Then the LORD said to Noah: Then translates the common Hebrew connective. As a transition marker in Revised Standard Version and some other versions, it is most naturally taken in English as a reference to time: “Next,” or “After this,” looking back to the actions reported in 6.18-22. And even those versions that do not have Then are understood in the same way by most readers. Of all the translations, Revised English Bible and New International Version most clearly understand the transition as a time sequence, judging from the way they translate the verbs in 6.18-21. Both these versions make a change from a simple future verb in 6.18b to a command form in verse 19, so that the sequence of commands does not include going into the boat, but only what Noah is to do at the time when he and his family go in. This means that when “Noah did everything just as God commanded him,” that did not include going into the boat at that time. In Good News Translation, 6.18-22 has Noah and his family already inside the boat at the end of chapter 6. If this is the case, then a transition marker that indicates there is a time sequence from the end of chapter 6 to the beginning of chapter 7 is not really appropriate.
It may be best to take the transition between chapters 6 and 7 as the beginning of a new episode in the overall narrative, which carries on the story line from the events of the previous episode. The transition may be indicated clearly enough by the use of carefully chosen headings; for example, “Noah makes a boat,” (6.13) followed by “The flood begins” or “God sends the flood” (7.1). But for those languages that require a transition marker in words at this point in the text, that marker will have to indicate clearly that the new episode follows the previous episode in time. Translations in many languages, in fact, have a very clear time transition marker such as “After that” or “Later on.”
The LORD translates the Hebrew Yahweh (see discussion of 2.4). In chapter 7 the LORD occurs in verses 1, 5, and 16.
Go into the ark is the first of two commands given to Noah in verses 1-3. The command Go or “Enter” is in the singular form because it is addressed to Noah. However, the reference is to Noah and his family, as the following phrase makes clear. Some languages require a special term for getting into or going on board a boat. For ark see 6.14.
You and all your household is literally “you [singular] and all your house.” The equivalent expression in 6.18 is “you, your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives.” The sense is “you and your family.” Translators need to apply the word “family” or household with caution, as such terms may refer to a large extended family group; for instance, a cluster of houses comprising a number of related men and their children belonging to the same clan, but excluding the adult women. Household is here clearly defined in terms of the members that are included in Noah’s immediate family. In many languages it will be better to state by name who these are, as in 6.18.
For I have seen that you are righteous before me is similar to the evaluation of Noah expressed by God in 6.9. Righteous translates the same noun used in 6.9. See there for discussion. Before me is literally “at my face,” which means “in my sight” or “in my estimation”; this is considered redundant by some translations because of the verb phrase “I have seen.” For introduces a clause of reason, but the clause is not marked as such in Good News Translation.
Where the reason is based on a past event, some languages prefer to give the reason clause first; for example, in one such translation we have “I have seen that you only…; so you with all your family are to….”
In this generation (see the singular also in 6.9) refers to the generation of people living at the time of Noah, that is, his contemporaries. The effect of the whole clause is to mark out Noah as unique among his fellow men. We may translate this clause, for example, “I have seen that you are the only one living who does what is right,” “… that no one but you among your fellow human beings does what is right,” or “… that you are the only one among your people who is faithful to me.” A typical translation in many parts of the world is “You only are a straight man among all the people in the world.”
Quoted with permission from Reyburn, William D. and Fry, Euan McG. A Handbook on Genesis. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1997. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .