Genesis 6:16
New International Version
Make a roof for it, leaving below the roof an opening one cubit high all around. Put a door in the side of the ark and make lower, middle and upper decks.

New Living Translation
Leave an 18-inch opening below the roof all the way around the boat. Put the door on the side, and build three decks inside the boat—lower, middle, and upper.

English Standard Version
Make a roof for the ark, and finish it to a cubit above, and set the door of the ark in its side. Make it with lower, second, and third decks.

Berean Standard Bible
You are to make a roof for the ark, finish its walls a cubit from the top, place a door in the side of the ark, and build lower, middle, and upper decks.

King James Bible
A window shalt thou make to the ark, and in a cubit shalt thou finish it above; and the door of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof; with lower, second, and third stories shalt thou make it.

New King James Version
You shall make a window for the ark, and you shall finish it to a cubit from above; and set the door of the ark in its side. You shall make it with lower, second, and third decks.

New American Standard Bible
You shall make a window for the ark, and finish it to a cubit from the top; and put the door of the ark on the side; you shall make it with lower, second, and third decks.

NASB 1995
“You shall make a window for the ark, and finish it to a cubit from the top; and set the door of the ark in the side of it; you shall make it with lower, second, and third decks.

NASB 1977
“You shall make a window for the ark, and finish it to a cubit from the top; and set the door of the ark in the side of it; you shall make it with lower, second, and third decks.

Legacy Standard Bible
You shall make a window for the ark, and complete it to one cubit from the top; and set the door of the ark in the side of it; you shall make it with lower, second, and third decks.

Amplified Bible
You shall make a window [for light and ventilation] for the ark, and finish it to at least a cubit (eighteen inches) from the top—and set the [entry] door of the ark in its side; and you shall make it with lower, second and third decks.

Christian Standard Bible
You are to make a roof, finishing the sides of the ark to within eighteen inches of the roof. You are to put a door in the side of the ark. Make it with lower, middle, and upper decks.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
You are to make a roof, finishing the sides of the ark to within 18 inches of the roof. You are to put a door in the side of the ark. Make it with lower, middle, and upper decks.”

American Standard Version
A light shalt thou make to the ark, and to a cubit shalt thou finish it upward; and the door of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof; with lower, second, and third stories shalt thou make it.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
And make a window for the ark and a cubit above; finish it from above, and the door of the ark in its side; make a story below and make it a second and a third.

Brenton Septuagint Translation
Thou shalt narrow the ark in making it, and in a cubit above thou shalt finish it, and the door of the ark thou shalt make on the side; with lower, second, and third stories thou shalt make it.

Contemporary English Version
Build a roof on the boat and leave a space of about 44 centimeters between the roof and the sides. Make the boat three stories high and put a door on one side.

Douay-Rheims Bible
Thou shalt make a window in the ark, and in a cubit shalt thou finish the top of it: and the door of the ark thou shalt set in the side: with lower, middle chambers, and third stories shalt thou make it.

English Revised Version
A light shalt thou make to the ark, and to a cubit shalt thou finish it upward; and the door of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof; with lower, second, and third stories shalt thou make it.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
Make a roof for the ship, and leave an 18-inch-high opening at the top. Put a door in the side of the ship. Build the ship with lower, middle, and upper decks.

Good News Translation
Make a roof for the boat and leave a space of 18 inches between the roof and the sides. Build it with three decks and put a door in the side.

International Standard Version
Make a roof for the ark, and finish the walls to within one cubit from the top. Place the entrance in the side of the ark, and build a lower, a middle, and an upper deck.

JPS Tanakh 1917
A light shalt thou make to the ark, and to a cubit shalt thou finish it upward; and the door of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof; with lower, second, and third stories shalt thou make it.

Literal Standard Version
you make a window for the Ark, and you finish it to a cubit from above; and you put the opening of the Ark in its side; you make it [with] lower, second, and third [stories].

Majority Standard Bible
You are to make a roof for the ark, finish its walls a cubit from the top, place a door in the side of the ark, and build lower, middle, and upper decks.

New American Bible
Make an opening for daylight and finish the ark a cubit above it. Put the ark’s entrance on its side; you will make it with bottom, second and third decks.

NET Bible
Make a roof for the ark and finish it, leaving 18 inches from the top. Put a door in the side of the ark, and make lower, middle, and upper decks.

New Revised Standard Version
Make a roof for the ark, and finish it to a cubit above; and put the door of the ark in its side; make it with lower, second, and third decks.

New Heart English Bible
And you are to make a roof in the vessel, and you are to finish it twenty-one inches above. And you are to set the door of the vessel in its side. You are to make it with lower, second, and third levels.

Webster's Bible Translation
A window shalt thou make to the ark, and in a cubit shalt thou finish it above; and the door of the ark shalt thou set in its side: with lower, second, and third stories shalt thou make it.

World English Bible
You shall make a roof in the ship, and you shall finish it to a cubit upward. You shall set the door of the ship in its side. You shall make it with lower, second, and third levels.

