Genesis 6:14

an ark The word here used, têbâh, is only found in this passage and in Exodus 2:3-5. It is of foreign origin; according to some, an Egyptian word; according to others, derived from the Assyrian. LXX κιβωτός, Lat. arca, which our translators adopted and transliterated. The "ark" of the Covenant (e.g. Exodus 25:10) is another Heb. word, "arôn, but unfortunately rendered also by LXX κιβωτός, Lat. arca.

gopher wood A word only used here. "Gopher" is said to be a resinous coniferous tree, possibly the "cypress" (cuparissus), to which word it may be akin.

The versions, not realizing that it was a botanical description, made wild guesses at the meaning. Thus LXX ἐκ ξύλων τετραγώνων = "of squared beams": so, Vet. Lat. ligna quadrata, Vulg. ligna laevigata.

rooms The meaning is obvious. The interior of the ark was to consist of cabins, or cubicles. The sentence would be rendered literally, "nests shalt thou make the ark." Vulg. mansiunculas.

pitch Heb. kopher, a word only found here in the Bible, and its resemblance in pronunciation to "gopher" (see above), is, to say the least, strange. The Assyrian word for bitumen is kupru, and that word is used in the Babylonian account, in which the hero of the Flood is made to say, "Six sarsof bitumen (kupru) I spread over it for caulking." The word suggests (1) that there is some connexion of the Hebrew story with the Babylonian version, (2) that the region was the Euphrates Valley in which bitumen was freely obtainable. The word in Exodus 2:3 is not kopher, but khêmar, which is also found in Genesis 11:3; Genesis 14:10.