Genesis 8:3

8:3 The waters kept receding steadily ¹  from the earth, so that they ²  had gone down ³  by the end of the 150 days.

Genesis 21:15

21:15 When the water in the skin was gone, she shoved ⁴  the child under one of the shrubs.

[8:3]  ¹ 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]  ² tn Heb “the waters.” The pronoun (“they”) has been employed in the translation for stylistic reasons.

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

[21:15]  ⁴ tn Heb “threw,” but the child, who was now thirteen years old, would not have been carried, let alone thrown under a bush. The exaggerated language suggests Ishmael is limp from dehydration and is being abandoned to die. See G. J. Wenham, Genesis (WBC), 2:85.