No.0016 - The animals on Noah's Ark

MYTH: There were two of each animals on Noah's Ark.

True Story: First of all, it may not actually be a true story, but I am just going to quote what is written on the Bible.

King James' Version:
Genesis 7:2 - Of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee by sevens, the male and his female: and of beasts that are not clean by two, the male and his female.

World English Bible:
Genesis 7:2 - You shall take seven pairs of every clean animal with you, the male and his female. Of the animals that are not clean, take two, the male and his female.

Douay-Rheims Version:
Genesis 7:2 - Of all clean beasts take seven and seven, the male and female.

"Clean" animals referred to animals that can be eaten by Jews and "not clean" or "unclean" animals were creatures that were forbidden to be eaten by Jews, such as pig, camel, chameleon, eel, snail, swan, bat and eagles.

As you can see, different versions differ. King James' version seem to suggest there were 1 male and 6 female clean animals and 1 male and 1 female unclean animals. Meanwhile World English Bible explicitly suggests there were 7 male and 7 female clean animals. If different versions were not confusing enough, look at different passages:

King James' Version:
Genesis 6:19 - And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every [sort] shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep [them] alive with thee; they shall be male and female.

Genesis 6:20 - Of fowls after their kind, and of cattle after their kind, of every creeping thing of the earth after his kind, two of every [sort] shall come unto thee, to keep [them] alive.

Genesis 7:8 - Of clean beasts, and of beasts that [are] not clean, and of fowls, and of every thing that creepeth upon the earth,
Genesis 7:9 - There went in two and two unto Noah into the ark, the male and the female, as God had commanded Noah.

All passages seem to imply there were 2 animals of each, whether clean or not clean.

There is one more problem (out of many many problems):
Genesis 6:21 - And take thou unto thee of all food that is eaten, and thou shalt gather [it] to thee; and it shall be for food for thee, and for them.
Genesis 7:12 - And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights.

That means there has to be food available for carnivores, which is probably fine today, as we have the technology to store animal flesh (not alive) on board. That means some of the animals were eaten by the carnivores or there had to be extra animals on board.