What Does Genesis 6:20 Mean in the King James?
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.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The Hebrew for “keep them alive” carries the force of causing life to continue, so the ark holds life forward in all its distinct forms.
THE MEANING
Life meets you in distinct forms, each carrying its own pattern of continuity. What comes into your keeping can remain itself and still be carried forward. The verse’s movement is toward keeping life present.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The assumption that survival means preserving life in one uniform form is undone: each creature is carried forward “after his kind.”
THE ROOT
לְהַחֲיוֹת
lehachayot
GROWS FROM
חיה
ḥ-y-h
To live or be alive; in this verb form, to cause to live or keep alive.
“keep them alive” in this verse is lehachayot. The Hebrew verb carries the force of causing life to continue. Its root also forms words for “living” and “life,” joining the act of preservation to the lives being preserved.
ALSO GROWS
chai: Living; alive
חַי
This names the state the verse’s verb preserves: remaining alive.
chayyah: Living creature; animal
חַיָּה
The same life-root can name an animal, connecting the creatures brought to Noah with the act of keeping them alive.
chayyim: Life
חַיִּים
This broader life-word shows the shared root beneath the creatures’ continued existence.
THE PATTERN
Life continues through the preservation of its distinct forms.
And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so.Thy righteousness is like the great mountains; thy judgments are a great deep: O LORD, thou preservest man and beast.The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.THE THREAD
And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.Genesis 6:20 uses a form of חיה, “to keep alive”; Genesis 2:7 uses the same root in נֶפֶשׁ חַיָּה, “living soul.” The ark’s preservation of animal lives echoes this first naming of a living being: life is the shared thread across different kinds.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us