Genesis 7:11-24

7:11 In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month – on that day all the fountains of the great deep ¹  burst open and the floodgates of the heavens ²  were opened. 7:12 And the rain fell ³  on the earth forty days and forty nights.

7:13 On that very day Noah entered the ark, accompanied by his sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth, along with his wife and his sons’ three wives. ⁴  7:14 They entered, ⁵  along with every living creature after its kind, every animal after its kind, every creeping thing that creeps on the earth after its kind, and every bird after its kind, everything with wings. ⁶  7:15 Pairs ⁷  of all creatures ⁸  that have the breath of life came into the ark to Noah. 7:16 Those that entered were male and female, ⁹  just as God commanded him. Then the Lord shut him in.

7:17 The flood engulfed the earth for forty days. As the waters increased, they lifted the ark and raised it above the earth. 7:18 The waters completely overwhelmed ¹⁰  the earth, and the ark floated ¹¹  on the surface of the waters. 7:19 The waters completely inundated ¹²  the earth so that even ¹³  all the high mountains under the entire sky were covered. 7:20 The waters rose more than twenty feet ¹⁴  above the mountains. ¹⁵  7:21 And all living things ¹⁶  that moved on the earth died, including the birds, domestic animals, wild animals, all the creatures that swarm over the earth, and all humankind. 7:22 Everything on dry land that had the breath of life ¹⁷  in its nostrils died. 7:23 So the Lord ¹⁸  destroyed ¹⁹  every living thing that was on the surface of the ground, including people, animals, creatures that creep along the ground, and birds of the sky. ²⁰  They were wiped off the earth. Only Noah and those who were with him in the ark survived. ²¹  7:24 The waters prevailed over ²²  the earth for 150 days.

[7:11]  ¹ tn The Hebrew term תְּהוֹם (tÿhom, “deep”) refers to the watery deep, the salty ocean – especially the primeval ocean that surrounds and underlies the earth (see Gen 1:2).

[7:11]  ² sn On the prescientific view of the sky reflected here, see L. I. J. Stadelmann, The Hebrew Conception of the World (AnBib), 46.

[7:12]  ³ tn Heb “was.”

[7:13]  ⁴ tn Heb “On that very day Noah entered, and Shem and Ham and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and the wife of Noah, and the three wives of his sons with him into the ark.”

[7:14]  ⁵ tn The verb “entered” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[7:14]  ⁶ tn Heb “every bird, every wing.”

[7:15]  ⁷ tn Heb “two two” meaning “in twos.”

[7:15]  ⁸ tn Heb “flesh.”

[7:16]  ⁹ tn Heb “Those that went in, male and female from all flesh they went in.”

[7:18]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and the waters were great and multiplied exceedingly.” The first verb in the sequence is וַיִּגְבְּרוּ (vayyigbÿru, from גָּבַר, gavar), meaning “to become great, mighty.” The waters did not merely rise; they “prevailed” over the earth, overwhelming it.

[7:18]  ¹¹ tn Heb “went.”

[7:19]  ¹² tn Heb “and the waters were great exceedingly, exceedingly.” The repetition emphasizes the depth of the waters.

[7:19]  ¹³ tn Heb “and.”

[7:20]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “rose fifteen cubits.” Since a cubit is considered by most authorities to be about eighteen inches, this would make the depth 22.5 feet. This figure might give the modern reader a false impression of exactness, however, so in the translation the phrase “fifteen cubits” has been rendered “more than twenty feet.”

[7:20]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “the waters prevailed fifteen cubits upward and they covered the mountains.” Obviously, a flood of twenty feet did not cover the mountains; the statement must mean the flood rose about twenty feet above the highest mountain.

[7:21]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “flesh.”

[7:22]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “everything which [has] the breath of the spirit of life in its nostrils from all which is in the dry land.”

[7:23]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “and he”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[7:23]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “wiped away” (cf. NRSV “blotted out”).

[7:23]  ²⁰ tn Heb “from man to animal to creeping thing and to the bird of the sky.”

[7:23]  ²¹ tn The Hebrew verb שָׁאָר (sha’ar) means “to be left over; to survive” in the Niphal verb stem. It is the word used in later biblical texts for the remnant that escapes judgment. See G. F. Hasel, “Semantic Values of Derivatives of the Hebrew Root só’r,” AUSS 11 (1973): 152-69.

[7:24]  ²² sn The Hebrew verb translated “prevailed over” suggests that the waters were stronger than the earth. The earth and everything in it were no match for the return of the chaotic deep.