been any need for seven males and seven females of each category.
of the birds also of the sky, seven and seven, male and female; to keep seed alive upon the face of all the earth.
verse value 3095
Insights
Verse structure: 11 words, 46 letters. The shortest word is "even" (גַּ֣ם, 2 letters) and the longest is "all·the·earth" (כׇל־הָאָֽרֶץ, 6 letters). Words sharing gematria 377: seven, seven. 2 words in this verse appear nowhere else in Genesis. Unique to this verse in Genesis (hapax): "of·the·birds·of" (מֵע֧וֹף), "to·keep·alive" (לְחַיּ֥וֹת). The root שבע appears 2 times in this verse. 10 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "all·the·earth" (root ארץ, 305x in Genesis); "upon·the·face·of" (root פנים, 133x in Genesis); "seven" (root שבע, 117x in Genesis). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'female', dividing the verse into phrases of 7 and 4 words. Full calculation: גַּ֣ם [even] (43) + מֵע֧וֹף [of·the·birds·of] (196) + הַשָּׁמַ֛יִם [the·heavens] (395) + שִׁבְעָ֥ה [seven] (377) + שִׁבְעָ֖ה [seven] (377) + זָכָ֣ר [male] (227) + וּנְקֵבָ֑ה [female] (163) + לְחַיּ֥וֹת [to·keep·alive] (454) + זֶ֖רַע [seed] (277) + עַל־פְּנֵ֥י [upon·the·face·of] (240) + כׇל־הָאָֽרֶץ [all·the·earth] (346) = 3095.
Onkelos
Also of the birds of the heavens, seven, seven, male and female, to preserve seed upon the face of all the earth.
Rashi
‘גס מעוף השמים וגו OF FOWLS ALSO OF THE AIR — Scripture here means “clean” birds just as the animals in verse 2 are stated to be clean, for what is not explicitly stated may be learned by analogy from what is explicitly stated.
For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights; and every living substance that I have made will I blot out from off the face of the earth."
verse value 4888
Insights
Verse structure: 18 words, 83 letters. Verse gematria: 4888 is divisible by 26, the value of the divine name Hashem. The shortest word is "for" (כִּי֩, 2 letters) and the longest is "all·existence" (אֶֽת־כׇּל־הַיְקוּם֙, 9 letters). Words sharing gematria 140: from·upon, face. 3 words in this verse appear nowhere else in Genesis. Unique to this verse in Genesis (hapax): "in·days" (לְיָמִ֨ים), "will·cause·rain" (מַמְטִ֣יר), "and·I·will·blot·out" (וּמָחִ֗יתִי). The root יום appears 2 times in this verse. 17 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "which" (root אשר, 313x in Genesis); "upon·the·earth" (root ארץ, 305x in Genesis); "for" (root כי, 167x in Genesis). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'night', dividing the verse into phrases of 11 and 7 words.
Onkelos
For in yet another seven days I will bring rain upon the earth, forty days and forty nights, and I will blot out every living thing that I have made from upon the face of the earth.
Rashi
כי לימים עוד שבעה FOR YET SEVEN DAYS — These are the seven days of mourning for the righteous man Methuselah for whose honour the Holy One, blessed be He, had regard, and therefore postponed punishment. Go and calculate the years of Methuselah and you will find that they came to an end (i. e. he died) in the six hundredth year of Noah’s life (which coincided with the date of the Flood) (Sanhedrin 108b). כי לימים עוד FOR YET [SEVEN] DAYS — What is meant by עוד "yet", "more"? A further period of time: this period (seven days) additional to the 120 years of respite that was promised (Sanhedrin 108b). ארבעים יום FORTY DAYS — corresponding to the period of a child’s formation, for by their sinning they had troubled their Creator to form embryos of illegitimate children (Genesis Rabbah 32:5).
Ibn Ezra
"For yet seven days" — meaning: on the seventh day He will cause it to rain, continuing until the end of forty days. This began on the tenth of the second month. At the end of those forty days, reckoned from the start, the middle celestial body returns to its opposite position — and this is a secret. The word "יְקוּם" (all existence) is found nowhere except in this passage. Its root belongs to the class of verbs whose initial letter (פ"א) is defective, on the pattern of "כָּרוּב" (cherub). Some say it belongs to the hollow-root (נחי עי"ן) class, and that it is an inverted form, as in: "Contend, Hashem, with those who contend with me" (Psalms 35:1). The word "יְקוּם" is a collective term for every living thing upon the ground.
Chizkuni
ארבעים יום וארבעים לילה, “forty days and forty nights, consecutively.” The number of days, i.e. forty, corresponds to the number of lashes administered to people who have deliberately violated G-d’s negative commandments. (Deut. 25,3) Alternately, the number is reminiscent of the 40 days during which Moses received the Torah from G-d while he was on Mount Sinai.
Rabbeinu Bahya
כי לימים עוד שבעה, “for in another seven days.” In addition to the 120 years which G-d had given mankind to repent and to mend its ways, He now gave them another seven days. Our sages in Sanhedrin 108 say that these seven days were the days of mourning for Metushelach (who had died at 969 years of age). He had lived the life of a righteous man (Noach’s grandfather) and G-d had held back with bringing on the deluge on his account. This is why the Torah (7,10) wrote the apparently superfluous words ויהי לשבעת הימים ומי המבול היו על הארץ, “it was after these seven days that the waters of the deluge were upon the earth.”
And Noah did according to all that Hashem commanded him.
verse value 1148 — יְהֹוָֽה = 26 (Hashem)
Insights
Verse structure: 5 words, 20 letters. Notable word values: "Hashem" (יְהֹוָֽה) = 26, the value of the divine name Hashem. The shortest word is "Noah" (נֹ֑חַ, 2 letters) and the longest is "which·commanded" (אֲשֶׁר־צִוָּ֖הוּ, 7 letters). 1 word in this verse appears nowhere else in Genesis. Unique to this verse in Genesis (hapax): "which·commanded" (אֲשֶׁר־צִוָּ֖הוּ). 4 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "Hashem" (root יהוה, 165x in Genesis); "and·did" (root עשה, 152x in Genesis); "according·to·all" (root כל, 127x in Genesis). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'Noah', dividing the verse into phrases of 2 and 3 words. Full calculation: וַיַּ֖עַשׂ [and·did] (386) + נֹ֑חַ [Noah] (58) + כְּכֹ֥ל [according·to·all] (70) + אֲשֶׁר־צִוָּ֖הוּ [which·commanded] (608) + יְהֹוָֽה [Hashem] (26) = 1148.
Onkelos
And Noah did according to all that Hashem had commanded him.
Rashi
ויעש נח AND NOAH DID — This refers to his coming to the Ark.
Ibn Ezra
"And Noah did" — as He had commanded him; and he came with his household close to the ark.
Or HaChaim
ויעש נח ככל אשר צוהו השם. Noach did in accordance with all that G'd commanded him. Rashi comments that this refers to his entering the ark. If that were the meaning there was no need for the Torah's comment as the Torah spells this out in 7,7 as well as 7,13. I believe that the Torah meant tell us that Noach did indeed take seven pairs each from all the respective categories of pure mammals and pure birds, although the report in 7,8-7,9 does not mention that seven pairs came to the ark of their own accord.
Tur HaArokh
מן הבהמה הטהורה ומן הבהמה אשר איננה טהורה... שניים, שניים באו אל נח. “Of the pure domesticated beasts, and of the not pure domesticated beasts, they came to Noach in pairs.” According to Rashi none of these beasts arrived in fewer numbers than 2 each. Some commentators understand the expression as referring to 2 pairs of each, applying the same to the pure beasts of which 7 pairs each were brought into the ark. According to Nachmanides one pair of each species came of their own volition, whereas Noach added six more pairs of each of the pure species. He had to supply the animals needed as sacrificial offerings by exerting himself. אשר איננה טהורה, “which was not pure.” The reason why here the Torah uses the word איננה to describe something negative, as opposed to the word לא used in verse 8, is that the word refers to a subject that had already been mentioned without being described as impure. [Following Rashi, the author understands the word לא טהורה as applying to beasts which are fit to eat for Jews, such as deer, of which Solomon kept a whole stable for his guests, whereas איננה describes a totally impure animal, one which is forbidden for Jews to eat even as חולין, non-consecrated meat. Ed.] You should realize that we have been taught in the first chapter of tractate Pessachim folio 3 that the Torah used eight extra letters in order to avoid describing something as טמא, outright defiled, when the same point could be made by using more refined language such as here, i.e. “not pure,” instead of ”defiled, impure.” The Talmud quotes our verse. One could ask why the Talmud did not quote the earlier verse to make the same point. The reason, presumably, is that in that verse the Torah did not speak about impure animals but about animals which are impure only in respect of their fitness to be offered as a sacrificial offering. However, Nachmanides pursues a different approach, claiming that all the “pure animals” were fit as sacrifices, quoting ויקח נח מכל הבהמה הטהורה וגו', “Noach took from all manner of pure animal and bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar.” He adds that for the Israelites later after the revelation at Mount Sinai, only pigeons were fit as sacrifices from among the fowl, and only large cattle and small cattle from among the mammals. Nachmanides continues to explain the third time the Torah dwells on the same subject saying כאשר צוה אותו אלוקים, “as G’d had commanded him,”(7,16) as testifying that just as Noach complied meticulously with G’d’s instructions about entering the ark, etc., he also complied with G’d’s detailed instructions about leaving the ark. This brief reference is directly linked to the other instructions that the Torah detailed in earlier verses. The words והבאים זכר ונקבה at the beginning of verse 16, mean that these animals appeared at the last possible moment before the commencement of the deluge, and that they were welcomed by Noach who had entered the ark by that time. These animals had been driven by a divine inspiration to behave as they did at that time. Our verse is somewhat abbreviated and means: “all those who came to Noach as males and females of all flesh, Noach let into the ark because G’d had so commanded him.” The meaning of the words שניים, שניים in the previous verse is that G’d had commanded these animals to present themselves in pairs, male and female. It is possible that the words ויעש נח, as well as ונח בן שש מאות שנה, in verses 5-6 and all the subsequent verses up to 11 בשנת שש מאות שנה לחיי נח, “in the sixth hundredth year of Noach’s life,” do not tell us about a separate action at all, but illustrate that Noach complied in every detail with the instructions which he had receive from G’d. Having reported this, the Torah proceeds to inform us about when precisely the deluge began. [Those who prefer to believe that the calendar at that time did not correspond to our calendar nowadays, are reminded that there would be no point in the Torah telling us about such dates unless we could relate to them from our own experience. Ed.] Ibn Ezra explains the words ויבא נח ובניו ואשתו ונשי בניו אתו אל התבה, (7,7) as not meaning that they entered the ark at that time, but that all these animals came to Noach’s house on the 10th of the month, [according to our sages (Bereshit Rabbah 3,6) the beginning of the deluge was postponed at the last moment to allow for the seven days’ mourning for Methuselah who died then to have been observed. Ed.] The words מפני המבול would mean that what prompted these animals to come at that time was that they felt that the disaster called deluge was imminent.
And Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters was upon the earth.
verse value 2113
Insights
Verse structure: 8 words, 32 letters. The shortest word is "and·Noah" (וְנֹ֕חַ, 3 letters) and the longest is "and·the·Flood" (וְהַמַּבּ֣וּל, 6 letters). 2 words in this verse appear nowhere else in Genesis. Unique to this verse in Genesis (hapax): "son·of·six" (בֶּן־שֵׁ֥שׁ), "and·the·Flood" (וְהַמַּבּ֣וּל). 7 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "was" (root היה, 313x in Genesis); "upon·the·earth" (root ארץ, 305x in Genesis); "year" (root שנה, 169x in Genesis). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'year', dividing the verse into phrases of 4 and 4 words. Full calculation: וְנֹ֕חַ [and·Noah] (64) + בֶּן־שֵׁ֥שׁ [son·of·six] (652) + מֵא֖וֹת [hundred] (447) + שָׁנָ֑ה [year] (355) + וְהַמַּבּ֣וּל [and·the·Flood] (89) + הָיָ֔ה [was] (20) + מַ֖יִם [waters] (90) + עַל־הָאָֽרֶץ [upon·the·earth] (396) = 2113.
Onkelos
And Noah was six hundred years old, and the flood — waters — came upon the earth.
Daat Zkenim
והמבול היה מים על הארץ, “when the deluge covered the earth with water.” There is good reason to ask why G–d chose the deluge as the instrument with which to punish mankind, rather than any other means at His disposal. Our sages in the Talmud tractate Rosh Hashanah folio 12 answered this question by stating that this method was chosen as it conformed to the principle of making the punishment match the sin. Man had sinned by means of boiling water, (metaphor for extremely serious sins, involving sexual emissions that are considered as the result of the body becoming heated) so G–d chose equally severe measures as the means to punish them by. The subject has been illustrated by a parable in which a king magnanimously set aside a section of a city to serve as residence for blind people, and he provided them with all comforts in order to make their lives more tolerable. Whenever the king passed this way, the blind people would rise and shout in gratitude for the king’s generosity. Once the king heard their voices and enquired from his entourage who was the source of this shouting. He was told that it originated with the blind people whom he so lavishly supported. They added that the blind people do the same whenever they hear horses galloping in their neighbourhood. He responded by saying: “how much louder would be their shouting if they were able to see their benefactor with their own eyes.” He therefore commanded to return these blind people to their former locations, and to install people with eyesight in the section formerly reserved for the blind. He ordered that the new residents be provided with all that he had formerly provided the blind with. When these people now realised that they had been promoted, they lived it up. Instead of being grateful, whenever the king passed in their area they raised their voices cursing him for having forced them to relocate. When the king was told about this, he decided to execute all these people. The point of the parable is that originally the universe having been in chaos, was transformed into water, i.e. an element that is both blind and deaf. Even though, the waters praised the Lord for having thus raised their status. We know this from Psalms 93,3: נשאו נהרות ה', נשאו נהרות קולם, נשאו נהרות קולם, “the oceans sound o Lord, the oceans sound their thunder, the ocean sounds its pounding.” When the Lord heard this, He ordered the oceans which had covered the surface of the earth to be relocated so as to provide room for the earth to emerge and be seen. (Genesis 1.9) He created man in order to inhabit that earth, where previously there had only been water, providing man with fruit-bearing trees and all kinds of other luxuries, expecting, of course, to be rewarded with man’s expression of appreciation. The earth was so good that it required to be tilled only once in forty years. Instead, man took his good fortune for granted and instead of accepting the rules laid down by the Creator, rebelled against Him. When the Lord became aware of this, He had no choice but to punish them for their ingratitude. He commanded the waters to return to their original areas, allocated them at the beginning of creation. [The author credits his Rabbi with telling him this parable, who in turn had credited it to Rabbi Nathan Afniel.]
And Noah went in, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives with him, into the ark, before the waters of the flood.
verse value 2461
Insights
Verse structure: 10 words, 44 letters. The shortest word is "Noah" (נֹ֗חַ, 2 letters) and the longest is "and·his·sons'·wives" (וּנְשֵֽׁי־בָנָ֛יו, 8 letters). The root אשה appears 2 times in this verse. 8 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "and·his·sons" (root בן, 248x in Genesis); "and·came" (root בוא, 213x in Genesis); "and·his·wife" (root אשה, 148x in Genesis). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'into·the·ark', dividing the verse into phrases of 7 and 3 words. Full calculation: וַיָּ֣בֹא [and·came] (19) + נֹ֗חַ [Noah] (58) + וּ֠בָנָ֠יו [and·his·sons] (74) + וְאִשְׁתּ֧וֹ [and·his·wife] (713) + וּנְשֵֽׁי־בָנָ֛יו [and·his·sons'·wives] (434) + אִתּ֖וֹ [with·him] (407) + אֶל־הַתֵּבָ֑ה [into·the·ark] (443) + מִפְּנֵ֖י [because·of] (180) + מֵ֥י [the·waters·of] (50) + הַמַּבּֽוּל [the·Flood] (83) = 2461.
Onkelos
And Noah came, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives with him, into the ark, from before the waters of the flood.
Rashi
נח ובניו NOAH AND HIS SONS — The men separately and the women separately, because they were forbidden to live together as man and wife since the world was living in a state of distress מפני מי המבול BECAUSE OF THE WATERS OF THE FLOOD — (מפני properly means ‘‘from before”) — Noah, also, was of those people who are wanting in faith: he believed and he did not believe that the Flood would come, and he would not enter the Ark until the waters forced him to do so (Genesis Rabbah 32:6).
Ibn Ezra
"Because of the waters of the flood" — meaning: out of dread of the waters of the flood. During those seven days, many of the clean animals came of their own accord, and likewise the clean birds; while of the others and every creeping thing, male and female — they too came.
Chizkuni
מפני מי המבול, “on account of the waters of the deluge, and not on account of G-d’s command to enter the ark. [This is why the sages comment that even Noach was not a strong believer as he waited till necessity forced him to take refuge in the ark. Compare Rashi. Ed.]
Daat Zkenim
ויבא נח, ובניו, ואשתו ונשי בניו, “Noach, his sons, and his wife and his sons’ wives, with him entered the ark;” Rashi, analysing the sequence in which Noach and his family entered the ark, explains that the men and women did so separately, realising that as long as the deluge would last they would not be allowed to have marital relations. (Based on an ancient version of the Tanchuma)
Of clean beasts, and of beasts that are not clean, and of birds, and of every thing that creeps upon the ground,
verse value 2875
Insights
Verse structure: 10 words, 56 letters. The shortest word is "which" (אֲשֶׁ֥ר, 3 letters) and the longest is "and·of·the·animals" (וּמִ֨ן־הַבְּהֵמָ֔ה, 8 letters). 5 words in this verse appear nowhere else in Genesis. Unique to this verse in Genesis (hapax): "of·the·animals" (מִן־הַבְּהֵמָה֙), "are·not" (אֵינֶ֖נָּה), "and·from·the·birds" (וּמִ֨ן־הָע֔וֹף). The root בהמה appears 2 times in this verse. 8 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "which" (root אשר, 313x in Genesis); "and·all" (root כל, 127x in Genesis); "upon·the·ground" (root אדמה, 44x in Genesis). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'pure', dividing the verse into phrases of 6 and 4 words. Full calculation: מִן־הַבְּהֵמָה֙ [of·the·animals] (147) + הַטְּהוֹרָ֔ה [the·clean] (230) + וּמִ֨ן־הַבְּהֵמָ֔ה [and·of·the·animals] (153) + אֲשֶׁ֥ר [which] (501) + אֵינֶ֖נָּה [are·not] (116) + טְהֹרָ֑ה [pure] (219) + וּמִ֨ן־הָע֔וֹף [and·from·the·birds] (257) + וְכֹ֥ל [and·all] (56) + אֲשֶׁר־רֹמֵ֖שׂ [that·creeps] (1041) + עַל־הָֽאֲדָמָֽה [upon·the·ground] (155) = 2875.
Onkelos
Of the clean animals and of the animals that are not clean, and of the birds, and of all that creeps upon the earth —
Ramban
OF CLEAN BEASTS, AND OF BEASTS THAT ARE NOT CLEAN. TWO AND TWO THERE CAME IN UNTO NOAH. Rashi explained: “They were all equal with respect to this number for the least number of any species was two.” Others said that the meaning of “two” is pairs, meaning that they came couplewise, male and female together. In my opinion, the matter was thus: two — a male and a female — came of their own accord from each species, and Noah added by bringing six additional pairs from the clean ones since those that came to be saved arrived of their own accord while he busied himself for the sake of the commandment with those that were destined for sacrifice, for so it was told to him. And the meaning of the verse, And Noah did according unto all that the Eternal commanded him, is, as the Rabbis have said in Bereshith Rabbah,7832:9. that he was to prepare to bring in the cattle, beast, and fowl, meaning the clean ones, those which he himself went after and brought to his house. The verse which states a third time, as G-d hath commanded Noah, means that he did as He had commanded him concerning entering the ark, for this verse is connected with the above verse: And Noah came in. The verse thus states that Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives came into the ark along with two and two of the cattle and fowl and creeping things that came to him in order to enter into the ark. All of them came with him, entering the ark because of the waters of the flood, as G-d commanded him. Scripture then returns and sets forth the month and the day in which the flood came and how he entered the ark, stating that on that selfsame day when the rains began — and not before — Noah entered the ark, and with him were all living things.
