8:1 But God remembered 1 Noah and all the wild animals and domestic animals that were with him in the ark. God caused a wind to blow over 2 the earth and the waters receded. 8:2 The fountains of the deep and the floodgates of heaven were closed, 3 and the rain stopped falling from the sky. 8:3 The waters kept receding steadily 4 from the earth, so that they 5 had gone down 6 by the end of the 150 days. 8:4 On the seventeenth day of the seventh month, the ark came to rest on one of the mountains of Ararat. 7 8:5 The waters kept on receding 8 until the tenth month. On the first day of the tenth month, the tops of the mountains became visible. 9
8:6 At the end of forty days, 10 Noah opened the window he had made in the ark 11 8:7 and sent out a raven; it kept flying 12 back and forth until the waters had dried up on the earth.
8:8 Then Noah 13 sent out a dove 14 to see if the waters had receded 15 from the surface of the ground. 8:9 The dove could not find a resting place for its feet because water still covered 16 the surface of the entire earth, and so it returned to Noah 17 in the ark. He stretched out his hand, took the dove, 18 and brought it back into the ark. 19 8:10 He waited seven more days and then sent out the dove again from the ark. 8:11 When 20 the dove returned to him in the evening, there was 21 a freshly plucked olive leaf in its beak! Noah knew that the waters had receded from the earth. 8:12 He waited another seven days and sent the dove out again, 22 but it did not return to him this time. 23
8:13 In Noah’s six hundred and first year, 24 in the first day of the first month, the waters had dried up from the earth, and Noah removed the covering from the ark and saw that 25 the surface of the ground was dry. 8:14 And by the twenty-seventh day of the second month the earth 26 was dry.
8:15 Then God spoke to Noah and said, 8:16 “Come out of the ark, you, your wife, your sons, and your sons’ wives with you. 8:17 Bring out with you all the living creatures that are with you. Bring out 27 every living thing, including the birds, animals, and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. Let them increase 28 and be fruitful and multiply on the earth!” 29
8:18 Noah went out along with his sons, his wife, and his sons’ wives. 8:19 Every living creature, every creeping thing, every bird, and everything that moves on the earth went out of the ark in their groups.
8:20 Noah built an altar to the Lord. He then took some of every kind of clean animal and clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar. 30 8:21 And the Lord smelled the soothing aroma 31 and said 32 to himself, 33 “I will never again curse 34 the ground because of humankind, even though 35 the inclination of their minds 36 is evil from childhood on. 37 I will never again destroy everything that lives, as I have just done.
8:22 “While the earth continues to exist, 38
planting time 39 and harvest,
cold and heat,
summer and winter,
and day and night will not cease.”
6:11 The earth was ruined 40 in the sight of 41 God; the earth was filled with violence. 42
1:1 On the first day of the sixth month 44 of King Darius’ 45 second year, the Lord spoke this message through the prophet Haggai 46 to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to the high priest Joshua son of Jehozadak: 47
1:12 Then Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and the high priest Joshua son of Jehozadak, 48 along with the whole remnant of the people, 49 obeyed 50 the Lord their God. They responded favorably to the message of the prophet Haggai, who spoke just as the Lord their God had instructed him, 51 and the people began to respect the Lord. 52
1 tn The Hebrew word translated “remembered” often carries the sense of acting in accordance with what is remembered, i.e., fulfilling covenant promises (see B. S. Childs, Memory and Tradition in Israel [SBT], especially p. 34).
2 tn Heb “to pass over.”
3 tn Some (e.g., NIV) translate the preterite verb forms in this verse as past perfects (e.g., “had been closed”), for it seems likely that the sources of the water would have stopped before the waters receded.
4 tn The construction combines a Qal preterite from שׁוּב (shuv) with its infinitive absolute to indicate continuous action. The infinitive absolute from הָלָךְ (halakh) is included for emphasis: “the waters returned…going and returning.”
5 tn Heb “the waters.” The pronoun (“they”) has been employed in the translation for stylistic reasons.
6 tn The vav (ו) consecutive with the preterite here describes the consequence of the preceding action.
7 tn Heb “on the mountains of Ararat.” Obviously a boat (even one as large as the ark) cannot rest on multiple mountains. Perhaps (1) the preposition should be translated “among,” or (2) the plural “mountains” should be understood in the sense of “mountain range” (see E. A. Speiser, Genesis [AB], 53). A more probable option (3) is that the plural indicates an indefinite singular, translated “one of the mountains” (see GKC 400 §124.o).
8 tn Heb “the waters were going and lessening.” The perfect verb form הָיָה (hayah) is used as an auxiliary verb with the infinitive absolute חָסוֹר (khasor, “lessening”), while the infinitive absolute הָלוֹךְ (halokh) indicates continuous action.
9 tn Or “could be seen.”
10 tn The introductory verbal form וַיְהִי (vayÿhi), traditionally rendered “and it came to pass,” serves as a temporal indicator and has not been translated here.
11 tn Heb “opened the window in the ark which he had made.” The perfect tense (“had made”) refers to action preceding the opening of the window, and is therefore rendered as a past perfect. Since in English “had made” could refer to either the ark or the window, the order of the phrases was reversed in the translation to clarify that the window is the referent.
12 tn Heb “and it went out, going out and returning.” The Hebrew verb יָצָא (yatsa’), translated here “flying,” is modified by two infinitives absolute indicating that the raven went back and forth.
13 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Noah) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
14 tn The Hebrew text adds “from him.” This has not been translated for stylistic reasons, because it is redundant in English.
