Genesis 6:14

Verse 14. Timber planks. Hebrew “gopher wood,” which is no where else mentioned in Scripture. It was probably a sort of wood full of rosin, and being besmeared with something like our pitch, was capable of resisting the fury of the ensuing tremendous storm, for a length of time. Calmet. Bible.—Rooms to separate the birds, various animals, provisions, and so forth—Pitch, lit. “besmear it with bitumen,” which has a very strong smell, able to counteract the disagreeable odours arising from beasts confined. Menochius.—It might be mixed with some other ingredients, naphtha, pitch, and so forth Calmet.