Chizkuni
ומן הבהמה אשר איננה טהורה, “and of the category of mammal that was not pure, etc.;” This “clumsy” way of describing “impure,” טמאה, by using eight extra letters merely to avoid having to use the expression: “impure,” caused the sages in the Talmud Pessachim 3, to teach us how concerned the Torah is that we use only dignified language even when describing repulsive phenomena. Actually, the Talmud could have derived this already from verse two in our chapter, i.e. אשר לא טהורה היא, but the Torah preferred to use this fine point when referring to beasts which basically are suitable as sacrifices on the altar, i.e. domesticated mammals, and free roaming mammals, although the latter do not qualify for the altar even though they may be allowed for us to eat. According to the Talmud, the word טהורה in verse 2 of our chapter would have had to be spelled with the letter ו, i.e. plene, which it is not in our texts.
there went in two and two to Noah into the ark, male and female, as God commanded Noah.
verse value 2898 — אֱלֹהִ֖ים = 86 (Elohim)
Insights
Verse structure: 11 words, 45 letters. Notable word values: "God" (אֱלֹהִ֖ים) = 86, equal to Elohim. Verse gematria: 2898 is divisible by 18, the value of chai ('life'). The shortest word is "came" (בָּ֧אוּ, 3 letters) and the longest is "into·the·ark" (אֶל־הַתֵּבָ֖ה, 6 letters). Words sharing gematria 400: two, two. The root שנים appears 2 times in this verse. 9 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "as" (root אשר, 313x in Genesis); "God" (root אלה, 301x in Genesis); "came" (root בוא, 213x in Genesis). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'female', dividing the verse into phrases of 7 and 4 words. Full calculation: שְׁנַ֨יִם [two] (400) + שְׁנַ֜יִם [two] (400) + בָּ֧אוּ [came] (9) + אֶל־נֹ֛חַ [to·Noah] (89) + אֶל־הַתֵּבָ֖ה [into·the·ark] (443) + זָכָ֣ר [male] (227) + וּנְקֵבָ֑ה [female] (163) + כַּֽאֲשֶׁ֛ר [as] (521) + צִוָּ֥ה [commanded] (101) + אֱלֹהִ֖ים [God] (86) + אֶת־נֹֽחַ [Noah] (459) = 2898.
Onkelos
two by two they came to Noah into the ark, male and female, as Hashem had commanded Noah.
Rashi
שנים שנים TWO AND TWO —In this number they were all equal — the least number was two. באו אל נח THEY CAME TO NOAH — of their own accord (Genesis Rabbah 32).
Or HaChaim
שנים שנים באו אל נח. They came to Noach in pairs. The Torah points out that these animals came of their own volition; Noach did not have to search for them or catch them. One of the reasons the Torah does not mention seven pairs of pure animals here is that only the number of animals that came to the ark to maintain their species are mentioned here. G'd guided them to the ark and Noach admitted them. The additional animals that served as תשלום, payment, Noach had to provide himself. You find this confirmed in verse 15 when the animals that came to the ark are specifically described as being only pairs.
And it came to pass after the seven days, that the waters of the flood were upon the earth.
verse value 1494
Insights
Verse structure: 7 words, 31 letters. Verse gematria: 1494 is divisible by 18, the value of chai ('life'). The shortest word is "and·the·waters·of" (וּמֵ֣י, 3 letters) and the longest is "upon·the·earth" (עַל־הָאָֽרֶץ, 6 letters). 2 words in this verse appear nowhere else in Genesis. Unique to this verse in Genesis (hapax): "at·the·seven·of" (לְשִׁבְעַ֣ת), "and·the·waters·of" (וּמֵ֣י). The root היה appears 2 times in this verse. 6 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "and·it·was" (root היה, 313x in Genesis); "upon·the·earth" (root ארץ, 305x in Genesis); "the·days" (root יום, 126x in Genesis). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'the·days', dividing the verse into phrases of 3 and 4 words. Full calculation: וַיְהִ֖י [and·it·was] (31) + לְשִׁבְעַ֣ת [at·the·seven·of] (802) + הַיָּמִ֑ים [the·days] (105) + וּמֵ֣י [and·the·waters·of] (56) + הַמַּבּ֔וּל [the·Flood] (83) + הָי֖וּ [were] (21) + עַל־הָאָֽרֶץ [upon·the·earth] (396) = 1494.
Onkelos
And it came to pass after seven days that the waters of the flood were upon the earth.
Targum Yonatan
And it was at the time of seven days after the conclusion of the mourning for Methushelach, that the Lord beheld, and, lo, the sons of men had not turned. And the waters of the deluge came down hotly from the heavens upon the earth.
In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.
verse value 7425
Insights
Verse structure: 18 words, 83 letters. The shortest word is "year" (שָׁנָה֙, 3 letters) and the longest is "seventeenth" (בְּשִׁבְעָֽה־עָשָׂ֥ר, 8 letters). 6 words in this verse appear nowhere else in Genesis. Unique to this verse in Genesis (hapax): "in·the·year·of" (בִּשְׁנַ֨ת), "six·hundred" (שֵׁשׁ־מֵא֤וֹת), "of·the·life·of·Noah" (לְחַיֵּי־נֹ֔חַ). The root שנה appears 2 times in this verse. 15 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "in·the·year·of" (root שנה, 169x in Genesis); "day" (root יום, 126x in Genesis); "seventeenth" (root שבע, 117x in Genesis). First appearance of the root חדש ("in·the·month") in Genesis. First appearance of the root בקע ("burst·apart") in Genesis. The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'of·the·month', dividing the verse into phrases of 9 and 9 words.
Onkelos
In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month — on that very day all the springs of the great deep burst open, and the windows of the heavens were opened.
Rashi
בחדש השני IN THE SECOND MONTH — Rabbi Eliezer said, “This is the month Marcheshvan”; Rabbi Joshua said, “This is the month Eyar (Rosh Hashanah 11b). נבקעו WERE BROKEN UP — so that they might give forth their waters. תהום רבה THE GREAT DEEP — Measure for measure: they had sinned with רבה רעת האדם “great was the evil of man” (i. e. their sin is described by the word רבה “great”) and they were therefore punished by תהום רבה “the great deep” (i.e. the expression “great’’ is used of the instrument by which they were punished for their great sin) (Sanhedrin 108a).
Ibn Ezra
"All the fountains of the great deep burst open" — "מַעְיְנוֹת" (fountains) is in construct state, the absolute form being "מַעְיָנוֹת." "תְּהוֹם" (deep) is used in both masculine and feminine gender, as in: "the deep raised him up" (Ezekiel 31:4). He does not mention the rivers, because they issue from the springs. When the waters burst upon it and the windows of the storehouses in the heavens were opened and the waters descended, the earth was confounded and there was no distinguishing between day and night. The proof is the verse that says: "day and night shall not cease" (Genesis 8:22). When the rains from heaven stopped, Noah knew that forty days and forty nights had passed, because Hashem had revealed this secret to him. "וַאֲרֻבֹּת" (windows/sluices) — as in: "Behold, Hashem will make windows" (II Kings 7:2). The terms "storehouse" and "window" follow the manner of human speech and convention. One authority says the alef is part of the root, analogous to "כְּבוּדוֹת"; others say the alef is added [as a prefix], like the alef of "אֲגוּרוֹת," and these belong to the class of doubled-root verbs. On the seventeenth day, when the flood began, Noah and his household entered the ark, and he brought into it the wild beast, the domesticated animal, the creeping thing, and the bird. The word "צִפּוֹר" (bird) is a collective name for every winged creature. The wonder is that they all came of their own accord, two by two.
Rabbeinu Bahya
נבקעו כל מעינות תהום רבה וארבות השמים נפתחו, “all the fountains of the great ‘deep’ were opened and the ‘windows’ of the heavens were opened.” Actually, we would have expected the Torah to write: “on this day the windows of the heavens were opened as well as the all fountains of the “deep.” The Torah should first have mentioned the waters from the “higher” regions before mentioning the waters from below the earth. It is possible to explain the unusual order of recording the origin of these waters as a sign that the Torah wanted to stress the punitive nature of what occurred as being something that could be felt immediately. We find that whenever the waters originating in the heavens are mentioned as a source of blessing the Torah mentions those waters before referring to moisture on the ground. For instance, when Moses blessed the people in Deut. 33,13 he speaks of ממגד שמים מטל ומתהום רובצת תחת, “with the heavenly bounty of dew from above and with the deep waters crouching below. We may deduce that this is why the Torah did not write: “G-d brought the deluge upon earth,” but “the waters of the deluge were found on earth” (verse 11). The Torah did no wish to associate G-d’s name with a statement which may lead the reader to conclude that G-d initiated what is perceived as evil. You will observe that even in verse 23 where the Torah writes וימח את כל היקום, “He blotted out all existence,” the Torah does not identify the subject of “he,” although G-d’s name had not appeared for several verses previously. All of this is part of the Torah’s policy not to associate G-d with initiating disaster if it is at all avoidable. As soon as the force of the deluge abated somewhat and the waters cooled off, the name of G-d, albeit His attribute of Justice, אלוקים, is mentioned in 8,2 when G-d is reported as making a beneficial wind blow over the earth. Even in Genesis 3,16 where the Torah narrates what G-d said to Chavah when He decreed her punishment, the Torah refers to G-d only in the third person, i.e. impersonally, writing אל האשה אמר וגו', “to the woman He had said, etc.” The same applied in 3,17 where G-d is reported as telling Adam about his punishment. As soon as G-d provided man and his wife with clothing, however, (3,21) we find that all of a sudden the Torah refers to G-d again as ה' אלוקים. A close look at the structure of the verses detailing the narrative of the deluge makes it plain that G-d found it very difficult to carry out His decision to wipe out mankind. At the beginning (7,12) the Torah wrote ויהי הגשם על הארץ, “the rain remained on earth,” whereas later on in verse 17 the Torah referred to the fact that this was in reality not mere rain but a deluge by describing it as a מבול, “a deluge.” This indicates that originally this rain descended in a regular manner to give people a chance to still repent when they observed that Noach’s prediction was about to come true. Had they done תשובה even at that stage the rain would have proven to be beneficial. Only their failure to respond even to this phenomenon turned this rainfall into disaster. Moreover, G-d first killed the animals before the Torah reports that even man perished too (verse 21). Just as man had been the last of G-d’s creatures during the creative process, he now was the last creature to perish as a result of the deluge.
