From verse 21 to verse 24, the purpose of the flood in destroying all life on earth is set forth.

And all flesh died: And translates the common Hebrew connective, which here introduces a consequence or result. Biblia Dios Habla Hoy says “Thus everyone on earth died….” Many translations do not use a result marker here; see Good News Translation, for instance. Flesh probably refers to all living creatures, as in 6.13, 17, 19, and not just to animals or to human beings. The list of creatures that died follows, with “and every man” included at the end of the list.

That moved upon the earth: moved is the same word used in 1.21, where the reference was to water creatures, and in 1.28 to refer to earth creatures. The narrator now picks up the expression from 1.28, which refers to animal life, but many modern translations use punctuation marks to show that the animals and human beings are all included in the previous clause. For example, Good News Translation has “Every living being on earth died—,” and Bible en français courant “Everything that lived and moved on the earth perished:….” However, in some languages it will be necessary to make the structure of the text carry the full weight of the relation of the first clause to what follows. For example, “Every living thing that moved, including the birds and animals … died.” In some languages the sense of each group of animals dying must be expressed as “The birds died, the animals died….”

Cattle … beasts refer to domestic animals and wild animals (see 1.25; 7.14).

All swarming creatures that swarm upon the earth: in 1.20 and 1.21 these kinds of creatures are associated with water. Here, however, they are said to be ones that swarm upon the earth. Since this description does not apply to sea creatures, translators tend to follow one of two approaches: (1) Some, like Good News Translation, include the domestic, wild, and swarming creatures in one group called “animals.” (2) Others, like Bible en français courant, keep three distinct groups of animals and use a modifying phrase for the swarming creatures: “Birds, livestock, wild animals, and small animals that swarm on the ground.” New English Bible, which translates swarming creatures as “reptiles,” has been revised by Revised English Bible to say “all creatures that swarm on the ground.” Translators are recommended to follow either Good News Translation or Bible en français courant.

And every man: man is Hebrew ʾadam with the definite article and refers to every human being, not just the adult males; Good News Translation has “every person.”

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 .