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Genesis 7:8

EOB (Eastern / Greek Orthodox Bible):

Clean animals and animals that are not clean, birds, and everything that crawls on the ground came to Noah and entered the ark in pairs, male and female, just as God had commanded him.

EOB Footnote:

The MT includes the phrase “and of the animals that are not clean” which is also present in the LXX, though some LXX manuscripts show minor variations in word order. The phrase “male and female” at the end of the verse appears in both traditions with no significant variation. No DSS manuscript witness exists for this verse.

Other Translations:

KJV (King James Version):

Of clean beasts, and of beasts that are not clean, and of fowls, and of every thing that creepeth upon the earth,

WEB (World English Bible):

Of clean animals, of animals that are not clean, of birds, and of everything that creeps on the ground,

Benton LXX (Vaticanus):

“Of clean flying creatures and of unclean flying creatures, and of clean cattle and of unclean cattle, and of all things that creep upon the earth,”

Douai-Rheims (Vulgate):

“Of clean beasts, and of beasts that are not clean, and of fowls, and of every thing that moveth upon the earth,”

Apostoliki Diakonia (LXX):

Of the clean animals and of the animals that are not clean, and of the birds and of everything that creeps on the ground,

YLT (Young Literal Translation )(MT):

“Of the clean beasts, and of the beasts that are not clean, and of the birds, and of every creeping thing on the ground,”

BBE (Bible in Basic English):

Of every clean beast, and of every unclean beast, and of every bird, and of everything which goes on the earth.

EOB COMMENTARY:

EOB Commentary:

Commentary on Genesis 7:8

The Typology of Clean and Unclean Animals

This verse, distinguishing between clean and unclean animals entering the ark, carries profound typological significance that the Church Fathers consistently recognized as prefiguring the universal scope of salvation in Christ.

Saint John Chrysostom, in his Homilies on Genesis, notes that even the unclean animals were preserved in the ark, demonstrating God’s providential care for all creation. This preservation points forward to the New Testament revelation that God desires all to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. The ark itself, as the Fathers universally teach, is a type of the Church, and the inclusion of both clean and unclean animals prefigures how the Church receives all nations—Jews and Gentiles alike—into her saving embrace.

The Apostle Peter’s vision in Acts 10, where he is commanded to kill and eat animals previously considered unclean, finds its Old Testament foundation partly in passages such as this. The distinction between clean and unclean, while maintained in the Mosaic covenant, was always provisional. In the ark, both categories found salvation together, anticipating the abolition of the dividing wall between Jew and Gentile in Christ.

Liturgical and Spiritual Significance

The Orthodox Church reads from Genesis during the Vespers of Great Lent, and the narrative of Noah features prominently in the liturgical consciousness of the faithful. The waters of the flood are understood typologically as both judgment and purification—themes central to the Church’s understanding of baptism. Saint Cyril of Jerusalem, in his Catechetical Lectures, draws explicit parallels between the flood waters and the baptismal font, where the old man dies and the new man emerges.

The obedience displayed in this verse—animals coming to Noah as God commanded—reflects the restoration of the original harmony between humanity and creation that existed in Paradise. This theme resonates deeply with Orthodox spirituality, particularly in the lives of saints such as Seraphim of Sarov and the desert fathers, who experienced a similar reconciliation with wild animals through their acquisition of the Holy Spirit.

Christological Reading

Christ Himself is the true Noah, gathering into His Church—the ark of salvation—people from every nation, tribe, and tongue. The clean and unclean entering together foreshadows how tax collectors and sinners sat at table with the Lord, and how the Church continues to receive all who come in repentance, making no distinction based on former condition. As Saint Ephrem the Syrian writes, the ark contained the seeds of the renewed world, just as the Church carries within herself the promise of the new creation inaugurated by Christ’s Resurrection.

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