Cross-references: Genesis 8:2; Genesis 8:14; II Samuel 1:21; Genesis 9:11; Genesis 1:2; Deuteronomy 32:7
And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights.
verse value 1558
Insights
Verse structure: 7 words, 34 letters. The shortest word is "day" (י֔וֹם, 3 letters) and the longest is "and·forty" (וְאַרְבָּעִ֖ים, 7 letters). 7 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "and·it·was" (root היה, 313x in Genesis); "upon·the·earth" (root ארץ, 305x in Genesis); "day" (root יום, 126x in Genesis). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'upon·the·earth', dividing the verse into phrases of 3 and 4 words. Full calculation: וַיְהִ֥י [and·it·was] (31) + הַגֶּ֖שֶׁם [the·rain] (348) + עַל־הָאָ֑רֶץ [upon·the·earth] (396) + אַרְבָּעִ֣ים [forty] (323) + י֔וֹם [day] (56) + וְאַרְבָּעִ֖ים [and·forty] (329) + לָֽיְלָה [night] (75) = 1558.
Onkelos
And there was rain coming down upon the earth for forty days and forty nights.
Rashi
ויהי הגשם על הארץ AND THE RAIN WAS UPON THE EARTH — But later on (v. 17) it says. “And the Flood was upon the earth”! But the explanation is this: when He poured down the water at first He made it fall in mercy (gently), in order that if the people would repent, it might prove a rain of blessing; but when they did not repent it became a destructive flood (Genesis Rabbah 31:12). ‘ארבעים יום וגו FORTY DAYS AND [FORTY NIGHTS] — The first day is not included in this number, because its night (i.e. the night that preceded it, since according to Jewish reckoning a “day” comprises night-time and the following day-time) was not included with it — for it is written (v. 11) “On the same day (i. e. day-time) were all the fountains of the great deep broken up”. (Consequently the forty days ended, according to R. Eliezer, on the 28th day of Kislev (Rosh Hashanah 11b). as the months are counted as regular months, one full (of 30 days) and the next defective (of 29 days), so we have, 12 days of Marcheshvan and 28 days of Kislev.
Daat Zkenim
ארבעים יום, “forty days.” According to Rashi, the first day is not to be counted. (as the first night no rain had fallen) The Torah had made a point of writing in verse 11: ביום הזה נבקעו כל מעינות תהום, “on this day all the fountains of the deep broke open.” Accordingly the 40 days came to an end on the 28th day of Kislev.” This does not seem accurate, seeing that he himself wrote on verse 24, where the Torah wrote that the water level on earth kept increasing for a period of one hundred and fifty days which would mean that they kept increasing until the first day of Sivan where the Torah spoke about the seventh month as the day when the rains stopped descending. (compare his commentary on 8,4) We would therefore have to include the first day of the “forty” days as being part of that count. I believe therefore that the rains had started falling as soon as it was daylight on the seventeenth of the second month, as the words: ביום הזה in our verse do not prove anything about which part of the day it refers to. We find this expression in the Torah on numerous occasions when it clearly includes the preceding night. (The author quotes Genesis 2,2, and Leviticus 23,28 as examples to prove his point.) The author also cites Seder Olam, an ancient history text, as supporting his conclusion. He quotes that text verbatim: “on this day all the fissures in the earth broke open, and rain fell on the earth from the sky. This state of affairs continued until the 27th day of Kislev, but the level of water covering the surface of the earth continued to rise until the end of 150 days, that day being the first day of the month of Sivan.” In light of what the author of that text writes, we must include the first day of the “forty” days given in the Torah in our total.
In the selfsame day entered Noah, and Shem, and Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noah's wife, and the three wives of his sons with them, into the ark;
verse value 4470
Insights
Verse structure: 14 words, 57 letters. The shortest word is "came" (בָּ֣א, 2 letters) and the longest is "the·wives·of·his·sons" (נְשֵֽׁי־בָנָ֛יו, 7 letters). Words sharing gematria 58: Noah, Noah. 3 words in this verse appear nowhere else in Genesis. Unique to this verse in Genesis (hapax): "and·Shem·and·Ham" (וְשֵׁם־וְחָ֥ם), "and·three" (וּשְׁלֹ֧שֶׁת), "the·wives·of·his·sons" (נְשֵֽׁי־בָנָ֛יו). The root אשה appears 2 times in this verse. 11 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "sons·of·Noah" (root בן, 248x in Genesis); "came" (root בוא, 213x in Genesis); "and·Shem·and·Ham" (root שם, 180x in Genesis). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'sons·of·Noah', dividing the verse into phrases of 8 and 6 words. Full calculation: בְּעֶ֨צֶם [in·the·very] (202) + הַיּ֤וֹם [the·day] (61) + הַזֶּה֙ [this] (17) + בָּ֣א [came] (3) + נֹ֔חַ [Noah] (58) + וְשֵׁם־וְחָ֥ם [and·Shem·and·Ham] (400) + וָיֶ֖פֶת [and·Japheth] (496) + בְּנֵי־נֹ֑חַ [sons·of·Noah] (120) + וְאֵ֣שֶׁת [and·the·wife·of] (707) + נֹ֗חַ [Noah] (58) + וּשְׁלֹ֧שֶׁת [and·three] (1036) + נְשֵֽׁי־בָנָ֛יו [the·wives·of·his·sons] (428) + אִתָּ֖ם [with·them] (441) + אֶל־הַתֵּבָֽה [into·the·ark] (443) = 4470.
Onkelos
On that very day Noah came, and Shem and Ham and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noah's wife and the three wives of his sons with them, into the ark.
Rashi
בעצם היום הזה IN THE SELFSAME DAY — Scripture teaches you that the people of his generation said: “If we see him enter the Ark we will smash it up and kill him”. The Holy One, blessed be He, thereupon said, ‘‘I will let him enter before the eyes of everyone and we shall see whose word prevails” (Genesis Rabbah 32:8).
Rabbeinu Bahya
בא נח ושם וחם ויפת בני נח ואשת נח וגו', “Noach, Shem, Cham, and Yaphet, Noach’s sons and his wife entered, etc.” By rights the Torah should have written: בא נח ושם וחם ויפת בניו ואשתו ושלשת נשי בניו, in that order.[Had the Torah written the verse in that way it could have avoided mentioning the name Noach three times in that verse. Ed.] However, Noach was so beloved of G-d that G-d wanted to mention his name repeatedly in order to convey this to us. It is a common practice amongst people that when they are especially fond of someone they look for opportunities to refer to such a person by his name.
they, and every beast after its kind, and all the cattle after their kind, and every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth after its kind, and every bird after its kind, every bird of every sort.
verse value 3184
Insights
Verse structure: 14 words, 75 letters. The shortest word is "all" (כֹּ֖ל, 2 letters) and the longest is "and·all·the·cattle" (וְכׇל־הַבְּהֵמָה֙, 8 letters). Words sharing gematria 141: after·its·kind, after·its·kind. 5 words in this verse appear nowhere else in Genesis. Unique to this verse in Genesis (hapax): "and·all·the·beasts" (וְכׇל־הַֽחַיָּ֣ה), "and·all·the·cattle" (וְכׇל־הַבְּהֵמָה֙), "and·all·the·creeping·things" (וְכׇל־הָרֶ֛מֶשׂ). The root מין appears 4 times in this verse. 9 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "upon·the·earth" (root ארץ, 305x in Genesis); "and·all·the·beasts" (root כל, 127x in Genesis); "they" (root הם, 49x in Genesis). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'after·its·kind', dividing the verse into phrases of 9 and 5 words. Full calculation: הֵ֜מָּה [they] (50) + וְכׇל־הַֽחַיָּ֣ה [and·all·the·beasts] (84) + לְמִינָ֗הּ [after·its·kind] (135) + וְכׇל־הַבְּהֵמָה֙ [and·all·the·cattle] (113) + לְמִינָ֔הּ [after·its·kind] (135) + וְכׇל־הָרֶ֛מֶשׂ [and·all·the·creeping·things] (601) + הָרֹמֵ֥שׂ [that·creeps] (545) + עַל־הָאָ֖רֶץ [upon·the·earth] (396) + לְמִינֵ֑הוּ [after·its·kind] (141) + וְכׇל־הָע֣וֹף [and·all·the·birds] (217) + לְמִינֵ֔הוּ [after·its·kind] (141) + כֹּ֖ל [all] (50) + צִפּ֥וֹר [bird] (376) + כׇּל־כָּנָֽף [every·winged·thing] (200) = 3184.
Onkelos
They and every wild beast after its kind, and every domesticated animal after its kind, and every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth after its kind, and every bird after its kind — every bird, every winged creature.
