Genesis 8:9-22

8:9 The dove could not find a resting place for its feet because water still covered ¹  the surface of the entire earth, and so it returned to Noah ²  in the ark. He stretched out his hand, took the dove, ³  and brought it back into the ark. ⁴  8:10 He waited seven more days and then sent out the dove again from the ark. 8:11 When ⁵  the dove returned to him in the evening, there was ⁶  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, ⁷  but it did not return to him this time. ⁸ 

8:13 In Noah’s six hundred and first year, ⁹  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 ¹⁰  the surface of the ground was dry. 8:14 And by the twenty-seventh day of the second month the earth ¹¹  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 ¹²  every living thing, including the birds, animals, and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. Let them increase ¹³  and be fruitful and multiply on the earth!” ¹⁴ 

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. ¹⁵  8:21 And the Lord smelled the soothing aroma ¹⁶  and said ¹⁷  to himself, ¹⁸  “I will never again curse ¹⁹  the ground because of humankind, even though ²⁰  the inclination of their minds ²¹  is evil from childhood on. ²²  I will never again destroy everything that lives, as I have just done.

8:22 “While the earth continues to exist, ²³ 

planting time ²⁴  and harvest,

cold and heat,

summer and winter,

and day and night will not cease.”

[8:9]  ¹ tn The words “still covered” is supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[8:9]  ² tn Heb “him”; the referent (Noah) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[8:9]  ³ tn Heb “it”; the referent (the dove) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[8:9]  ⁴ tn Heb “and he brought it to himself to the ark.”

[8:11]  ⁵ tn The clause introduced by vav (ו) consecutive is translated as a temporal clause subordinated to the following clause.

[8:11]  ⁶ 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]  ⁷ tn The word “again” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[8:12]  ⁸ 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]  ⁹ 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]  ¹⁰ 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]  ¹¹ tn In v. 13 the ground (הָאֲדָמָה, ha’adamah) is dry; now the earth (הָאָרֶץ, ha’arets) is dry.

[8:17]  ¹² tn The words “bring out” are not in the Hebrew text, but are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[8:17]  ¹³ 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]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and let them swarm in the earth and be fruitful and multiply on the earth.”

[8:20]  ¹⁵ 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]  ¹⁶ 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]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “and the Lord said.”

[8:21]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “in his heart.”

[8:21]  ¹⁹ tn Here the Hebrew word translated “curse” is קָלָל (qalal), used in the Piel verbal stem.

[8:21]  ²⁰ 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]  ²¹ tn Heb “the inclination of the heart of humankind.”

[8:21]  ²² tn Heb “from his youth.”

[8:22]  ²³ 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]  ²⁴ tn Heb “seed,” which stands here by metonymy for the time when seed is planted.