^7:2You must take with you seven² of every kind of clean animal,³ the male and its mate,⁴ two of every kind of unclean animal, the male and its mate, ^7:3and also seven⁵ of every kind of bird in the sky, male and female,⁶ to preserve their offspring⁷ on the face of the earth.

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Footnotes

2 Or “seven pairs” (cf. ).
3 For a study of the Levitical terminology of “clean” and “unclean,” see L. E. Toombs, 1:643.
4 Heb “a male and his female” (also a second time at the end of this verse). The terms used here for male and female animals (אִישׁ, ’ish) and אִשָּׁה, ’ishah) normally refer to humans.
5 Or “seven pairs” (cf. ).
6 Here (and in v. 9) the Hebrew text uses the normal generic terms for “male and female” (זָכָר וּנְקֵבָה, zakhar unéqevah).
7 Heb “to keep alive offspring.”

In other versions

ESVEnglish Standard Version

Take with you seven pairs of all clean animals, the male and his mate, and a pair of the animals that are not clean, the male and his mate, and seven pairs of the birds of the heavens also, male and female, to keep their offspring alive on the face of all the earth.

NIVNew International Version (2011)

Take with you seven pairs of every kind of clean animal, a male and its mate, and one pair of every kind of unclean animal, a male and its mate, and also seven pairs of every kind of bird, male and female, to keep their various kinds alive throughout the earth.

CSBChristian Standard Bible

You are to take with you seven pairs, a male and its female, of all the clean animals, and two of the animals that are not clean, a male and its female, and seven pairs, male and female, of the birds of the sky—in order to keep offspring alive throughout the earth.

NLTNew Living Translation

Take with you seven pairs—male and female—of each animal I have approved for eating and for sacrifice, and take one pair of each of the others. Also take seven pairs of every kind of bird. There must be a male and a female in each pair to ensure that all life will survive on the earth after the flood.

LEBThe Lexham English Bible

From all the clean animals you must take for yourself seven pairs, a male and its mate. And from the animals that are not clean you must take two, a male and its mate, as well as from the birds of heaven seven pairs, male and female, to keep their kind alive on the face of all the earth.

KJV 1900King James Version

Of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee by sevens, the male and his female: and of beasts that are not clean by two, the male and his female. Of fowls also of the air by sevens, the male and the female; to keep seed alive upon the face of all the earth.

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