Rashi
צפור כל כנף [EVERY] BIRD OF EVERY KIND — The word צפור is in the construct state, viz. birds of every kind of wing, thus including locusts (Chullin 139b). The word כנף means “wingfeather”, as (Leviticus 1:17) “He shall rend it by the wings thereof”, for even its feathers were offered as a sacrifice. Also here, the meaning is, birds with any kind of semblance of wing.
Chizkuni
כל צפור כל כנף, “every bird, every wing.” According to Bereshit Rabbah 32,8, these apparently superfluous words are to tell us that every one of these birds some of which Noach would use as sacrifices later on, were complete, whole, i.e. did not have a single feather missing, as this would have disqualified them as potential sacrifices. None had damaged reproductive organs.
And they went in to Noah into the ark, two and two of all flesh in which is the breath of life.
verse value 2745
Insights
Verse structure: 9 words, 42 letters. The shortest word is "breath" (ר֥וּחַ, 3 letters) and the longest is "of·all·flesh" (מִכׇּל־הַבָּשָׂ֔ר, 7 letters). Words sharing gematria 400: two, two. 1 word in this verse appears nowhere else in Genesis. Unique to this verse in Genesis (hapax): "of·all·flesh" (מִכׇּל־הַבָּשָׂ֔ר). The root שנים appears 2 times in this verse. 8 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "which·in" (root אשר, 313x in Genesis); "and·they·came" (root בוא, 213x in Genesis); "two" (root שנים, 57x in Genesis). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'into·the·ark', dividing the verse into phrases of 3 and 6 words. Full calculation: וַיָּבֹ֥אוּ [and·they·came] (25) + אֶל־נֹ֖חַ [to·Noah] (89) + אֶל־הַתֵּבָ֑ה [into·the·ark] (443) + שְׁנַ֤יִם [two] (400) + שְׁנַ֙יִם֙ [two] (400) + מִכׇּל־הַבָּשָׂ֔ר [of·all·flesh] (597) + אֲשֶׁר־בּ֖וֹ [which·in] (509) + ר֥וּחַ [breath] (214) + חַיִּֽים [life] (68) = 2745.
Onkelos
And they came with Noah into the ark, two by two, of all flesh in which there was the breath of life.
Ramban
AND THEY CAME IN UNTO NOAH INTO THE ARK. The intent of this is to make known that the beasts, fowl, etc., did not gather to him at all, nor did they come until that selfsame day when the rains came. And he came into the ark for it was G-d that hath commanded and His breath which hath gathered them in one moment.
Rabbeinu Bahya
ויבאו אל נח אל התבה, “they came to Noach, to the Ark.” This verse is a continuation of the words בעצם היום הזה, “on this same day,” in verse 13, where the Torah had mentioned first that Noach and his family entered the Ark before going on to say that the animals arrived in pairs. All this occurred on the same day. The Torah was at pains to describe the miraculous nature of what happened, i.e. that this was a manifestation of G-d’s will.
And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God commanded him; and Hashem shut him in.
verse value 2557 — אֱלֹהִ֑ים = 86 (Elohim)
Insights
Verse structure: 12 words, 51 letters. Notable word values: "God" (אֱלֹהִ֑ים) = 86, equal to Elohim. The shortest word is "male" (זָכָ֨ר, 3 letters) and the longest is "and·those·that·entered" (וְהַבָּאִ֗ים, 6 letters). 2 words in this verse appear nowhere else in Genesis. Unique to this verse in Genesis (hapax): "and·those·that·entered" (וְהַבָּאִ֗ים), "behind·him" (בַּֽעֲדֽוֹ). The root בוא appears 2 times in this verse. 11 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "as" (root אשר, 313x in Genesis); "God" (root אלה, 301x in Genesis); "and·those·that·entered" (root בוא, 213x in Genesis). First appearance of the root בעד ("behind·him") in Genesis. The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'God', dividing the verse into phrases of 9 and 3 words. Full calculation: וְהַבָּאִ֗ים [and·those·that·entered] (64) + זָכָ֨ר [male] (227) + וּנְקֵבָ֤ה [female] (163) + מִכׇּל־בָּשָׂר֙ [of·all·flesh] (592) + בָּ֔אוּ [entered] (9) + כַּֽאֲשֶׁ֛ר [as] (521) + צִוָּ֥ה [commanded] (101) + אֹת֖וֹ [him] (407) + אֱלֹהִ֑ים [God] (86) + וַיִּסְגֹּ֥ר [and·shut] (279) + יְהֹוָ֖ה [Hashem] (26) + בַּֽעֲדֽוֹ [behind·him] (82) = 2557.
Onkelos
And those that came were male and female of all flesh; they came as Hashem had commanded him, and Hashem shielded him with His Memra.
Rashi
ויסגור ה' בעדו AND THE LORD SHUT HIM IN — He protected him so that they could not smash up the Ark (cf. 5:13): He surrounded the Ark (thus enclosing it סגר) with bears and lions which killed some of them (Genesis Rabbah 32:8). But the literal meaning of the text is: He shut the door in front of him against the waters. Similarly, wherever בעד occurs in the Scriptures it means כנגד in front of. E. g., (20:18) “The lord had made a closure in front of (בעד) every womb”; (2 Kings 4:4) “Close the door in front of thyself (בעדך) and in front of (ובעד) thy sons”; (Job 2:4) ‘‘skin in front of (as a protection for) (בעד) skin”; (Psalms 3:4) “a shield in front of me ובעדי”: (1 Samuel 12:19) “Pray (בעד) thy servants” which means כנגד in front of (i. e. on behalf of, as a protection for) thy servants.
Ramban
AND THEY THAT CAME IN, CAME IN MALE AND FEMALE OF ALL FLESH. The intent of this is that those who came into the ark were male and female for so Noah brought them in. This is why Scripture says, as G-d hath commanded him, since it was He who commanded him to bring them into the ark. But the opinion of Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra is that the verse, And Noah came in, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons’ wives with him, into the ark, does not mean that they entered it but that they all came to Noah on the tenth day of the second month for his house was near the ark. [He thus interprets the verse as meaning “to the ark,” rather than “into the ark.”] Ibn Ezra explains the phrase, because of the waters of the flood, to mean “on account of the fear of the waters of the flood.” At the end of the seven days came the waters of the flood, and then they all gathered in the ark, and Noah closed the door and the window. But Ibn Ezra’s words are not correct. It is possible that the verses, And Noah did according to all that the Eternal hath commanded him, And Noah was six hundred years old, and the succeeding verses until, In the six hundredth year, do not recount a narrative. Rather, And Noah did according to all that the Eternal commanded him generalizes the entire matter. It states that he did everything as he was commanded, not omitting a thing: he constructed the ark and assembled the food and took of the clean beasts and fowl seven and seven on the day He commanded him. When he was six hundred years old and the flood came down upon the earth, he came with his household and with the clean beasts and all living things into the ark, as G-d had commanded him. After that, Scripture narrates the event, And it came to pass after the seven days … in the six hundredth year, and completes the subject.
Ibn Ezra
"And those that came were male and female" — its meaning is: those that came into the ark. The meaning of "and Hashem closed it behind him" — this is praiseworthy, for closing at that moment was better than opening. In another context the same expression carries a negative connotation: "He shuts a man in" (Job 12:14); "God has hedged him in" (Job 3:23). The proof is the beginning of the verse itself. He sealed the entrance, and Hashem assisted him so that no opening appeared in the ark — for had one appeared, they would all have perished at once. It has already been written: "And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights" (Genesis 7:12); if so, what is the meaning of: "And the flood was upon the earth forty days" (Genesis 7:17)? The explanation is as follows: when the flood had been forty days upon the earth, the waters increased and lifted the ark, raising it above the ground. This indicates that for the first forty days it did not move from its place.
Chizkuni
ויסגור ה׳ בעדו, “the Lord closed the door from the outside on his behalf.” Noach had left the door open, as seeing he did not know every species of creature, he was afraid that by closing the door prematurely he might prevent a species from gaining entry to the ark and that it therefore would die out. After they had all come, the wind closed the door as a signal that they had arrived. We find another example of this in the Talmud Pessachim 64, where the doors to the Temple entrance are described as closing apparently on their own account on the eve of Passover to signify that otherwise there would be overcrowding.
And the flood was forty days upon the earth; and the waters increased, and bore up the ark, and it was lifted up above the earth.
verse value 3426
Insights
Verse structure: 12 words, 55 letters. The shortest word is "day" (י֖וֹם, 3 letters) and the longest is "forty" (אַרְבָּעִ֥ים, 6 letters). Words sharing gematria 323: forty, and·bore·up. 1 word in this verse appears nowhere else in Genesis. Unique to this verse in Genesis (hapax): "and·it·rose" (וַתָּ֖רׇם). The root ארץ appears 2 times in this verse. 11 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "and·it·was" (root היה, 313x in Genesis); "upon·the·earth" (root ארץ, 305x in Genesis); "day" (root יום, 126x in Genesis). First appearance of the root רום ("and·it·rose") in Genesis. The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'upon·the·earth', dividing the verse into phrases of 5 and 7 words. Full calculation: וַֽיְהִ֧י [and·it·was] (31) + הַמַּבּ֛וּל [the·flood] (83) + אַרְבָּעִ֥ים [forty] (323) + י֖וֹם [day] (56) + עַל־הָאָ֑רֶץ [upon·the·earth] (396) + וַיִּרְבּ֣וּ [and·multiplied] (224) + הַמַּ֗יִם [the·waters] (95) + וַיִּשְׂאוּ֙ [and·bore·up] (323) + אֶת־הַתֵּבָ֔ה [the·ark] (813) + וַתָּ֖רׇם [and·it·rose] (646) + מֵעַ֥ל [above] (140) + הָאָֽרֶץ [the·earth] (296) = 3426.
Onkelos
And the flood was upon the earth for forty days, and the waters increased and lifted the ark, and it was raised above the earth.
Rashi
ותרם מעל הארץ AND IT WAS LIFTED UP ABOVE THE EARTH — It was eleven cubits deep in the water like a laden ship that has part of it sunk in the waters (Genesis Rabbah 32:9); the following verses prove that this is the meaning.
