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36 | Genesis 7:6

6 Noah was six hun dred years old when the flood wa ters came on the earth . 7 And Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons ’ wives en tered the ark to es cape the wa ters of the flood . 8 Pairs of clean and un clean an i mals , of birds and of all crea tures that move along the ground , 9 male and fe male , came to Noah and en tered the ark , as God had com manded Noah . 10 And af ter the seven days the flood wa ters came on the earth .

11 In the six hun dredth year of No ah ’ s life , on the sev en teenth day of the sec ond month — ​on that day all the springs of the great deep c burst forth , and the flood gates of the heavens d were opened . 12 And rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights . e

13 On that very day Noah and his sons , Shem , Ham and Ja pheth , to gether with his wife and the wives of his three sons , en tered the ark . 14 They had with them ev ery wild an i mal ac cord ing to its kind , all live stock ac cord ing to their kinds , ev ery crea ture that moves along the ground ac cord ing to its kind and ev ery bird ac cord ing to its kind , ev ery thing with wings . 15 Pairs of all crea tures that have the breath of life in them came to Noah and en tered the ark . f 16 The an i mals go ing in were male and fe male of ev ery liv ing thing , as God had com manded Noah . Then the Lord shut him in .

17 For forty days g the flood kept com ing on the earth , and as the wa ters in creased they lifted the ark high above the earth . 18 The wa ters rose and in creased greatly on the earth , and the ark floated on the sur face of the wa ter . 19 They rose greatly on the earth , and all the high moun tains un der the en tire heav ens were cov ered . h 20 The wa ters rose and cov ered the moun tains to a depth of more than fif teen cu bits . a , b 21 Every living thing that moved on land per ished — birds , live stock , wild an i mals , all the crea tures that swarm over the earth , and all man kind . i 22 Ev ery thing on dry land that had the breath of life j in its nos trils died . 23 Ev ery liv ing thing on the face of the earth was wiped out ; peo ple and an i mals and the crea tures that move along the ground and the birds were wiped from the earth . k Only Noah was left , and those with him in the ark . l

7:11 c Eze 26:19 d Ge 8:2

7:12 e ver 4 7:15 f Ge 6:19 7:17 g ver 4 7:19 h Ps 104:6 7:21 i Ge 6:7 , ​13 7:22 j Ge 1:30

7:23 k Mt 24:39 ; Lk 17:27 ; 1Pe 3:20 ; 2Pe 2:5 l Heb 11:7 a 20 That is , about 23 feet or about 6.8 meters b 20 Or rose more than fifteen cubits , and the mountains were covered over Israel ( David , 2 Sam 5:4 ; Solomon , 1 Kgs 11:42 ; cf . Judg 3:11 ; 5:31 ; 8:28 ; 1 Sam 4:18 ; 2 Kgs 12:1 ), and forty days characterizes important events like the reception of the law ( Deut 9:11 ) and the temptation of Jesus ( Matt 4:2 ). 7:11 In the six hundredth year . The numbers identify when key events occur . The general chronology continues a theme already mentioned in 1:1 — ​2:4 ( see Introduction : Structure , 3 ; see also note on 2:4 ) that the same God who created and worked in each generation ( including Noah ’ s ) continues to work today for creative and redemptive purposes . 7:16 the Lord shut him in . The security of Noah and his family within the Lord ’ s provision contrasts with the danger faced by those outside . 7:19 all the high mountains . . . were covered . If this includes Mount Ararat ( in the Urartian mountain range in eastern Turkey ), then the waters need to rise above 16,854 feet ( 5,137 meters ). A natural reading suggests a global flood , and some find this in 2 Pet 2:5 ; 3:6 . The reference may also imply a regional flood ( nevertheless possessing tremendous severity ) with impact affecting the whole human race , who may have remained in one area ( Gen 11:1 – 9 ). In 41:57 , “ all the world ” refers to the eastern Mediterranean lands , so in chs . 6 – 8 the flood may have covered only the part of the earth where people lived . 7:23 Every living thing . Foreshadows the coming judgment of the cosmos by fire in 2 Pet 3:6 – 7 .

CHRONOLOGY OF NOAH ’ S TIME IN THE ARK

Dates are in the form of month , day , and Noah ’ s year , as given in the text . Hence , 2 / 10 / 600 means the tenth day of the second month in Noah ’ s 600th year . Months are calculated at 30 days each . Dates in parentheses are extrapolations from dates explicitly given in the text .

REFERENCE EVENT DATE

7:7,9,13 Noah , family , and animals enter ark ( 2 / 10 / 600 )

Waters prevail : 150-day period

7:10 – 11 Flood begins 2 / 17 / 600 7:12 40 days of rain ( 3 / 27 / 600 )

Earth dries : 70-day period

8:13 Noah opens the ark 1 / 1 / 601 8:14 – 19 Earth dried out ; Noah leaves ark 2 / 27 / 601

Total time in ark : 370 days