Genesis 8:16

 Genesis 8:16

Go forth of the ark, thou, and thy wife, and thy sons, and thy sons' wives with thee.

a. NLT: “Leave the boat, all of you—you and your wife, and your sons and their wives. [Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.]

b. ASV: Go forth from the ark, thou, and thy wife, and thy sons, and thy sons’ wives with thee.  [Thomas Nelson & Sons first published the American Standard Version in 1901. This translation of the Bible is in the public domain.]

c. YLT: Every living thing that is with thee, of all flesh, among fowl, and among cattle, and among every creeping thing which is creeping on the earth, bring out with thee; [The Young's Literal Translation was translated by Robert Young, who believed in a strictly literal translation of God's word. This version of the Bible is in the public domain.]

d. Classic Amplified: Go forth from the ark, you and your wife and your sons and their wives with you. [Amplified Bible, Classic Edition (AMPC) Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation]

e. Stone Edition THE CHUMASH, Rabbinic Commentary: Go forth from the Ark: you and your wife, your sons, and your son’s wives with you. The Artscroll Series/Stone Edition, THE CHUMASH; Copyright 1998, 2000 by Mesorah Publications, Ldt.]

1. “Go forth of the ark, thou, and thy wife, and thy sons, and thy sons' wives with thee.”

a. Go forth [Strong: 3318 yatsa' yaw-tsaw' a primitive root; to go (causatively, bring) out, in a great variety of applications, literally and figuratively, direct and proxim.:--X after, appear, X assuredly, bear out, X begotten, break out, bring forth (out, up), carry out, come (abroad, out, thereat, without), + be condemned, depart(-ing, -ure), draw forth, in the end, escape, exact, fail, fall (out), fetch forth (out), get away (forth, hence, out), (able to, cause to, let) go abroad (forth, on, out), going out, grow, have forth (out), issue out, lay (lie) out, lead out, pluck out, proceed, pull out, put away, be risen, X scarce, send with commandment, shoot forth, spread, spring out, stand out, X still, X surely, take forth (out), at any time, X to (and fro), utter.]

b. of [Strong: 4480 min min or minniy {min-nee'}; or minney (constructive plural) {min-nay'}; (Isaiah 30:11); for 4482; properly, a part of; hence (prepositionally), from or out of in many senses (as follows):--above, after, among, at, because of, by (reason of), from (among), in, X neither, X nor, (out) of, over, since, X then, through, X whether, with.]

c. [the] ark [Strong: 8392 tebah tay-baw' perhaps of foreign derivation; a box:--ark.]

d. thou [Strong: 859 'attah at-taw' or (shortened); aatta {at-taw'}; or wath {ath}; feminine (irregular) sometimes nattiy {at-tee'}; plural masculine attem {at- tem'}; feminine atten {at-ten'}; or oattenah {at-tay'naw}; or fattennah {at-tane'-naw}; a primitive pronoun of the second person; thou and thee, or (plural) ye and you:--thee, thou, ye, you.]

e. [and thy] wife [Strong: 802 'ishshah ish-shaw' feminine of 376 or 582; irregular plural, nashiym {naw-sheem'}; a woman (used in the same wide sense as 582):--(adulter)ess, each, every, female, X many, + none, one, + together, wife, woman. Often unexpressed in English.]

f. [and thy] sons [Strong: 1121 ben bane from 1129; a son (as a builder of the family name), in the widest sense (of literal and figurative relationship, including grandson, subject, nation, quality or condition, etc., (like 1, 251, etc.)):--+ afflicted, age, (Ahoh-) (Ammon-) (Hachmon-) (Lev-)ite, (anoint-)ed one, appointed to, (+) arrow, (Assyr-) (Babylon-) (Egypt-) (Grec-)ian, one born, bough, branch, breed, + (young) bullock, + (young) calf, X came up in, child, colt, X common, X corn, daughter, X of first, + firstborn, foal, + very fruitful, + postage, X in, + kid, + lamb, (+) man, meet, + mighty, + nephew, old, (+) people, + rebel, + robber, X servant born, X soldier, son, + spark, + steward, + stranger, X surely, them of, + tumultuous one, + valiant(-est), whelp, worthy, young (one), youth.]

