Genesis 8

The Flood Subsides

1 And God remembered Noah and all the wild animals, and all the domesticated animals that [were] with him in the ark. And God caused a wind to blow over the earth, and the waters subsided.

2 And the fountains of the deep and the windows of the heavens were closed, and the rain from the heavens was restrained.

3 And the waters receded from the earth {gradually}, and the waters abated at the end of one hundred and fifty days.

4 And the ark came to rest in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on the mountains of Ararat.

5 And the waters {continued to recede} to the tenth month; in the tenth month, on the first of the month, the tops of the mountains appeared.

6 And it happened [that] at the end of forty days Noah opened the window of the ark that he had made.

7 And he sent out a raven; {it went to and fro} until the waters were dried up from upon the earth.

8 And {he sent out a dove} to see [whether] the waters had subsided from upon the ground.

9 But the dove did not find a resting place for the sole of her foot, and she returned to him into the ark, for the waters [were still] on the face of the earth. And he stretched out his hand and took her, and brought her to himself into the ark.

10 And he waited another seven days, and {again he sent out} the dove from the ark.

11 And the dove came to him {in the evening}, and behold, a freshly-picked olive tree leaf [was] in her mouth. And Noah knew that the waters had subsided from upon the earth.

12 And he waited {seven more days}, and he sent out the dove. But it did not return again to him.

13 And it happened that, in the six hundred and first year, in the first [month], on the first [day] of the month, the waters dried up from upon the earth. And Noah removed the covering of the ark and looked. And behold, the face of the ground was dried up.

14 And in the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dry.

15 And God spoke to Noah, saying:

16 "Go out from the ark, you and your wife, and your sons, and your sons' wives with you.

17 Bring out with you all the living things which [are] with you, from all the living creatures--birds, and animals, and everything that creeps on the earth, and let them swarm on the earth and be fruitful and multiply on the earth."

18 So Noah went out, with his sons and his wife, and the wives of his sons with him.

19 Every animal, every creeping thing, and every bird, [and] everything [that] moves upon the earth, according to its families, went out from the ark.

20 And Noah built an altar to Yahweh, and he took from all the clean animals and from all the clean birds, and offered burnt offerings on the altar.

21 And Yahweh smelled the soothing fragrance, and Yahweh said {to himself}, "{Never again will I curse} the ground for the sake of humankind, because the inclination of the heart of humankind [is] evil from his youth. {Nor will I ever again destroy} all life as I have done.

22 {As long as the earth endures}, seed and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will not cease.

Genesis 8 Commentary

Chapter 8

God remembers Noah, and dries up the waters. (1-3) The ark rests on Ararat, Noah sends forth a raven and a dove. (4-12) Noah being commanded, goes out of the ark. (13-19) Noah offers sacrifice, God promises to curse the earth no more. (20-22)

Verses 1-3 The whole race of mankind, except Noah and his family, were now dead, so that God's remembering Noah, was the return of his mercy to mankind, of whom he would not make a full end. The demands of Divine justice had been answered by the ruin of sinners. God sent his wind to dry the earth, and seal up his waters. The same hand that brings the desolation, must bring the deliverance; to that hand, therefore, we must ever look. When afflictions have done the work for which they are sent, whether killing work or curing work, they will be taken away. As the earth was not drowned in a day, so it was not dried in a day. God usually works deliverance for his people gradually, that the day of small things may not be despised, nor the day of great things despaired of.

Verses 4-12 The ark rested upon a mountain, whither it was directed by the wise and gracious providence of God, that might rest the sooner. God has times and places of rest for his people after their tossing; and many times he provides for their seasonable and comfortable settlement, without their own contrivance, and quite beyond their own foresight. God had told Noah when the flood would come, yet he did not give him an account by revelation, at what times and by what steps it should go away. The knowledge of the former was necessary to his preparing the ark; but the knowledge of the latter would serve only to gratify curiosity; and concealing it from him would exercise his faith and patience. Noah sent forth a raven from the ark, which went flying about, and feeding on the carcasses that floated. Noah then sent forth a dove, which returned the first time without good news; but the second time, she brought an olive leaf in her bill, plucked off, plainly showing that trees, fruit trees, began to appear above water. Noah sent forth the dove the second time, seven days after the first, and the third time was after seven days also; probably on the sabbath day. Having kept the sabbath with his little church, he expected especial blessings from Heaven, and inquired concerning them. The dove is an emblem of a gracious soul, that, finding no solid peace of satisfaction in this deluged, defiling world, returns to Christ as to its ark, as to its Noah, its rest. The defiling world, returns to Christ as to its ark, as to its Noah, its rest. The carnal heart, like the raven, takes up with the world, and feeds on the carrion it finds there; but return thou to my rest, O my soul; to thy Noah, so the word is, ( Psalms 116:7 ) . And as Noah put forth his hand, and took the dove, and pulled her to him, into the ark, so Christ will save, and help, and welcome those that flee to him for rest.

