Gen 6:14–16: the ark, gopher wood and the cubits

Says עֲשֵׂה לְךָ תֵּבַת עֲצֵי־גֹפֶר: "make for yourself an ark of gopher wood." BDB glosses the first noun "ark (prop. chest, box)"; outside the flood account it is used only of the basket in Exod 2:3 and 5 (xref.Gen.6.14.Exod.2.3.heb). The second is "gopher, only in Gn 6:14 wood of which the ark was made"; the BSB's footnote calls it an unknown kind of tree, possibly cypress or cedar. Swete has κιβωτὸν ἐκ ξύλων τετραγώνων, "an ark of squared timbers." קִנִּים, "nests" (BDB "cells, like nests, in Noah’s ark"), is "rooms" in the BSB and νοσσιὰς in Swete. The verb וְכָפַרְתָּ and the noun בַּכֹּפֶר have the same three consonants ("coat it with pitch," BSB). 6:15 gives 300 by 50 by 30 cubits; the feet and meters of the BSB's footnote are a conversion, not the Hebrew. 6:16 has צֹהַר, then וְאֶל־אַמָּה תְּכַלֶנָּה מִלְמַעְלָה, "and to a cubit you shall finish it from above," a door in its side, and תַּחְתִּיִּם שְׁנִיִּם וּשְׁלִשִׁים, "lower, second and third."

Implies The noun for the ark names a box or chest; its only use outside the flood account is the basket that carried Moses.

Uncertain What צֹהַר is: a roof ("a roof," BSB), or, as its footnote allows, a skylight or window; Swete has ἐπισυνάγων, "gathering together." How the cubit "from above" is meant is also unclear. No lean is taken here.