Genesis 8:1-9

The Flood Subsides

1 But ¹God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the cattle that were with him in the ark; and ²God caused a wind to pass over the earth, and the water subsided.

2 Also ³the fountains of the deep and the floodgates of the sky were closed, and ⁴the rain from the sky was restrained;

3 and the water receded steadily from the earth, and at the end ⁵of one hundred and fifty days the water decreased.

4 In the seventh month, on the seventeenth * day of the month, ⁶the ark rested upon the mountains of Ararat.

5 The water decreased steadily until the tenth month; in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains became visible.

6 Then it came about at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the ⁷window of the ark which he had made;

7 and he sent out a raven, and it flew here and there until the water was dried up from the earth.

8 Then he sent out a dove from him, to see if the water was abated from the face of the land;

9 but the dove found no resting place for the sole of her foot, so she returned to him into the ark, for the water was on the surface of all the earth. Then he put out his hand and took her, and brought her into the ark to himself.

Genesis 8:1-9 Meaning and Commentary

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.

Cross References

• 1. Genesis 19:29; Exodus 2:24; 1 Samuel 1:19; Psalms 105:42
• 2. Exodus 14:21; Exodus 15:10; Job 12:15; Psalms 29:10; Isaiah 44:27; Nahum 1:4
• 3. Genesis 7:11
• 4. Genesis 7:4, 12
• 5. Genesis 7:24
• 6. Genesis 7:20
• 7. Genesis 6:16

Footnotes

• [a] Or "windows of the heavens"
• [b] Lit "went out, going and returning"
• [c] Lit "from upon"
• [d] Lit "face"