Genesis 7:17

17 Water flooded the earth for forty days, and as it rose it lifted the boat off the ground.

Genesis 7:17 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 7:17

And the flood was forty days upon the earth
This is said with respect to what follows, and the meaning is, that when and after the flood had been upon the earth so long, then the waters increased, and bare up the ark, and it was lift up above
the earth;
after this they were so many and so strong that they lifted up the ark from the place where it stood, and bore it up, that it touched not the earth; and Aben Ezra from hence infers, that the ark did not remove from its place after the flood began, until forty days.

Genesis 7:17 In-Context

15 Every creature that had the breath of life came to Noah in the boat in groups of two.

16 One male and one female of every living thing came, just as God had commanded Noah. Then the Lord closed the door behind them.

17 Water flooded the earth for forty days, and as it rose it lifted the boat off the ground.

18 The water continued to rise, and the boat floated on it above the earth.

19 The water rose so much that even the highest mountains under the sky were covered by it.