15 tn The Hebrew verb קָלָל (qalal) normally means “to be light, to be slight”; it refers here to the waters receding.
16 tn The words “still covered” is supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
17 tn Heb “him”; the referent (Noah) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
18 tn Heb “it”; the referent (the dove) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
19 tn Heb “and he brought it to himself to the ark.”
20 tn The clause introduced by vav (ו) consecutive is translated as a temporal clause subordinated to the following clause.
21 tn The deictic particle הִנֵּה (hinneh) draws attention to the olive leaf. It invites readers to enter into the story, as it were, and look at the olive leaf with their own eyes.
22 tn The word “again” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
23 tn Heb “it did not again return to him still.” For a study of this section of the flood narrative, see W. O. E. Oesterley, “The Dove with the Olive Leaf (Gen VIII 8–11),” ExpTim 18 (1906/07): 377-78.
24 tn Heb In the six hundred and first year.” Since this refers to the six hundred and first year of Noah’s life, the word “Noah’s” has been supplied in the translation for clarity.
25 tn Heb “and saw and look.” As in v. 11, the deictic particle הִנֵּה (hinneh) invites readers to enter into the story, as it were, and look at the dry ground with their own eyes.
26 tn In v. 13 the ground (הָאֲדָמָה, ha’adamah) is dry; now the earth (הָאָרֶץ, ha’arets) is dry.
27 tn The words “bring out” are not in the Hebrew text, but are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
28 tn Following the Hiphil imperative, “bring out,” the three perfect verb forms with vav (ו) consecutive carry an imperatival nuance. For a discussion of the Hebrew construction here and the difficulty of translating it into English, see S. R. Driver, A Treatise on the Use of the Tenses in Hebrew, 124-25.
29 tn Heb “and let them swarm in the earth and be fruitful and multiply on the earth.”
30 sn Offered burnt offerings on the altar. F. D. Maurice includes a chapter on the sacrifice of Noah in The Doctrine of Sacrifice. The whole burnt offering, according to Leviticus 1, represented the worshiper’s complete surrender and dedication to the
31 tn The
32 tn Heb “and the
33 tn Heb “in his heart.”
34 tn Here the Hebrew word translated “curse” is קָלָל (qalal), used in the Piel verbal stem.
35 tn The Hebrew particle כִּי (ki) can be used in a concessive sense (see BDB 473 s.v. כִּי), which makes good sense in this context. Its normal causal sense (“for”) does not fit the context here very well.
36 tn Heb “the inclination of the heart of humankind.”
37 tn Heb “from his youth.”
38 tn Heb “yet all the days of the earth.” The idea is “[while there are] yet all the days of the earth,” meaning, “as long as the earth exists.”
39 tn Heb “seed,” which stands here by metonymy for the time when seed is planted.
40 tn Apart from Gen 6:11-12, the Niphal form of this verb occurs in Exod 8:20 HT (8:24 ET), where it describes the effect of the swarms of flies on the land of Egypt; Jer 13:7 and 18:4, where it is used of a “ruined” belt and “marred” clay pot, respectively; and Ezek 20:44, where it describes Judah’s morally “corrupt” actions. The sense “morally corrupt” fits well in Gen 6:11 because of the parallelism (note “the earth was filled with violence”). In this case “earth” would stand by metonymy for its sinful inhabitants. However, the translation “ruined” works just as well, if not better. In this case humankind’s sin is viewed has having an adverse effect upon the earth. Note that vv. 12b-13 make a distinction between the earth and the living creatures who live on it.
41 tn Heb “before.”
42 tn The Hebrew word translated “violence” refers elsewhere to a broad range of crimes, including unjust treatment (Gen 16:5; Amos 3:10), injurious legal testimony (Deut 19:16), deadly assault (Gen 49:5), murder (Judg 9:24), and rape (Jer 13:22).
43 tn Aram “arose and began.” For stylistic reasons this has been translated as a single concept.
44 sn The first day of the sixth month was Elul 1 according to the Jewish calendar; August 29, 520
45 sn King Darius is the Persian king Darius Hystaspes who ruled from 522-486
46 tn Heb “the word of the
47 tn The typical translation “Joshua (the) son of Jehozadak, the high priest” (cf. ASV, NASB, NIV, NRSV) can be understood to mean that Jehozadak was high priest. However, Zech 3:1, 8 clearly indicates that Joshua was high priest (see also Ezra 5:1-2; cf. NAB). The same potential misunderstanding occurs in Hag 1:12, 14 and 2:2, where the same solution has been employed in the translation.
48 tn Many English versions have “Joshua [the] son of Jehozadak, the high priest,” but this is subject to misunderstanding. See the note on the name “Jehozadak” at the end of v. 1.
49 tn Heb “all the remnant of the people.” The Hebrew phrase שְׁאֵרִית הָעָם (shÿ’erit ha’am) in this postexilic context is used as a technical term to refer to the returned remnant (see Ezra 9:14; Isa 10:20-22; 11:11, 16; Jer 23:3; 31:7; and many other passages). Cf. TEV “all the people who had returned from the exile in Babylonia.”
50 tn Heb “heard the voice of”; NAB “listened to the voice of.”
51 tn Heb “and according to the words of Haggai the prophet just as the
52 tn Heb “and the people feared from before the
53 tn Heb “and take heart.” Although emphatic, the repetition of the verb is redundant in contemporary English style and has been left untranslated.
54 tn Heb “the people of the land” (עַם הָאָרֶץ, ’am ha’arets); this is a technical term referring to free citizens as opposed to slaves.