Chizkuni
ויהי המבול ארבעים יום, “the deluge lasted for 40 days;” how do we square this with verse 12 according to which the rain had continued for 40 days? We must assume that matters which had not been spelled out in the earlier verse have now been added, i.e. that after a period of 40 days of continuous rain and other manifestations of the deluge, the ark began to rise from its site. We find a similar construction in verse 19 where the waters are described as covering the mountains, after the Torah had first given details about the gradual inundation of high places on earth by the waters of the deluge. Had we only read verse 18 and the first half of verse 19, we would not have been able to imagine the extent of the flooding.
Kli Yakar
Forty days. [This corresponds to] their worship of idolatry, for one who acknowledges idolatry is considered as if he denies the entire Torah which was given over forty days. And [it also corresponds to] their sexual immorality, for they burdened their Creator to form the shape of illegitimate children over forty days. And [it corresponds to] theft, because the numerical value of the word gezel [theft] is forty.
Tur HaArokh
ויהי המבול ארבעים יום, “The deluge continued for a period of 40 days.” According to Rashi, the first day, i.e. the 17th of the second month, does not count as one of the 40 days mentioned here, the reason being that the deluge started during the daylight hours, part of that date, i.e. the night, already having passed. Accordingly, the 40 days mentioned here ended on the 28th day of Kislev. Everybody questions Rashi’s commentary in view of his own commentary later on (8,3) that the words ויחסרו המים מקצה חמישים יום, “at the conclusion of 150 days the waters began to recede,” refers to the first day of Sivan. Rashi proceeds to make the following calculation: “on the 27th of Kislev the rains ceased. We are left with 3 more days in Kislev, plus 29 days for Tevet, which amount to a total of 32. Adding a total of 118 days for the months of Shevat, Adar, Nissan, and Iyar, brings us to a total of 150. [2 of the last four months are presumed to have 29 days and 2 have 30 days. Ed.] According to this latest calculation by Rashi, the 17th of Marcheshvan forms part of the 150 days!
And the waters prevailed, and increased greatly upon the earth; and the ark went upon the face of the waters.
verse value 2190
Insights
Verse structure: 9 words, 41 letters. The shortest word is "very" (מְאֹ֖ד, 3 letters) and the longest is "and·prevailed" (וַיִּגְבְּר֥וּ, 6 letters). Words sharing gematria 95: the·waters, the·waters. The root מים appears 2 times in this verse. 8 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "upon·the·earth" (root ארץ, 305x in Genesis); "upon·the·face·of" (root פנים, 133x in Genesis); "and·moved" (root הלך, 113x in Genesis). First appearance of the root גבר ("and·prevailed") in Genesis. The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'upon·the·earth', dividing the verse into phrases of 5 and 4 words. Full calculation: וַיִּגְבְּר֥וּ [and·prevailed] (227) + הַמַּ֛יִם [the·waters] (95) + וַיִּרְבּ֥וּ [and·increased] (224) + מְאֹ֖ד [very] (45) + עַל־הָאָ֑רֶץ [upon·the·earth] (396) + וַתֵּ֥לֶךְ [and·moved] (456) + הַתֵּבָ֖ה [the·ark] (412) + עַל־פְּנֵ֥י [upon·the·face·of] (240) + הַמָּֽיִם [the·waters] (95) = 2190.
Onkelos
And the waters prevailed and increased greatly upon the earth, and the ark moved upon the surface of the waters.
Rashi
ויגברו [AND THE WATERS] PREVAILED — by themselves (without any external aid).
Ramban
AND THE WATERS PREVAILED (‘Vayigb’ru’). AND THE WATERS ‘GAVRU’ (PREVAILED). This means that they increased exceedingly, for the Hebrew language calls great abundance gvurah (strength, power). So too, And their transgressions which ‘yithgavru’ (have prevailed), meaning increased exceedingly; His mercy ‘gavar’ (has prevailed) toward them that fear Him, meaning increased. And so also: If ‘bigvuroth’ four-score years, meaning with great abundance. It is conceivable that the meaning of vayigb’ru is that the rains came in a rushing downpour, uprooting trees and toppling buildings, since power is called in Hebrew gvurah (strength) because strength lies in power. In a similar sense are the verses: They also ‘gavru’ (wax mighty) in power; ‘Vehigbir brith’ (And he shall make a strong covenant) with many for one week, meaning he will establish the covenant with firmness. And in the words of the Sages, [we find the expression], gvuroth geshamim (the powers of the rains), because they come down with strength. It is possible that the verse, If ‘bigvuroth’ four-score years, is of the same sense, i.e., if his bones and body be strong, and he is a man of power, he will live four-score years. And if so, ‘gavru’ upon the earth will mean that the waters were in their complete strength, overcoming even the high mountains and inundating them.
Sforno
ותלך התבה, not under its own power but by the pressure of the external waters.
And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth; and all the high mountains that were under the whole heaven were covered.
verse value 3029
Insights
Verse structure: 10 words, 52 letters. Verse gematria: 3029 is divisible by 13, the value of echad ('one') and ahavah ('love'). The shortest word is "very" (מְאֹ֥ד, 3 letters) and the longest is "all·the·mountains" (כׇּל־הֶֽהָרִים֙, 7 letters). Words sharing gematria 45: very, very. 4 words in this verse appear nowhere else in Genesis. Unique to this verse in Genesis (hapax): "all·the·mountains" (כׇּל־הֶֽהָרִים֙), "the·high" (הַגְּבֹהִ֔ים), "that·were·under" (אֲשֶׁר־תַּ֖חַת). The root מאד appears 2 times in this verse. 9 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "upon·the·earth" (root ארץ, 305x in Genesis); "all·the·mountains" (root כל, 127x in Genesis); "and·the·waters" (root מים, 50x in Genesis). First appearance of the root כסה ("and·were·covered") in Genesis. The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'upon·the·earth', dividing the verse into phrases of 5 and 5 words. Full calculation: וְהַמַּ֗יִם [and·the·waters] (101) + גָּ֥בְר֛וּ [prevailed] (211) + מְאֹ֥ד [very] (45) + מְאֹ֖ד [very] (45) + עַל־הָאָ֑רֶץ [upon·the·earth] (396) + וַיְכֻסּ֗וּ [and·were·covered] (102) + כׇּל־הֶֽהָרִים֙ [all·the·mountains] (310) + הַגְּבֹהִ֔ים [the·high] (65) + אֲשֶׁר־תַּ֖חַת [that·were·under] (1309) + כׇּל־הַשָּׁמָֽיִם [all·the·heavens] (445) = 3029.
Onkelos
And the waters prevailed exceedingly, exceedingly, upon the earth, and all the high mountains that are under all the heavens were covered.
Ibn Ezra
"Exceedingly, exceedingly" — twice, because there is no greater measure than this. Furthermore, after it already said "all the high mountains were covered," why does it then say "the mountains were covered" (Genesis 7:20)? The explanation is as follows: every high mountain was covered with water, and fifteen cubits of water covered the mountains mentioned. We believe the words of our God, and we set aside the vanities of those people who say that there is one high mountain that is in the kingdom of Greece.
Tur HaArokh
והמים גברו, “and the waters had kept rising and becoming more turbulent;” Verse 18, writing וירבו ויגברו המים, had taught us that when waters increase in volume the Torah describes this in terms of גברו, becoming strong, powerful, turbulent. It is possible, however, to understand the word ויגברו in verse 18 for the word כח also is often referred to as גבורה. In this case the turbulence of the waters uprooted trees, etc.
Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail; and the mountains were covered.
verse value 1852
Insights
Verse structure: 8 words, 34 letters. The shortest word is "five" (חֲמֵ֨שׁ, 3 letters) and the longest is "upward" (מִלְמַ֔עְלָה, 6 letters). 8 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "the·waters" (root מים, 50x in Genesis); "ten" (root עשר, 45x in Genesis); "five" (root חמש, 34x in Genesis). First appearance of the root הר ("the·mountains") in Genesis. The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'the·waters', dividing the verse into phrases of 6 and 2 words. Full calculation: חֲמֵ֨שׁ [five] (348) + עֶשְׂרֵ֤ה [ten] (575) + אַמָּה֙ [cubit] (46) + מִלְמַ֔עְלָה [upward] (215) + גָּבְר֖וּ [prevailed] (211) + הַמָּ֑יִם [the·waters] (95) + וַיְכֻסּ֖וּ [and·were·covered] (102) + הֶהָרִֽים [the·mountains] (260) = 1852.
Onkelos
Fifteen cubits above did the waters prevail, and the mountains were covered.
Rashi
חמש עשרה אמה מלמעלה FIFTEEN CUBITS ABOVE —above the summits of all the mountains when once the waters reached the level of the mountains (Yoma 76a).
Chizkuni
ויכוסו ההרים, “the mountains were covered (with water) hence what follows: ויגוע כל בשר “all flesh perished.” (verse 21) There was no place left to take refuge from the water. חמש עשרה אמה מלמעלה גברו המים וגו. This verse teaches us, using our intellect, that the ark could not have been submerged in the waters to an extent of more than six cubits. How do we arrive at this conclusion? The water level on earth has been described as at its highest level being 15 cubits above the top of the highest mountain. This level had been attained during the 7 days from the 17th day in Tishrey in which the ark ran aground on Mount Arrarat. By the first day in Tevet, the highest mountain tops became visible. It was then easy to determine the level at which the ark had been waterlogged prior to having run aground. The water leaves marks on the outside that can easily be distinguished. The inhabitants of the ark were therefore able to calculate that the speed at which the waters had been receding was one cubit for each 12 days. Having arrived at this calculation they had to count another 180 days from the 28th of Sivan the day on which the rains had ceased. They were therefore able to calculate that at its highest point the waters had been 15 cubits above the highest mountain. [There is a very minor discrepancy, a few centimeters when allowing for 2 days not included in the above count. Ed.]
