What Does Genesis 7:23 Mean?
And every standing thing that was upon the face of the ground was wiped out, from humankind to cattle, to the creeping thing, and to the birds of the heavens, and they were wiped from the earth. Only Noah, and those with him in the ark, were left.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And every living substance was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground, both man, and cattle, and the creeping things, and the fowl of the heaven; and they were destroyed from the earth: and Noah only remained alive, and they that were with him in the ark.THE KEY
The repeated “destroyed” comes from מָחָה, “wipe away”: the verse describes life erased from the ground, then names the household left alive inside the ark.
THE MEANING
This verse names the flood without softening it: every living thing on the ground is wiped away, while Noah and those with him remain alive inside the ark. It holds total destruction and preserved life in the same frame.
THE ROOT
מָחָה
māḥâ
GROWS FROM
מ־ח־ה
m-ḥ-h
To wipe away, erase, or blot out.
“wiped out” in this verse is māḥâ. The English “destroyed” translates a verb whose core image is wiping away; its repetition makes the disappearance explicit. The same root can describe blotting out transgressions, so the force is erasure while the thing erased depends on the verse.
ALSO GROWS
məḥēh: Blot out; erase.
מְחֵה
In Psalm 51:1, this form asks for transgressions to be blotted out, showing the same root applied to wrongdoing.
māḥîtî: I have blotted out.
מָחִיתִי
In Isaiah 44:22, this form describes transgressions being blotted out, another use of the root’s erasing image.
שָׁאַר
shāʾar
GROWS FROM
ש־א־ר
sh-ʾ-r
To remain or be left over.
“were left” in this verse is shāʾar. The verse turns from what is wiped away to what is left: Noah and those with him are described with a verb meaning to remain. The Hebrew root also gives the word for a remnant, making survival here part of the verse’s central contrast.
ALSO GROWS
shāʾar: Remain; be left.
שָׁאַר
This is the verb used for Noah and his companions after the destruction.
sheʾērît: Remnant; what remains.
שְׁאֵרִית
This related noun makes explicit the idea compressed into “remained”: a remainder left after others are gone.
THE PATTERN
The root מָחָה describes wiping away in sharply different settings, from life on the ground to wrongdoing and a city.
And the LORD said, I will wipe out humankind, whom I have created, from the face of the ground, from humankind to beast, to creeping things, and to birds of the heavens, for I relent of having made them.To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet came unto him, after he had gone in to Bath-sheba. Show me favor, O God, according to your faithful love; according to the abundance of your compassion, wipe away my rebellion.And I will stretch over Jerusalem the measuring cord of Samaria, and the weighted line of the house of Ahab. And I will wipe Jerusalem as one wipes a dish, wiping it, and turning it over on its face.THE THREAD
I have wiped away your rebellions like a thick cloud, and your missed marks like a cloud. Turn back to me, for I have bought you back.Genesis uses מָחָה for life wiped from the ground; Isaiah uses the same root for transgressions blotted out. The object changes from living beings to wrongdoing, making the root’s range visible without softening the violence of Genesis.
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