Genesis 7:20

7:20 The waters rose more than twenty feet ¹  above the mountains. ² 

Genesis 7:19

7:19 The waters completely inundated ³  the earth so that even ⁴  all the high mountains under the entire sky were covered.

Genesis 8:5

8:5 The waters kept on receding ⁵  until the tenth month. On the first day of the tenth month, the tops of the mountains became visible. ⁶ 

Genesis 22:2

22:2 God ⁷  said, “Take your son – your only son, whom you love, Isaac ⁸  – and go to the land of Moriah! ⁹  Offer him up there as a burnt offering ¹⁰  on one of the mountains which I will indicate to ¹¹  you.”

[7:20]  ¹ 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]  ² 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.

[7:19]  ³ tn Heb “and the waters were great exceedingly, exceedingly.” The repetition emphasizes the depth of the waters.

[7:19]  ⁴ tn Heb “and.”

[8:5]  ⁵ 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]  ⁶ tn Or “could be seen.”

[22:2]  ⁷ tn Heb “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[22:2]  ⁸ sn Take your son…Isaac. The instructions are very clear, but the details are deliberate. With every additional description the commandment becomes more challenging.

[22:2]  ⁹ sn There has been much debate over the location of Moriah; 2 Chr 3:1 suggests it may be the site where the temple was later built in Jerusalem.

[22:2]  ¹⁰ sn A whole burnt offering signified the complete surrender of the worshiper and complete acceptance by God. The demand for a human sacrifice was certainly radical and may have seemed to Abraham out of character for God. Abraham would have to obey without fully understanding what God was about.

[22:2]  ¹¹ tn Heb “which I will say to.”