Gen 7:2–3: "seven seven"; clean and not clean

Says 7:2: מִכֹּל הַבְּהֵמָה הַטְּהוֹרָה, "of every clean beast" (BDB "clean, pure"), תִּקַּח־לְךָ, "you shall take for yourself," שִׁבְעָה שִׁבְעָה, "seven seven," אִישׁ וְאִשְׁתּוֹ, "a man and his wife"; of the beast אֲשֶׁר לֹא טְהֹרָה הִוא, "that is not clean," שְׁנַיִם, "two," אִישׁ וְאִשְׁתּוֹ. 7:3: גַּם מֵעוֹף הַשָּׁמַיִם, "also of the birds of the heavens," שִׁבְעָה שִׁבְעָה, זָכָר וּנְקֵבָה, "male and female," לְחַיּוֹת זֶרַע, "to keep seed alive." The BSB has "seven pairs"; its footnote gives "by sevens." Swete has ἑπτὰ ἑπτὰ ἄρσεν καὶ θῆλυ. The text makes the distinction of clean and not clean here, before the laws of Lev 11 (11:47, לְהַבְדִּיל בֵּין הַטָּמֵא וּבֵין הַטָּהֹר, "to distinguish between the unclean and the clean").

Implies The doubled numeral (BDB "seven") is distributive, as שְׁנַיִם שְׁנַיִם, "two two," in 7:9 and 7:15 is "two by two": "by sevens." The grammar gives a grouping; it does not give the size of each group.

Uncertain What a group of seven is. (1) Seven animals: ground, the numeral counts heads, as "two" does before "a man and his wife"; objection, seven does not divide into pairs. (2) Seven pairs (BSB): ground, "a man and his wife" and "male and female" follow the numeral; objection, the same words follow "two," one pair. How the sevens stand beside the "two" of 6:19–20, 7:9 and 7:15 is also open: a fuller command for clean animals within the first, or two accounts set together (note.language.Gen.6.19-Gen.6.22.two-of-all-and-obedience; note.language.Gen.7.13-Gen.7.16.that-very-day-and-shut-in). No lean is taken here.