Genesis 7:19

19 And the waters prevailed {overwhelmingly} upon the earth, and they covered all the high mountains which were under the entire heaven.

Genesis 7:19 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 7:19

And the waters prevailed exceedingly on the earth
Yet more and more, so that the people without the ark were obliged to remove, not only from the lower to the higher rooms in their houses, and to the tops of them, but to the highest trees; and when these were bore down, to the highest hills and mountains; and to those it was in vain to fly, by what follows:

and all the high hills that were under the whole heaven were
covered:
whence it appears there were hills before the flood, and that these were not caused by it, and that the deluge was universal, since there was not a hill under the whole heaven but what was covered with it. In Deucalion's flood all men are said to perish, except a few who fled to the high mountains ^F14; which story seems to be hammered out of this account.

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FOOTNOTES:

F14 Apollodorus, de Deor. Origin. l. 1. p. 19.

Genesis 7:19 In-Context

17 And the flood came forty days and forty nights upon the earth. And the waters increased, and lifted the ark, and it rose up from the earth.

18 And the waters prevailed and increased greatly upon the earth. And the ark went upon the surface of the waters.

19 And the waters prevailed {overwhelmingly} upon the earth, and they covered all the high mountains which were under the entire heaven.

20 {The waters swelled fifteen cubits above the mountains, covering them}.

21 And every living thing that moved on the earth perished--the birds, and the domesticated animals, and the wild animals, and everything that swarmed on the earth, and all humankind.

Footnotes

• [a]. Literally "very very"
• [b]. Or "the sky"