Genesis 7:1

Summary

Yehovah speaks directly to Noah, commanding him to enter the ark together with his household. The command is grounded in a stated reason: Yehovah has observed Noah as righteous among the people of his generation.

Key words

• va-yo'mer ("and he said", H0559) — qal narrative verb, third-person masculine, marking the start of divine speech in the story sequence.
• bo' ("go / enter", H0935) — qal imperative, second-person masculine singular, the direct command given to Noah.
• raiti ("I have seen", H7200) — qal perfect, first-person singular, expressing a completed act of perception/judgment by the speaker.
• tzaddiq ("righteous", H6662) — masculine singular adjective, describing the quality attributed to Noah.
• ba-dor ha-zeh ("in this generation", H1755 + H2088) — construct noun with preposition plus demonstrative, situating the judgment within a specific temporal/social group.

What the text says

The verse opens with the narrative verb va-yo'mer ("and he said", H0559), a standard formula introducing direct speech, followed by the subject Yehovah (H3068) and the recipient marked with the preposition le ("to", H9005) attached to Noach (H5146). The command itself uses the imperative bo' ("go", H0935) followed by the independent pronoun attah ("you", H0859) for emphasis, then ve-khol beitekha ("and all your household", H3605 + H1004 + suffix H9021), specifying who is included in the command. The destination is marked by el ("into", H0413) plus the definite article and tevah ("ark", H8392).

The second clause is introduced by ki (H3588), a particle that can function causally ("for/because") or conditionally ("if"), here linking the command to its stated basis. The object marker 'otekha (H0853 + suffix H9031) precedes the verb ra'iti ("I have seen", H7200), a qal perfect indicating a completed act of observation by the speaker. The predicate tzaddiq ("righteous", H6662) stands without a copula, as is typical in Hebrew nominal-type clauses embedded in verbal constructions. The phrase le-fanai ("before me", H6440 + suffix H9020) uses the plural construct noun "faces" idiomatically to mean "in my presence." The final phrase ba-dor ha-zeh ("in this generation", H1755 + demonstrative H2088) restricts the scope of the statement to Noah's contemporaries.

Differences between versions

The Hebrew ki (H3588) is rendered as a causal conjunction — LXX hoti ("because"), Vulgate enim ("for"), and the English/Spanish translations "because"/"porque." The SBLIBRE rendering "el único hombre justo" ("the only righteous man") adds the notion of exclusivity, which is not explicit in the Hebrew text's tzaddiq ("righteous", H6662) or in the other versions, which state only that Noah was seen as righteous without asserting uniqueness.