g. [and thy] son’s [Strong: 1121 ben bane from 1129; a son (as a builder of the family name), in the widest sense (of literal and figurative relationship, including grandson, subject, nation, quality or condition, etc., (like 1, 251, etc.)):--+ afflicted, age, (Ahoh-) (Ammon-) (Hachmon-) (Lev-)ite, (anoint-)ed one, appointed to, (+) arrow, (Assyr-) (Babylon-) (Egypt-) (Grec-)ian, one born, bough, branch, breed, + (young) bullock, + (young) calf, X came up in, child, colt, X common, X corn, daughter, X of first, + firstborn, foal, + very fruitful, + postage, X in, + kid, + lamb, (+) man, meet, + mighty, + nephew, old, (+) people, + rebel, + robber, X servant born, X soldier, son, + spark, + steward, + stranger, X surely, them of, + tumultuous one, + valiant(-est), whelp, worthy, young (one), youth.]

h. wives [Strong: 802 'ishshah ish-shaw' feminine of 376 or 582; irregular plural, nashiym {naw-sheem'}; a woman (used in the same wide sense as 582):--(adulter)ess, each, every, female, X many, + none, one, + together, wife, woman. Often unexpressed in English.]

i. with [thee] [Strong: 854 'eth ayth probably from 579; properly, nearness (used only as a preposition or an adverb), near; hence, generally, with, by, at, among, etc.:--against, among, before, by, for, from, in(-to), (out) of, with. Often with another prepositional prefix.]

1). Many in the church have mistakenly taught and believed that this verse implies it took Noah 120 years to build the ark, but this is not so. Before God ever gave Noah instructions to build the ark, Noah already had his three sons.

 

a). Genesis 6:9, 10 These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God. And Noah begat three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

 

2). In fact in Genesis 6:14-20 when the LORD gave the instructions for the building of the ark, Noah’s sons were already married (Genesis 6:18).

 

a). Genesis 6:14-18 Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch.

6:15 And this is the fashion which thou shalt make it of: The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits.

6:16 A window shalt thou make to the ark, and in a cubit shalt thou finish it above; and the door of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof; with lower, second, and third stories shalt thou make it.

6:17 And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and every thing that is in the earth shall die.

6:18 But with thee will I establish my covenant; and thou shalt come into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons' wives with thee.

 

3). Shem, the oldest of Noah’s sons, was 100 years old, two years after the flood.

 

a). Genesis 11:10 These are the generations of Shem: Shem was an hundred years old, and begat Arphaxad two years after the flood: 

 

4). If Shem was grown and married before Noah was told to build the ark and 2 years after the flood Shem was 100 years old, it is impossible that it took 120 years to build the ark. What I believe the actual meaning of this verse is that from the beginning of the intermingling of “the sons of God”, i.e., angels with the daughters of men, till the flood was 120 years. If I am correct on this point then the sexual intermingling of angels and human women occurred 20 years before Noah began having children. Noah did not begin having children until he was 500 years old, and the flood began when he was 600.

 

a). Genesis 5:32 And Noah was five hundred years old: and Noah begat Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

 

b). Genesis 7:11 In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.

 

5). My personal opinion of what this verse means is, and it is not original with me, I had heard it from someone else.: The eventual result of the horrible situation of angels fornicating with women would have contaminate human DNA, and thus jeopardizing the plan of redemption, because the Messiah must come through the seed of the woman and if all the DNA pool of women and men were contaminated through this intermingling, it would stop the plan of redemption. Or so this theory goes. God also being omniscient, knows it will take 120 years for the total irreversible effect of the contamination to be complete, giving man 120 years until he will destroy all who have been contaminated. During those years, Noah preached righteousness (2 Peter 2:5), and God was longsuffering (1 Peter 3:20), not willing that any should perish (2 Peter 3:8). The message of righteousness that Noah preached would result in a lifestyle that would prevent the contamination. When it was known by God that all flesh had been contaminated except for Noah and his family, the flood came.