Verses 13-19 God consults our benefit, rather than our desires; he knows what is good for us better than we do for ourselves, and how long it is fit our restraints should continue, and desired mercies should be delayed. We would go out of the ark before the ground is dried; and perhaps, if the door, is shut, are ready to thrust off the covering, and to climb up some other way; but God's time of showing mercy is the best time. As Noah had a command to go into the ark, so, how tedious soever his confinement there was, he would wait for a command to go out of it again. We must in all our ways acknowledge God, and set him before us in all our removals. Those only go under God's protection, who follow God's direction, and submit to him.

Verses 20-22 Noah was now gone out into a desolate world, where, one might have thought, his first care would have been to build a house for himself, but he begins with an alter for God. He begins well, that begins with God. Though Noah's stock of cattle was small, and that saved at great care and pains, yet he did not grudge to serve God out of it. Serving God with our little is the way to make it more; we must never think that is wasted with which God is honoured. The first thing done in the new world was an act of worship. We are now to express our thankfulness, not by burnt-offerings, but by praise, and pious devotions and conversation. God was well pleased with what was done. But the burning flesh could no more please God, than the blood of bulls and goats, except as typical of the sacrifice of Christ, and expressing Noah's humble faith and devotedness to God. The flood washed away the race of wicked men, but it did not remove sin from man's nature, who being conceived and born in sin, thinks, devises, and loves wickedness, even from his youth, and that as much since the flood as before. But God graciously declared he never would drown the world again. While the earth remains, and man upon it, there shall be summer and winter. It is plain that this earth is not to remain always. It, and all the works in it, must shortly be burned up; and we look for new heavens and a new earth, when all these things shall be dissolved. But as long as it does remain, God's providence will cause the course of times and seasons to go on, and makes each to know its place. And on this word we depend, that thus it shall be. We see God's promises to the creatures made good, and may infer that his promises to all believers shall be so.

Footnotes

• [a]. Or "go"
• [b]. Or "the sky"
• [c]. Or "the sky"
• [d]. Literally "going and returning"
• [e]. Literally "going and receding"
• [f]. Or "the"
• [g]. Or "crow"
• [h]. Literally "it went out, going out and returning"
• [i]. Or "the"
• [j]. Literally "and he sent out a dove from him"
• [k]. Literally "he added to send"
• [l]. Literally "at the time of the evening"
• [m]. Literally "again another seven days"
• [n]. Or "And"
• [o]. Or "and"
• [p]. Literally "to his heart"
• [q]. Literally "I will not add to curse again"
• [r]. Literally "And I will not add again to destroy"
• [s]. Literally "While all the days of the earth"

Chapter Summary

INTRODUCTION TO GENESIS 8

This chapter gives an account of the going off of the waters from the earth, and of the entire deliverance of Noah, and those with him in the ark, from the flood, when all the rest were destroyed: after an one hundred and fifty days a wind is sent over the earth, the fountains of the deep and the windows of heaven are stopped, the waters go off gradually, and the ark rests on Mount Ararat, Ge 8:1-4 two months and thirteen days after that the tops of the mountains were seen, Ge 8:5 and forty days after the appearance of them, Noah sent forth first a raven, and then a dove, and that a second time, to know more of the abatement of the waters, Ge 8:6-12. When Noah had been in the ark ten months and thirteen days, he uncovered it, and the earth was dry, yet not so dry as to be fit for him to go out upon, until near two months after, Ge 8:13,14 when he had an order from God to go out of the ark, with all that were with him, which was accordingly obeyed, Ge 8:15-19 upon which he offered sacrifice by way of thankfulness for his great deliverance, which was accepted by the Lord; who promised him not to curse the earth any more, nor to drown it, but that it should remain, and as long as it did there would be the constant revolutions of the seasons of the year, and of day and night, Ge 8:20-22.