Bible Strands
Genesis 6:19
And you are to bring two of every living creature into the ark—male and female—to keep them alive with you.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — God addresses Noah directly, issuing a preservation command immediately before the flood narrative begins in Genesis 6:18.
The words — שְׁנַיִם (shnayim) translates to two, and תָּבִיא (tavi') translates to you will bring, establishing a fixed numerical requirement and future tense action.
The thread — The gathering pattern continues in Genesis 7:15 as animals enter two by two, while Genesis 7:2 specifies seven pairs for clean animals and Genesis 7:8 records their arrival.
Why it lands — The text explicitly commands Noah to transport paired specimens to sustain life, requiring the reader to note that structural obedience precedes the preservation outcome.
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
King James Version
And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee; they shall be male and female.
Cross-references
- Genesis 7:8 The clean and unclean animals, the birds, and everything that crawls along the ground
- Genesis 7:15 They came to Noah to enter the ark, two by two of every creature with the breath of life.
- Genesis 7:2 You are to take with you seven pairs of every kind of clean animal, a male and its mate; a pair of every kind of unclean animal, a male and its mate;
- Genesis 8:17 Bring out all the living creatures that are with you—birds, livestock, and everything that crawls upon the ground—so that they can spread out over the earth and be fruitful and multiply upon it.”
- Psalms 36:6 Your righteousness is like the highest mountains; Your judgments are like the deepest sea. O LORD, You preserve man and beast.