Genesis 8:1-22

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.”

Genesis 1:21

1:21 God created the great sea creatures ⁴⁰  and every living and moving thing with which the water swarmed, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. God saw that it was good.

Psalms 69:23

69:23 May their eyes be blinded! ⁴¹ 

Make them shake violently! ⁴² 

Zechariah 11:17

11:17 Woe to the worthless shepherd

who abandons the flock!

May a sword fall on his arm and his right eye!

May his arm wither completely away,

and his right eye become completely blind!”

Ephesians 4:18

4:18 They are darkened in their understanding, ⁴³  being alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardness of their hearts.

Ephesians 4:2

4:2 with all humility and gentleness, ⁴⁴  with patience, bearing with ⁴⁵  one another in love,

Ephesians 2:4

2:4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of his great love with which he loved us,

Ephesians 2:17

2:17 And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near,

Jude 1:6

1:6 You also know that ⁴⁶  the angels who did not keep within their proper domain ⁴⁷  but abandoned their own place of residence, he has kept ⁴⁸  in eternal chains ⁴⁹  in utter ⁵⁰  darkness, locked up ⁵¹  for the judgment of the great Day.

Jude 1:13

1:13 wild sea waves, ⁵²  spewing out the foam of ⁵³  their shame; ⁵⁴  wayward stars ⁵⁵  for whom the utter depths of eternal darkness ⁵⁶  have been reserved.

[8:1]  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).

[8:1]  ² tn Heb “to pass over.”

[8:2]  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.

[8:3]  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.”

[8:3]  ⁵ tn Heb “the waters.” The pronoun (“they”) has been employed in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[8:3]  ⁶ tn The vav (ו) consecutive with the preterite here describes the consequence of the preceding action.

[8:4]  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).

[8:5]  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.

[8:5]  ⁹ tn Or “could be seen.”

[8:6]  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.

[8:6]  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.

[8:7]  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.

[8:8]  ¹³ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Noah) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[8:8]  ¹⁴ tn The Hebrew text adds “from him.” This has not been translated for stylistic reasons, because it is redundant in English.

[8:8]  ¹⁵ tn The Hebrew verb קָלָל (qalal) normally means “to be light, to be slight”; it refers here to the waters receding.

[8:9]  ¹⁶ tn The words “still covered” is supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[8:9]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “him”; the referent (Noah) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[8:9]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “it”; the referent (the dove) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[8:9]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “and he brought it to himself to the ark.”

[8:11]  ²⁰ tn The clause introduced by vav (ו) consecutive is translated as a temporal clause subordinated to the following clause.

[8:11]  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.

[8:12]  ²² tn The word “again” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[8:12]  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.

[8:13]  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.

[8:13]  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.

[8:14]  ²⁶ tn In v. 13 the ground (הָאֲדָמָה, ha’adamah) is dry; now the earth (הָאָרֶץ, ha’arets) is dry.

[8:17]  ²⁷ tn The words “bring out” are not in the Hebrew text, but are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[8:17]  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.

[8:17]  ²⁹ tn Heb “and let them swarm in the earth and be fruitful and multiply on the earth.”

[8:20]  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 Lord. After the flood Noah could see that God was not only a God of wrath, but a God of redemption and restoration. The one who escaped the catastrophe could best express his gratitude and submission through sacrificial worship, acknowledging God as the sovereign of the universe.

[8:21]  ³¹ tn The Lord “smelled” (וַיָּרַח, vayyarakh) a “soothing smell” (רֵיחַ הַנִּיהֹחַ, reakh hannihoakh). The object forms a cognate accusative with the verb. The language is anthropomorphic. The offering had a sweet aroma that pleased or soothed. The expression in Lev 1 signifies that God accepts the offering with pleasure, and in accepting the offering he accepts the worshiper.

[8:21]  ³² tn Heb “and the Lord said.”

[8:21]  ³³ tn Heb “in his heart.”

