Genesis 8:5-15

5 And in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the heads of the mountains were seen.

6 And it came to pass after forty days Noe opened the window of the ark which he had made.

7 And he sent forth a raven; and it went forth and returned not until the water was dried from off the earth.

8 And he sent a dove after it to see if the water had ceased from off the earth.

9 And the dove not having found rest for her feet, returned to him into the ark, because the water was on all the face of the earth, and he stretched out his hand and took her, and brought her to himself into the ark.

10 And having waited yet seven other days, he again sent forth the dove from the ark.

11 And the dove returned to him in the evening, and had a leaf of olive, a sprig in her mouth; and Noe knew that the water had ceased from off the earth.

12 And having waited yet seven other days, he again sent forth the dove, and she did not return to him again any more.

13 And it came to pass in the six hundred and first year of the life of Noe, in the first month, on the first day of the month, the water subsided from off the earth, and Noe opened the covering of the ark which he had made, and he saw that the water had subsided from the face of the earth.

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

15 And the Lord God spoke to Noe, saying,

Genesis 8:5-15 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.

Footnotes

• [a]. Gr. the raven.
• [b]. Alex. + to see if the water had ceased.
• [c]. Gr. the dove.