Young's Literal Translation
a window dost thou make for the ark, and unto a cubit thou dost restrain it from above; and the opening of the ark thou dost put in its side, -- lower, second, and third stories dost thou make it.

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Noah Builds the Ark
15And this is how you are to build it: The ark is to be 300 cubits long, 50 cubits wide, and 30 cubits high. 16You are to make a roof for the ark, finish its walls a cubit from the top, place a door in the side of the ark, and build lower, middle, and upper decks. 17And behold, I will bring floodwaters upon the earth to destroy every creature under the heavens that has the breath of life. Everything on the earth will perish.…

Cross References
Genesis 6:15
And this is how you are to build it: The ark is to be 300 cubits long, 50 cubits wide, and 30 cubits high.

Genesis 6:17
And behold, I will bring floodwaters upon the earth to destroy every creature under the heavens that has the breath of life. Everything on the earth will perish.

Genesis 8:6
After forty days Noah opened the window he had made in the ark


Treasury of Scripture

A window shall you make to the ark, and in a cubit shall you finish it above; and the door of the ark shall you set in the side thereof; with lower, second, and third stories shall you make it.

window.

Genesis 8:6
And it came to pass at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made:

2 Samuel 6:16
And as the ark of the LORD came into the city of David, Michal Saul's daughter looked through a window, and saw king David leaping and dancing before the LORD; and she despised him in her heart.

2 Kings 9:30
And when Jehu was come to Jezreel, Jezebel heard of it; and she painted her face, and tired her head, and looked out at a window.

the door.

Genesis 7:16
And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God had commanded him: and the LORD shut him in.

Luke 13:25
When once the master of the house is risen up, and hath shut to the door, and ye begin to stand without, and to knock at the door, saying, Lord, Lord, open unto us; and he shall answer and say unto you, I know you not whence ye are:

with.

Ezekiel 41:16
The door posts, and the narrow windows, and the galleries round about on their three stories, over against the door, cieled with wood round about, and from the ground up to the windows, and the windows were covered;

Ezekiel 42:3
Over against the twenty cubits which were for the inner court, and over against the pavement which was for the utter court, was gallery against gallery in three stories.

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Ark Cubit Decks Door Finish Floors High Lower Middle Restrain Roof Second Ship Side Stories Story Thereof Third Top Upper Upward Window Within
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Ark Cubit Decks Door Finish Floors High Lower Middle Restrain Roof Second Ship Side Stories Story Thereof Third Top Upper Upward Window Within
Genesis 6
1. The wickedness of the world, which provoked God's wrath.
8. Noah finds grace.
9. His family line
14. The order, form, dimensions, and building of the ark.














(16) A window.--Not the word so rendered in Genesis 7:11; Genesis 8:2, which means a lattice; nor that in. Genesis 8:6, which means an aperture; but "zohar," light, brightness. In the dual, double-light, it is the usual word for "midday," but it does not occur elsewhere in the singular. It was evidently a means, not merely of lighting the ark, but also of ventilating it; for as it was thickly covered within and without with bitumen--a point strongly insisted upon in the Chaldean Genesis--the two lower storeys would be so ill supplied with air as to be fit only for stores and. ballast, and the upper storey alone capable of being inhabited. If this zohar was an open space one cubit in height, running all round the ark, and formed by not boarding over the upright beams, it would have given a sufficient supply of air, and being protected by the overhanging eaves of the roof--for the ark had no deck--would not have admitted any serious amount. of rain. So in the Chaldean Genesis the ark has no deck, but a roof (p. 281).

Above.--Or, upward. The word is one of those reduplicated forms by means of which the Hebrew language expresses so much within a little compass. Consisting of only six letters, it is nevertheless a compound of five particles, and signifies from to upward .� that is, thou shalt finish it (the ark, as is shown by the gender) from beneath, working upwards till the last cubit, which is not to be finished, but left open for ventilation and light.

The door, on which also much stress is laid in the Chaldean account as being essential for the protection of the inmates (p. 281), was to be at the side, and probably extended throughout the three storeys, two-thirds of which, however, might be closed as soon as the lower storeys had received their freightage of provisions. Besides this door, there must also have been apertures to admit of cleaning the cells in which the animals were confined and removing their litter, but of such lower arrangements no mention is made.

It is not necessary to suppose that Noah and his three sons built this vast vessel with their own hands. He was probably a powerful chieftain, and many of the Sethites may have given him aid. Implements of iron had been invented by the Cainites, and on the intermarriage of the two lines would be brought into general use. It is difficult, however, to understand now four men could feed, clean, and give water to a very large collection of animals for so many months. Without scrupulous attention to such matters, a murrain would have broken out, and as only two of many species were taken into the ark, the loss of any one of these animals would have been equivalent to the destruction of the race. The narrative, however, implies that the health of man and beast throughout the twelve months was perfect; and probably the number of the animals received into the ark was less than is commonly supposed.