[8:21]  ³⁴ tn Here the Hebrew word translated “curse” is קָלָל (qalal), used in the Piel verbal stem.

[8:21]  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.

[8:21]  ³⁶ tn Heb “the inclination of the heart of humankind.”

[8:21]  ³⁷ tn Heb “from his youth.”

[8:22]  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.”

[8:22]  ³⁹ tn Heb “seed,” which stands here by metonymy for the time when seed is planted.

[1:21]  ⁴⁰ tn For the first time in the narrative proper the verb “create” (בָּרָא, bara’) appears. (It is used in the summary statement of v. 1.) The author wishes to underscore that these creatures – even the great ones – are part of God’s perfect creation. The Hebrew term תַנִּינִם (tanninim) is used for snakes (Exod 7:9), crocodiles (Ezek 29:3), or other powerful animals (Jer 51:34). In Isa 27:1 the word is used to describe a mythological sea creature that symbolizes God’s enemies.

[69:23]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “may their eyes be darkened from seeing.”

[69:23]  ⁴² tn Heb “make their hips shake continually.”

[4:18]  ⁴³ tn In the Greek text this clause is actually subordinate to περιπατεῖ (peripatei) in v. 17. It was broken up in the English translation so as to avoid an unnecessarily long and cumbersome statement.

[4:2]  ⁴⁴ tn Or “meekness.” The word is often used in Hellenistic Greek of the merciful execution of justice on behalf of those who have no voice by those who are in a position of authority (Matt 11:29; 21:5).

[4:2]  ⁴⁵ tn Or “putting up with”; or “forbearing.”

[1:6]  ⁴⁶ tn Grk “and.” Verse 6 is a continuation of the same sentence begun in v. 5. Due to the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[1:6]  ⁴⁷ tn Grk “who did not keep their own domain.”

[1:6]  ⁴⁸ sn There is an interesting play on words used in this verse. Because the angels did not keep their proper place, Jesus has kept them chained up in another place. The same verb keep is used in v. 1 to describe believers’ status before God and Christ.

[1:6]  ⁴⁹ sn In 2 Pet 2:4 a less common word for chains is used.

[1:6]  ⁵⁰ tn The word ζόφος (zofos, “utter, deepest darkness”) is used only five times in the NT: two in 2 Peter, two in Jude, and one in Hebrews. Jude 6 parallels 2 Pet 2:4; Jude 13 parallels 2 Pet 2:17.

[1:6]  ⁵¹ tn The words “locked up” are not in Greek, but is expressed in English as a resumptive point after the double prepositional phrase (“in eternal chains in utter darkness”).

[1:13]  ⁵² tn Grk “wild waves of the sea.”

[1:13]  ⁵³ tn Grk “foaming, causing to foam.” The verb form is intensive and causative. BDAG 360 s.v. ἐπαφρίζω suggests the meaning “to cause to splash up like froth, cause to foam,” or, in this context, “waves casting up their own shameless deeds like (dirty) foam.”

[1:13]  ⁵⁴ tn Grk “shames, shameful things.” It is uncertain whether shameful deeds or shameful words are in view. Either way, the picture has taken a decided turn: Though waterless clouds and fruitless trees may promise good things, but deliver nothing, wild sea-waves are portents of filth spewed forth from the belly of the sea.

[1:13]  ⁵⁵ sn The imagery of a star seems to fit the nautical theme that Jude is developing. Stars were of course the guides to sailors at night, just as teachers are responsible to lead the flock through a benighted world. But false teachers, as wayward stars, are not fixed and hence offer unreliable, even disastrous guidance. They are thus both the dangerous reefs on which the ships could be destroyed and the false guides, leading them into these rocks. There is a special irony that these lights will be snuffed out, reserved for the darkest depths of eternal darkness.

[1:13]  ⁵⁶ tn Grk “utter darkness of darkness for eternity.” See note on the word “utter” in v. 6.