And all flesh perished that moved upon the earth, both birds, and cattle, and beast, and every swarming thing that swarms upon the earth, and every man;
verse value 3587
Insights
Verse structure: 12 words, 60 letters. The shortest word is "and·all" (וְכֹ֖ל, 3 letters) and the longest is "and·all·the·swarming·things" (וּבְכׇל־הַשֶּׁ֖רֶץ, 8 letters). Words sharing gematria 396: upon·the·earth, upon·the·earth. 3 words in this verse appear nowhere else in Genesis. Unique to this verse in Genesis (hapax): "and·among·the·beasts" (וּבַ֣חַיָּ֔ה), "and·all·the·swarming·things" (וּבְכׇל־הַשֶּׁ֖רֶץ), "that·swarmed" (הַשֹּׁרֵ֣ץ). The root ארץ appears 2 times in this verse. 10 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "upon·the·earth" (root ארץ, 305x in Genesis); "and·all" (root כל, 127x in Genesis); "humankind" (root אדם, 67x in Genesis). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'upon·the·earth', dividing the verse into phrases of 10 and 2 words. Full calculation: וַיִּגְוַ֞ע [and·expired] (95) + כׇּל־בָּשָׂ֣ר [all·flesh] (552) + הָרֹמֵ֣שׂ [that·moved] (545) + עַל־הָאָ֗רֶץ [upon·the·earth] (396) + בָּע֤וֹף [among·the·birds] (158) + וּבַבְּהֵמָה֙ [and·among·the·cattle] (60) + וּבַ֣חַיָּ֔ה [and·among·the·beasts] (31) + וּבְכׇל־הַשֶּׁ֖רֶץ [and·all·the·swarming·things] (653) + הַשֹּׁרֵ֣ץ [that·swarmed] (595) + עַל־הָאָ֑רֶץ [upon·the·earth] (396) + וְכֹ֖ל [and·all] (56) + הָאָדָֽם [humankind] (50) = 3587.
Onkelos
And all flesh that crept upon the earth perished — among the birds, and among the domesticated animals, and among the wild beasts, and among all the creeping things that crept upon the earth, and all human beings.
Ibn Ezra
The meaning of "וַיִּגְוַע" — it had already expired [i.e., the pluperfect: they had already perished]; there are many such usages in the Torah, as in: "And I pleaded" (Deuteronomy 3:23), and likewise "He had rained manna upon them" (Psalms 78:24), according to the true interpretation. The word "וַיִּגְוַע" denotes dying, and in my explanation of "he expired and died" (Genesis 25:8) I will clarify this for you. It is now clear that the word "רֶמֶשׂ" (creeping thing) is a collective term encompassing bird, domesticated animal, wild beast, tiny swarming creature, and man. It is possible that the phrase "all in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life" refers specifically to man, since we do not find "neshamah" (breath/soul) used except for the soul of a human being. Many have said it is called by this name because it comes from the heavens; and if these are two distinct roots, analogous cases can be found.
Chizkuni
וכל האדם, “as well as every human being.” The word: אדם when used in the Holy Scriptures always includes men women and children. If you were to ask why the human race was punished when it had not been given commandments by G-d that had to be observed, we must answer that there are a number of rules for behaviour of society that mankind can be expected to honour without the need to be specifically commanded to do so. If proof were needed for this statement we remind you of Kayin being punished for having killed his brother Hevel, although there is no record that he was ever warned by G-d not to kill another human being.
all in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life, whatsoever was in the dry land, died.
verse value 2976
Insights
Verse structure: 9 words, 35 letters. The shortest word is "all" (כֹּ֡ל, 2 letters) and the longest is "the·breath·of·the·spirit·of" (נִשְׁמַת־ר֨וּחַ, 7 letters). Words sharing gematria 501: which, which. 2 words in this verse appear nowhere else in Genesis. Unique to this verse in Genesis (hapax): "the·breath·of·the·spirit·of" (נִשְׁמַת־ר֨וּחַ), "in·the·dry·land" (בֶּחָֽרָבָ֖ה). The root כל appears 2 times in this verse. 7 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "which" (root אשר, 313x in Genesis); "all" (root כל, 127x in Genesis); "died" (root מות, 86x in Genesis). Full calculation: כֹּ֡ל [all] (50) + אֲשֶׁר֩ [which] (501) + נִשְׁמַת־ר֨וּחַ [the·breath·of·the·spirit·of] (1004) + חַיִּ֜ים [life] (68) + בְּאַפָּ֗יו [in·whose·nostrils] (99) + מִכֹּ֛ל [from·all] (90) + אֲשֶׁ֥ר [which] (501) + בֶּחָֽרָבָ֖ה [in·the·dry·land] (217) + מֵֽתוּ [died] (446) = 2976.
Onkelos
All in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life, of all that were on the dry land — they died.
Rashi
נשמת רוח חיים means the breathing of the breath of life. אשר בחרבה WHATSOEVER WAS IN THE DRY LAND [DIED] — and not the fish in the sea (Sanhedrin 108a).
Rabbeinu Bahya
כל אשר נשמת רוח חיים באפיו, “all in whose nostrils was the breath of life, etc.” From here we have proof that when man dies his soul departs via his nostrils. It leaves the same way it entered as we have been told that when G-d provided man with the soul, He “blew” it into him through his nostrils (Genesis 2,7). I have dealt with this subject at length at that point. A kabbalistic approach to the words כל אשר נשמת רוח חיים באפיו understands the word כל, “all,” as an allusion to the emanation כל with which G-d had blessed Avraham (Genesis 24,1). This is the tenth emanation, the region where the souls “grow.” Our sages who instituted the prayer we recite on Sabbath morning commencing with the words נשמת כל חי had this emanation in mind. This is also the mystical dimension of Exodus 31,17 where the Torah says of G-d כי בו שבת וינפש, “for on it (the Sabbath) “He ‘rested’ and concentrated on the regions of the souls.” This emanation or “celestial region,” is the source of all blessings and the source of “life” as we understand it. This is why the Torah said of the original Sabbath ויברך אלוהים את יום השביעי, “the Lord blessed the seventh day.” This is why here the Torah refers to “life” as אשר נשמת רוח חיים באפיו. The difference between man and the other living creatures is that whereas the latter have a רוח חיים, they do not possess a נשמת רוח חיים. The cantillation pazer gadol on the word כל in our verse is designed to draw our attention to the fact that the word does not mean simply “all” as it does usually, but that it refers to the emanation כל which we have mentioned. The word כל does not appear with the cantillation pazer gadol anywhere else in the Bible. It is important to take note of this and to realise its implication. מכל אשר בחרבה מתו, “of all the creatures whose habitat is on the dry land, they died.” This teaches that the fish in the rivers and in the oceans did not die. They were able to escape the destruction by fleeing to the oceans as the deluge had been decreed only on earth. This is the meaning of the words (verse 12) “the rain was on the earth.”
Tur HaArokh
מכל אשר בחרבה מתו. Of all that perished in the destruction. And there are no fish in the sea, even in the waters of a boiling flood. It was possible that they fled into the abyss and into the crevices of the rocks and hid there. And how about all the people who ran away to the ocean?
And He blotted out every living substance which was upon the face of the ground, both man, and cattle, and creeping thing, and birds of the heaven; and they were blotted out from the earth; and Noah only was left, and they that were with him in the ark.
verse value 5303
Insights
Verse structure: 17 words, 83 letters. The shortest word is "which" (אֲשֶׁ֣ר, 3 letters) and the longest is "all·existence" (אֶֽת־כׇּל־הַיְק֣וּם, 9 letters). 4 words in this verse appear nowhere else in Genesis. Unique to this verse in Genesis (hapax): "and·blotted·out" (וַיִּ֜מַח), "and·were·blotted·out" (וַיִּמָּח֖וּ), "and·was·left" (וַיִּשָּׁ֧אֶר). The root מחה appears 2 times in this verse. 15 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "which" (root אשר, 313x in Genesis); "from·the·earth" (root ארץ, 305x in Genesis); "upon·the·face·of" (root פנים, 133x in Genesis). First appearance of the root שאר ("and·was·left") in Genesis. First appearance of the root אך ("only·Noah") in Genesis. The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'from·the·earth', dividing the verse into phrases of 12 and 5 words.
Onkelos
And He blotted out every living thing that was upon the face of the earth, from human beings to domesticated animals to creeping things and to the birds of the heavens; they were blotted out from the earth. Only Noah remained, and those that were with him in the ark.
Rashi
וימח AND HE BLOTTED OUT — The word וימח is a Kal form and not a Niphal, and it is of the same grammatical form as ויפן and ויבן Every verb whose last root letter is ה, such as בנה, מחה, קנה when י and ו are perfixed, has Chireq as its vowel beneath the yod. אך נח means NOAH ONLY. This is its real meaning. But the Midrashic explanation is (Midrash Tanchuma, Noach 9) that he was coughing and spitting blood because of the trouble he had with the cattle and beasts (אך is taken as a מיעוט limitation, meaning to say that something is defective); others say, that he was once late in bringing food to a lion, so it struck him. Regarding him may the words be applied (Proverbs 11:31), “Behold, even the righteous is paid (for his evil deeds) in this world’’.