Verse 16. - A window - עֹהַר, from עָהַר, to shine, hence light (עָהֲרַיִם, double light, or light of midday - Genesis 43:16; Jeremiah 6:4). Not the window which Noah afterwards opened to let out the dove, which is called הַלּון (Genesis 8:6), but obviously a lighting apparatus, which may have been a series of windows (Gesenius), scarcely one (Theodotion, θύραν; Symmachus, διαφανές; Vulgate, fenestram; Kimchi, Luther, Calvin); or an opening running along the top of the sides of the ark, occupied by some translucent substance, and sheltered by the eaves of the roof (Knobel); or, what appears more probable, a light opening in the upper deck, stretching along the entire length, and continued down through the different stories (Baumgarten, Lange); or, if the roof sloped, as is most likely, an aperture along the ridge, which would admit the clear light of heaven (tsohar), and serve as a meridional line enabling Noah and the inmates of the ark to ascertain the hour of noon (Taylor Lewis). Keil and Murphy think we can form no proper conception of the light arrangement of the ark. The conjecture of Schultens, which is followed by Dathius, Michaelis, Rosenmüller, and others, that the tsohar meant the covering (tectum, dorsum), "quo sane hoc aedificium carere non potuit, propter pluviam tot diernm continuam," is obviously incorrect - shalt thou make to the ark, and in a cubit - to a cubit, i.e. all but a cubit (T. Lewis); into a cubit, i.e. to the extent of a cubit (Ainsworth); by the cubit, i.e. by a just measure (Kalisch) - shalt thou finish it - not the window (Gesenins, Ewald, Tueh), the feminine suffix agreeing with tebah, which is feminine, and not with tsohar, which is masculine; but the ark - above. Literally, from above to above; i.e., according to the above interpretations of the preposition, either the roof, after the construction of the windows, should be regularly finished "by the just measure" (Kalisch); or the roof should be arched but a cubit, that it might be almost flat (Ainsworth); or from the eaves up toward the ridge it should be completed, leaving a cubit open or unfinished (T. Lewis). And the door of the ark - the opening which should admit its inmates - shalt thou set in the side thereof; with lower, second, and third stories. The word stories is not in the original, but some such word must be supplied. Lunge thinks that each fiat or story had an entrance or door in the side.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
You are to make
תַּֽעֲשֶׂ֣ה (ta·‘ă·śeh)
Verb - Qal - Imperfect - second person masculine singular
Strong's 6213: To do, make

a roof
צֹ֣הַר ׀ (ṣō·har)
Noun - feminine singular
Strong's 6672: A light, double light, noon

for the ark,
לַתֵּבָ֗ה (lat·tê·ḇāh)
Preposition-l, Article | Noun - feminine singular
Strong's 8392: A box, chest

finish [its walls]
תְּכַלֶ֣נָּה‪‬ (tə·ḵa·len·nāh)
Verb - Piel - Imperfect - second person masculine singular | third person feminine singular
Strong's 3615: To be complete, at an end, finished, accomplished, or spent

a cubit
אַמָּה֙ (’am·māh)
Noun - feminine singular
Strong's 520: A mother, a cubit, a door-base

from the top,
מִלְמַ֔עְלָה (mil·ma‘·lāh)
Preposition-m, Preposition-l | Adverb | third person feminine singular
Strong's 4605: The upper part, with prefix upward, above, overhead, from the top

place
תָּשִׂ֑ים (tā·śîm)
Verb - Qal - Imperfect - second person masculine singular
Strong's 7760: Put -- to put, place, set

a door
וּפֶ֥תַח (ū·p̄e·ṯaḥ)
Conjunctive waw | Noun - masculine singular construct
Strong's 6607: An opening, door, entrance way

in the side
בְּצִדָּ֣הּ (bə·ṣid·dāh)
Preposition-b | Noun - masculine singular construct | third person feminine singular
Strong's 6654: A side, an adversary

of the ark,
הַתֵּבָ֖ה (hat·tê·ḇāh)
Article | Noun - feminine singular
Strong's 8392: A box, chest

and build
תַּֽעֲשֶֽׂהָ׃ (ta·‘ă·śe·hā)
Verb - Qal - Imperfect - second person masculine singular | third person feminine singular
Strong's 6213: To do, make

lower,
תַּחְתִּיִּ֛ם (taḥ·tî·yim)
Adjective - masculine plural
Strong's 8482: Lowermost, the depths

middle,
שְׁנִיִּ֥ם (šə·nî·yim)
Number - ordinal masculine plural
Strong's 8145: Second (an ordinal number)

and upper {decks}.
וּשְׁלִשִׁ֖ים (ū·šə·li·šîm)
Conjunctive waw | Number - ordinal masculine plural
Strong's 7992: Third, feminine a, third, a third, a third-story cell)


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OT Law: Genesis 6:16 You shall make a roof (Gen. Ge Gn)
Genesis 6:15
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