Genesis 6:16

Alight Perhaps better than a roof. The word so rendered (ṣôhar) only occurs here in the singular: in the dual it is the regular Heb. word for "noonday." Accepting the rendering which connects it with "light," we should probably be right in conjecturing that it means here "a window," or "opening," beneath the over-hanging eaves of the roof on both sides of the ark. So Latin, fenestram. In the Babylonian version, a window is mentioned. Others, connecting the word with an Arabic form, render it by roof, deeming that the roof, being of such importance to the inmates, could not have been omitted in the description. LXX ἐπισυνάγων is unintelligible, but possibly gives the idea of the converging sides of the covering.

and to a cubit, &c. This clause is very difficult. (a) The commonest opinion is that, if the reference be to a window, it was to be a cubit high, running round the ark. This, however, would have been a mere slit, and practically inadequate for purposes of light and air. Perhaps it may mean the distance of a cubit from the top of the window to the roof. (b) The idea that it represented a little square window in Noah's own cell is fanciful. (c) If the word rendered "light" denoted the roof, the cubit "upward," or "from above," might indicate the amount of slope, which, however, would be extremely small. An allusion to the "window" is the most probable explanation. The opening would have run all round the ship, with the necessary intervals of beams and supports. The description must not be judged by modern standards either of ship-building or of hygiene. It is more or less imaginative.

upward The rendering of the margin, from above, gives a more intelligible meaning.

Gunkel, who considers that the text is corrupt, makes the strange conjectural emendation, "and on a hinge shalt thou make it revolve."

the door Cf. Genesis 7:16.

stories The Babylonian account is more elaborate: "Then I built 6 decks in it so that it was divided into 7 stories. The interior (of each storey) I divided into 9 compartments."