Genesis 6:20

Two of every kind of bird and animal and crawling creature will come to you to be kept alive.

Berean Standard Bible

Study note

Setting — God addresses Noah during the ark construction, commanding the collection of animals before the floodwaters arrive. This directive immediately follows the instruction to bring two of every living creature into the vessel and precedes the order to gather food stores.

The words — The text emphasizes לְמִינֵ֗הוּ (le.mi.ne.hu, "to its kind") and לְמִינָ֔הּ (le.mi.na.h, "to its kind"), which classify the gathered birds and animals by their distinct groups. מֵהָע֣וֹף (me.ha.'of, "of the birds") and הַבְּהֵמָה֙ (ha.be.he.mah, "the animals") specify the exact categories being brought to Noah.

The thread — This gathering of creatures mirrors God’s initial formation of beasts and birds in Genesis 2:19 and anticipates the vision of living creatures lowered in Acts 10:11. The classification of animals by kind extends the creation pattern established in Genesis 1:20.

Why it lands — The text requires Noah to physically collect and preserve pairs of each animal type to sustain life through the coming judgment. The reader must recognize that survival depends on precise, practical obedience to a specific command rather than generalized trust.

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

מֵהָע֣וֹףme./ha./'ofof/ the/ bird[s]לְמִינֵ֗הוּle./mi.Ne./huto/ kind/ its וּמִן־u./min-and/ of הַבְּהֵמָה֙ha./be.he.Mahthe/ animal[s]לְמִינָ֔הּle./mi.Na/hto/ kind/ its מִכֹּ֛לmi./Kolfrom/ every רֶ֥מֶשׂRe.mes<the> creeping thing of הָֽאֲדָמָ֖הha./'a.da.Mahthe/ ground לְמִינֵ֑הוּle./mi.Ne./huto/ kind/ its שְׁנַ֧יִםshe.Na.yimtwo מִכֹּ֛לmi./Kolof/ everything יָבֹ֥אוּya.Vo.'uthey will come אֵלֶ֖יךָ'e.Lei./khato/ you לְהַֽחֲיֽוֹת׃le./Ha.cha.Yotto/ preserve alive

King James Version

Of fowls after their kind, and of cattle after their kind, of every creeping thing of the earth after his kind, two of every sort shall come unto thee, to keep them alive.

Cross-references

Genesis 2:19 And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and He brought them to the man to see what he would name each one. And whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name.
Acts 10:11 He saw heaven open and something like a large sheet being let down to earth by its four corners.
Genesis 1:20 And God said, “Let the waters teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth in the open expanse of the sky.”
Genesis 7:8 The clean and unclean animals, the birds, and everything that crawls along the ground
John 5:40 yet you refuse to come to Me to have life.
Genesis 1:28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and every creature that crawls upon the earth.”