Genesis 6:16

You are to make a roof for the ark, finish its walls a cubit from the top, place a door in the side of the ark, and build lower, middle, and upper decks.

Berean Standard Bible

Follow its threads on the canvas →

Study note

Setting — God directs Noah to complete the ark's construction immediately after giving its dimensions, just prior to announcing the flood that will destroy all flesh.

The words — The text commands Noah to make a צֹהַר (tzo.har), rendered as a roof or opening, and to finish the walls אַמָּה ('amah), a cubit, from the top. It further specifies placing a door in the side and constructing lower, middle, and upper decks.

The thread — This construction order is fulfilled when Noah enters the vessel as commanded (Genesis 7:16) and later opens the window he made (Genesis 8:6), while the three-tiered layout parallels the three levels of galleries in Ezekiel's temple vision (Ezekiel 41:16).

Why it lands — The verse records a precise architectural blueprint that requires exact obedience, framing the ark's design as a functional necessity for survival rather than a theological metaphor.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.

The Hebrew words

צֹ֣הַר׀Tzo.hara roof תַּֽעֲשֶׂ֣הta.'a.Sehyou will make לַתֵּבָ֗הla./te.Vahfor the/ ark וְאֶל־ve./'el-and/ to אַמָּה֙'a.Maha cubit תְּכַלֶ֣נָּהte.kha.Le./nahyou will finish/ it מִלְמַ֔עְלָהmi/l./Ma'.la/hfrom/ to/ above/ <towards>וּפֶ֥תַחu./Fe.tachand/ [the] entrance of הַתֵּבָ֖הha./te.Vahthe/ ark בְּצִדָּ֣הּbe./tzi.Da/hin/ side/ its תָּשִׂ֑יםta.Simyou will put תַּחְתִּיִּ֛םtach.ti.Yimlower [decks]שְׁנִיִּ֥םshe.ni.Yimsecond [decks]וּשְׁלִשִׁ֖יםu./she.li.Shimand/ third [decks]תַּֽעֲשֶֽׂהָ׃Ta.'a.Se./hayou will make/ it

King James Version

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.

Cross-references

Genesis 7:16 And they entered, the male and female of every living thing, as God had commanded Noah. Then the LORD shut him in.
Genesis 8:6 After forty days Noah opened the window he had made in the ark
Ezekiel 41:16 as well as the thresholds and the beveled windows and the galleries all around with their three levels opposite the threshold, were overlaid with wood on all sides. They were paneled from the ground to the windows, and the windows were covered.
2 Samuel 6:16 As the ark of the LORD was entering the City of David, Saul’s daughter Michal looked down from a window and saw King David leaping and dancing before the LORD, and she despised him in her heart.
2 Kings 9:30 Now when Jehu arrived in Jezreel, Jezebel heard of it. So she painted her eyes, adorned her head, and looked down from a window.
Ezekiel 42:3 Gallery faced gallery in three levels opposite the twenty cubits that belonged to the inner court and opposite the pavement that belonged to the outer court.
Luke 13:25 After the master of the house gets up and shuts the door, you will stand outside knocking and saying, ‘Lord, open the door for us.’ But he will reply, ‘I do not know where you are from.’