And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of beast, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, and every man:
All flesh died that moved upon the earth. The Hebrew word that is commonly rendered "earth" is very frequently used also to denote 'land,' 'country,' or 'regions' and the expressions 'the whole earth,' or 'all the earth,' is in many instances translated in our version, "the land," "the whole land," "all the land," sometimes describing several countries collectively as one extensive region, and at other times pointing to one couutry. In several instances, such as 1 Kings 10:24; Jeremiah 51:7; Jeremiah 51:25; Jeremiah 51:40; Daniel 2:39, where it is rendered "all the earth," there is an obvious and undeniable reference only to portions of the earth. In conformity with this Scripture usage of the terms, we, for reasons which will be stated in the sequel, restrict their application in this passage, and understand the phrases, "all flesh," "all in whose nostrils was the breath of life," and "every living substance," to be universal only with respect to the objects comprehended in the divine denunciation-namely, the godless race of antediluvian men, whose enormous wickedness was the moral cause of the judgment, together with the inferior animals enlisted in their service or residing in their neighhourhood; which, according to the usual course of Providence, would suffer in the general calamity.