What are “all living things” in Genesis 7:4?

The phrase all living things appears as part of the account of Noah and the great flood (see Genesis 6:9—9:22). After Noah had completed building the ark, God gave him further instructions, telling Noah to go into the ark with all his family, “for after seven more days I will cause it to rain on the earth forty days and forty nights, and I will destroy from the face of the earth all living things that I have made” (Genesis 7:4, NKJV).

The flood narrative in Genesis uses comprehensive language, employing words like all and every living thing (ESV) to emphasize the universal nature of the destruction God intended to bring. The judgment came to all life on earth through 40 days of rain. In Genesis 6:7, the Lord said, “I will wipe this human race I have created from the face of the earth. Yes, and I will destroy every living thing—all the people, the large animals, the small animals that scurry along the ground, and even the birds of the sky. I am sorry I ever made them” (Genesis 6:7, NLT; see also Genesis 7:23).

In the original Hebrew, the word translated as “all” or “every” (kāl) means “the whole, the totality, any, each and every.” The “living things” (hayqūm) are every air-breathing creature that God had made, including humans, animals, birds, and crawling things. The words collectively refer to living, breathing, created beings as a group.

The Hebrew words for “all living things” are alternately translated as “every living substance” (KJV), “all the living beings” (GNB), and “every living creature” (NIV, HCSB). They refer to all life on earth that the flood would destroy. The passage indicates that God’s purpose in preserving life on Noah’s ark was “to ensure that all life will survive on the earth after the flood” (Genesis 7:3, NLT). The flood’s impact was global. Apart from Noah and all living things with him in the ark, absolutely nothing would survive on the earth, including birds, domestic and wild land animals, clean and unclean animals, creatures that swarm, and all of humanity.

It is understood that “all living things” does not include aquatic life such as fish and other sea creatures, since the floodwaters would not have destroyed them in the same way as land-based creatures. “Look!” God said, “I am about to cover the earth with a flood that will destroy every living thing that breathes. Everything on earth will die” (Genesis 6:17, NLT). “Everything that breathed and lived on dry land died” (Genesis 7:22, NLT). These verses reinforce the idea that all living things refers to air-breathing creatures that inhabit land and not underwater sea life.

Throughout Genesis 6—9, similar comprehensive terminology is used. God observed “all this corruption in the world, for everyone on earth was corrupt” (Genesis 6:12; NLT). And God said to Noah, “I have determined to make an end of all flesh” (Genesis 6:13, ESV). Later, when God established His covenant with Noah, He said, “Never again will the floodwaters destroy all life. When I see the rainbow in the clouds, I will remember the eternal covenant between God and every living creature on earth. . . . Yes, this rainbow is the sign of the covenant I am confirming with all the creatures on earth” (Genesis 9:15–17, NLT).

In summary, all living things in Genesis 7:4 refers to all land-dwelling, air-breathing beings—animals, birds, bugs, and humans. All would be destroyed by the flood, except for those preserved in Noah’s ark and creatures that lived in the water.