Genesis Chapter 7

Genesis Chapter 7 is the seventh of eleven in a series of studies of the first 11 chapters of the first book of the Bible. Learn about the flood, the ark and those who were inside the ark.

Do you know how long they were in the ark?

Your learning comes from reading and studying the Bible. After you have read the Scripture passages below, it's a good idea to answer the daily study questions.

Genesis Chapter 7 (New International Version)

1 The LORD then said to Noah, "Go into the ark, you and your whole family, because I have found you righteous in this generation. 2 Take with you seven of every kind of clean animal, a male and its mate, and two of every kind of unclean animal, a male and its mate, 3 and also seven of every kind of bird, male and female, to keep their various kinds alive throughout the earth. 4 Seven days from now I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights, and I will wipe from the face of the earth every living creature I have made."

5 And Noah did all that the LORD commanded him.

6 Noah was six hundred years old when the floodwaters came on the earth. 7 And Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons' wives entered the ark to escape the waters of the flood. 8 Pairs of clean and unclean animals, of birds and of all creatures that move along the ground, 9 male and female, came to Noah and entered the ark, as God had commanded Noah. 10 And after the seven days the floodwaters came on the earth.

11 In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, on the seventeenth day of the second month--on that day all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened. 12 And rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights.

13 On that very day Noah and his sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth, together with his wife and the wives of his three sons, entered the ark. 14 They had with them every wild animal according to its kind, all livestock according to their kinds, every creature that moves along the ground according to its kind and every bird according to its kind, everything with wings. 15 Pairs of all creatures that have the breath of life in them came to Noah and entered the ark. 16 The animals going in were male and female of every living thing, as God had commanded Noah. Then the LORD shut him in.

17 For forty days the flood kept coming on the earth, and as the waters increased they lifted the ark high above the earth. 18 The waters rose and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the water. 19 They rose greatly on the earth, and all the high mountains under the entire heavens were covered. 20 The waters rose and covered the mountains to a depth of more than twenty feet.

21 Every living thing that moved on the earth perished--birds, livestock, wild animals, all the creatures that swarm over the earth, and all mankind. 22 Everything on dry land that had the breath of life in its nostrils died. 23 Every living thing on the face of the earth was wiped out; men and animals and the creatures that move along the ground and the birds of the air were wiped from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those with him in the ark.

24 The waters flooded the earth for a hundred and fifty days.

Daily Study Questions

DAY ONE

1. Why is the word “then” used in verse 1 of Genesis Chapter 7?

2. What reason does God provide for commanding Noah to enter the ark with his family?

3. How do the following scriptural references demonstrate that Noah was righteous?

• Genesis Chapter 6, verse 9
• Genesis Chapter 6, verse 22
• Genesis Chapter 7, verse 5
• Hebrews Chapter 11, verse 7
• II Peter Chapter 2, verse 5

DAY TWO

1. Why did God command Noah to take seven of every kind of clean animals and only two of every kind of unclean animals?

2. Refer to the scripture passages below. List some of the unclean and clean animals that Noah brought into the ark.

• Leviticus Chapter 11 - Unclean animals
• Deuteronomy 14 - Clean animals

3. Of all the people on earth only Noah, his wife and their sons and their wives were saved. Who were the people most likely of all that were living prior to the flood that would have seen and should have followed Noah’s example and worshipped the one true God?


DAY THREE

1. What were the two sources of the floodwaters as provided in Genesis Chapter 7 verses 11 and 12?

2. In Genesis Chapter 6 verse 18 God established a covenant with Noah. What was that covenant, how long did it last and how is it played out in Genesis Chapter 7?

3. What command from God was likely passed down from generation to generation as seen in Genesis Chapter 7. Hint: it was later written into the Mosaic law.


DAY FOUR

1. Build a timeline from the following verses below:

DAY FIVE

1. What are two types of God’s creations that were not apparently destroyed by the flood?

2. Put yourself in Noah’s situation. If you were told by God today that you would build an ark, put every animal known to man in it along with your family and survive a worldwide flood, would you:

• Freak out – things are really going well for me right now, I hate to leave it all behind.
• Be relieved – Finally this terrible and evil world will end!
• Feel sad – All mankind and many of my extended family, neighbors and acquaintances will die.
• Feel overwhelmed – I don’t even own a dog, how am I going to care for all those animals?
• Be overjoyed – I love to travel and seeing new places, this is going to be great!
• Be full of dread – I am really going to be seasick for sure now.
• Be humbled – God is too good to me, I don’t deserve this.
• Other: __________________________

3. Why do you think it might have been necessary for “The waters flooded the earth for a hundred and fifty days” as provided in Genesis Chapter 7 verse 24?

DAY SIX

It rained for forty days and forty nights and for forty days the floodwaters came upon the earth. Forty days is a spiritually significant period of time in the Bible. In his book The Purpose Driven Life Rick Warren states that “Whenever God wanted to prepare someone for His purposes he took forty days. . . ”

In this first instance, for what purpose was God preparing Noah? Who else in the Bible was prepared during a forty day period?

Answers for Genesis Chapter 7

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