Ramban
AND HE BLOTTED OUT EVERY LIVING SUBSTANCE WHICH WAS UPON THE FACE OF THE EARTH. After having said, And all flesh perished, and having said, whatever was in the dry land, died, Scripture continues to say, And He blotted out, meaning that the bodies dissolved and became water, just as is in the verse, And he shall blot them out in the water of bitterness — for the waters of the flood were hot, as our Rabbis have said. But if so, the fish also would have died. Perhaps it was as the Rabbis have said in Bereshith Rabbah:19. “Whatever was in the dry land died, but not the fish in the sea. And some authorities say that they too were destined to be destroyed, but they fled to the Mediterranean.” (See Jastrow.) Either way the fish were saved. Both of these opinions are plausible. For it is conceivable that the hot waters of the flood mingled with the seas, heating only their upper waters, while the fish descended to the depths of the ponds and lived there. Or, in accordance with the opinion of some authorities, it is possible that the fish in the waters of the countries near the Mediterranean (See Jastrow.) fled there when they felt the heat of the water, and were thus saved. And even if all those outside the Mediterranean died, since the majority of fish are in the Mediterranean (See Jastrow.) where the waters of the flood did not come down — as it is said, And the rain was upon the earth — the fish were thus saved. For none of the fish were brought into the ark to keep their seed alive, and at the time of the covenant it is said, I establish My covenant with you… and with every living creature that is with you, the fowl, and cattle, and every beast of the earth with you; of all that go out of the ark, but it does not mention the fish of the sea. AND THEY WERE BLOTTED OUT FROM THE EARTH. The commentators have explained that the reason for the double [expression, And He blotted out … and they were blotted out], is that their remembrance was forgotten since they had no seed. But what need is there to say that after we are told that they all died? Perhaps on account of the fowl and some creeping things, Scripture tells that none of their eggs were left on any tree or under the earth for everything was blotted out. It is probable that the sense of the verse is as follows: “And He blotted out every living substance which was upon the face of the earth, for from man to beast to creeping things and to fowl of the heaven, they were blotted out from the earth, only Noah remaining alive.” Now our Rabbis have expounded: “And He blotted out, meaning from this world. And they were blotted out from the earth, meaning from the World to Come.” The Rabbis thus explained “the earth” mentioned here as meaning “the land of eternal life.” I have already alluded to its secret.
Ibn Ezra
"And they were blotted out from the earth" — their name was wiped from the earth, for they had no offspring; only Noah remained, and those who were with him. This is a complete refutation of those among our brethren who are deficient in knowledge and say that the flood did not cover the whole earth.
Sforno
וימח את כל היקום, the structure of all the living beings was completely dissolved, but not that of the plants. “[trunks of trees might survive in recognisable form, whereas bodies would not be recognisable. Ed.] This is why the Torah added the words מאדם ועד בהמה, עד רמש ועד עוף השמים וימחו מן הארץ, “man or beast, moving creatures, including the birds of the sky disintegrated completely.” No traceable remains survived.
Or HaChaim
וימח את כל היקום. He dissolved all life. Not only did all living creatures of the earth (dry land) die, as pointed out in verse 21, but their remains dissolved completely due to the heat of the waters. No trace of them was left. This verse also enables us to understand the comment of Rabbi Ami in Eyruvin 18 on Psalms 139,5: אחור וקדם צרתני, ותשת עלי כפכה, "You have made me before and behind; You lay Your hand upon me." Rabbi Ami understood this to mean that Adam was created at the end of the whole process of creation whereas the word קדם refers to "prior to the curse." Rabbi Ami meant that man disintegrated before the curse, i.e. before all the animals' bodies dissolved. He referred to man dying ahead of the animals during the deluge. Who needed Rabbi Ami to tell us something that the Torah has already spelled out in 7,23? Actually, when you look at verse 21 you notice that the death of the creatures is reported in the reverse order, i.e. first the animals, then the human beings. According to our interpretation there is no contradiction here. Whereas verse 21 discusses the timing of the deaths, verse 23 discusses the dissolution of the remains of the dead creatures. Man's remains dissolved first though he had died last.
Rabbeinu Bahya
וימח את כל היקום, “He obliterated all existence.” The Torah here includes all living creatures on earth as having been killed by the boiling waters which covered the earth. The additional words: וימחו מן הארץ, “they were blotted out from the earth,” mean that whereas they themselves were blotted out on earth, their כוחות, “the various forms of power providing their energy on earth” were wiped out from the heavens. You are aware already that all forms of energy that exist in the higher regions exert influence on what happens in our terrestrial world. The reason that sources of energy in the terrestrial world ceased was that their celestial counterparts, their “home base,” had already ceased to perform their task. G-d had put a stop to their ability to exert influence on earth “below.” They did not even receive any celestial input anymore from what is known as the קו האמצעי, the central emanation which exerts its influence on all phenomena subject to celestial input. Since all these celestial sources had already ceased to provide the terrestrial phenomena with their beneficial contributions, the only source which still remained at the time of the deluge and which was capable of providing beneficial energy was this קו האמצעי. David referred to this when he said (Psalms 29,10) ה' למבול ישב וישב ה' מלך לעולם, “G-d had remained seated all alone; G-d sits enthroned as King forever.” The word yashav in that verse refers to G-d’s remaining ‘isolated’ at that time.” We find a similar expression in Psalms 9,8 וה' לעולם ישב, “and G-d will be seated forever, etc.” This too refers to G-d “alone,” i.e. at a time when He has not assigned agents to disperse their G-d-given energies to the terrestrial world. This helps us to understand the statement by our sages in Zevachim 113 that the deluge did not include the Holy Land. They meant that the rain did not descend upon ארץ ישראל from the sky and that this was a compliment to the Holy Land and its elevated status. The windows of heaven were not opened in order to flood ארץ ישראל from above, nor were the fountains of the “deep” opened in order to flood it from below as ארץ ישראל is the equivalent on earth of the קו האמצעי in the celestial regions. [Personally, I have always understood that statement by the sages to mean that inasmuch as ארץ ישראל is under the direct supervision of G-d as opposed to the other countries which receive their divine input only through G-d’s agents, there was no call for imposing such a deluge on a country which had not been allowed to deteriorate as it had been under the constant supervision of G-d personally. Ed.]. A Midrashic-homiletical approach to the apparent repetition in our verse is that the first statement refers to wiping out these people’s future on earth, whereas the second statement records that their lives in a future more idyllic world had also been denied them on account of their present corruption.
Tur HaArokh
"and wiped out the whole existence." After he had said, "And all flesh is afflicted, and all that died by the sword, he continued to say and wished that the body rested" and they were like the waters, and he wished for the bitter water because the waters were boiling, as our sages said, remember them as a blessing (רז"ל = "remember them as a blessing" or "Razal" edt.). וימחו מן הארץ "... and they perished from the land." Let us forget their memory that they have no seed, even though it is already written that they all died, it was necessary to say yes to make us hear that there was not a fowl or a creeper that had eggs or seed left in any tree or under the ground because they all perished and it may be according to the verse and he wiped out the whole universe that is on the face of the earth because of man Until the beast and until the bird of the sky died from the earth and only Noah remained.
And the waters prevailed upon the earth a hundred and fifty days.
verse value 1619
Insights
Verse structure: 6 words, 28 letters. The shortest word is "day" (יֽוֹם, 3 letters) and the longest is "and·prevailed" (וַיִּגְבְּר֥וּ, 6 letters). 6 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "upon·the·earth" (root ארץ, 305x in Genesis); "day" (root יום, 126x in Genesis); "and·a·hundred" (root מאה, 60x in Genesis). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'upon·the·earth', dividing the verse into phrases of 3 and 3 words. Full calculation: וַיִּגְבְּר֥וּ [and·prevailed] (227) + הַמַּ֖יִם [the·waters] (95) + עַל־הָאָ֑רֶץ [upon·the·earth] (396) + חֲמִשִּׁ֥ים [fifty] (398) + וּמְאַ֖ת [and·a·hundred] (447) + יֽוֹם [day] (56) = 1619.
Onkelos
And the waters prevailed upon the earth one hundred and fifty days.
Ibn Ezra
"And the waters prevailed... one hundred and fifty days" — because the springs had burst open, and also rain fell one day and ceased the next. For the meaning of "I will bring rain" implies continuous [rain] without interruption — the proof being that it says "and the rain was restrained" (Genesis 8:2).
Sforno
ויגברו... חמישים ומאת יום. These 150 days are counted from the beginning of the 40 days of rainfall. The level of water on the surface of the earth kept increasing for 150 days, concluding on the 17th of the seventh month (Nissan). On that date the ark came to rest (on the waters) seeing there was no pressure exerted on it from any direction. The pressure on the ark to move was exerted from the first day of the rain when the Torah simultaneously reported the fountains below opening and adding their water to that of the rain. (verse 11). The ark resisted this pressure until the waters on earth were so high that they lifted the ark from its base. When the days of rainfall had concluded, the pressure from the subterranean waters kept up until the end of 150 days. When that pressure ceased the ark finally came to rest on Mount Ararat.
Chizkuni
ויגברו המים על הארץ חמשים ומאת יום, “the waters kept rising above the earth for a period of 150 days.” The Torah reconstructs Noach’s calculations based on the waters not having started to recede until the ark had run aground on Mount Arrarat. In actual fact, however, the waters had commenced to recede already since the twenty eighth day in Sivan, as testified to by the Torah (8,23). [The line about the rain having disappeared from the skies, (verse 2) and the immediately following report about the receding of the waters is extremely puzzling when compared to 7,12. No wonder the commentators had difficulty with this. In order to remove apparent contradictions the two reports have to be understood as: 1) objective report by the Torah; 2) subjective report as seen by the inhabitants of the ark, [who were somewhat limited in their observations. Ed.] After the ark ran aground on the 17 day of Tishrey, on the first day of Tevet, the tops of the mountains became visible. Forty days after that, on the eleventh day of the month of Sh’vat, Noach opened the window of the ark and sent out the raven. Seven days thereafter as explained by Rashi, on the 18th of Sh’vat, he sent out the pigeon, i.e. on the 25th of that month. He waited another seven days until the second day of Adar and sent out the pigeon again, but this time the pigeon did not return. He remained inside the ark for another 28 days, until the first day of Nissan. This is what the Torah meant when it wrote: “It was on the first day of the 601st year on the first day of the month when Noach removed the cover from the ark and found that the waters on the surface of the earth had dried.” At the same time he noted that the earth’s surface was still muddy and not fit to be walked on. It took another 57 days until the 27th day of lyar before Noach saw that the earth was absolutely dry whereupon G-d commanded him to exit the ark. (verse 15).
Onkelos
Rashi
Ramban
Sforno
Or HaChaim
Chizkuni
Kli Yakar
Tur HaArokh