Genesis 8:16

16 "Go forth from the ark, you and your wife, and your sons and your sons' wives with you.

Genesis 8:16 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 8:16

Go forth of the ark
Though the earth was dry and fit to be inhabited, yet be would not go out without orders, as he had to go in; which he waited for before he would, and now he has them:

thou and thy wife, and thy sons, and thy sons' wives, with thee:
the Jewish writers ^F26 observe, that the manner of Noah and his family coming out of the ark is different from that of their going into it: when they went into it then went the men by themselves, and the women by themselves, and so continued apart in the ark, the use of the marriage bed being forbidden them, being a time of distress; but now when they came out they are coupled together, signifying that they were now free to cohabit together.

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FOOTNOTES:

F26 Pirke Eliezer, c. 23. Jarchi in loc.

Genesis 8:16 In-Context

14 In the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dry.

15 Then God said to Noah,

16 "Go forth from the ark, you and your wife, and your sons and your sons' wives with you.

17 Bring forth with you every living thing that is with you of all flesh--birds and animals and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth--that they may breed abundantly on the earth, and be fruitful and multiply upon the earth."

18 So Noah went forth, and his sons and his wife and his sons' wives with him.