NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible | Page 33

Genesis 9:2  | 37
7:24 m  Ge  8:3
8:1 n  Ge 9:15; 19:29;
Ex 2:24; 1Sa 1:11, ​19
o  Ex  14:21
8:2 p  Ge  7:11
8:16 q  Ge  7:13
8:17 r  Ge  1:22
8:20 s  Ge 12:7-8; 13:18;
22:9 t  Ge 7:8; Lev 11:1-
47 u  Ge  22:2, ​13;
Ex 10:25
8:21 v  Lev  1:9, ​13;
2Co 2:15 w  Ge  3:17
x  Ge 6:5; Ps 51:5;
Jer 17:9 y  Ge  9:11, ​15;
Isa 54:9
8:22 z  Ge  1:14;
Jer  33:20, ​25
9:1 a  Ge  1:22
24 The wa­ters flooded the ­earth for a hun­dred and fifty ­days.  m
But God re­mem­bered  n Noah and all the wild an­i­mals and the live­stock that were with
him in the ark, and he sent a wind over the ­earth,  o and the wa­ters re­ceded. 2 Now the
springs of the deep and the flood­gates of the heav­ens  p had been ­closed, and the rain had
stopped fall­ing from the sky. 3 The wa­ter re­ceded steadily from the e
­ arth. At the end of
the hun­dred and fifty days the wa­ter had gone down, 4 and on the sev­en­teenth day of the
sev­enth ­month the ark came to rest on the moun­tains of Ar­a­rat. 5  The wa­ters con­tin­ued
to re­cede un­til the ­tenth ­month, and on the f ­ irst day of the t ­ enth ­month the tops of the
moun­tains be­came ­vis­i­ble.
6 Af­ter forty days Noah ­opened a win­dow he had made in the ark 7 and sent out a ra­
ven, and it kept fly­ing back and f ­ orth un­til the wa­ter had d
­ ried up from the e
­ arth. 8 Then
he sent out a dove to see if the wa­ter had re­ceded from the sur­face of the g
­ round. 9 But
the dove ­could find no­where to ­perch be­cause t ­ here was wa­ter over all the sur­face of the
earth; so it re­turned to Noah in the ark. He ­reached out his hand and took the dove and
brought it back to him­self in the ark. 10 He waited seven more days and ­again sent out
the dove from the ark. 11 When the dove re­turned to him in the eve­ning, ­there in its beak
was a freshly ­plucked ol­ive leaf ! Then Noah knew that the wa­ter had re­ceded from the
­earth. 12 He waited seven more days and sent the dove out ­again, but this time it did not
re­turn to ­him.
13 By the f ­ irst day of the f ­ irst ­month of No­ah’s six hun­dred and f ­ irst year, the wa­ter had
dried up from the ­earth. Noah then re­moved the cov­er­ing from the ark and saw that the
sur­face of the g
­ round was dry. 14 By the twenty-sev­enth day of the sec­ond m
­ onth the ­earth
was com­pletely ­dry.
15 Then God said to Noah, 16 “Come out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons and
­their ­wives.  q 17 Bring out ev­ery kind of liv­ing crea­ture that is with you — ​the ­birds, the
an­i­mals, and all the crea­tures that move a
­ long the g
­ round — ​so they can mul­ti­ply on the
earth and be fruit­ful and in­crease in num­ber on it.”  r
18 So Noah came out, to­gether with his sons and his wife and his sons’ ­wives. 19 All the
an­i m
­ als and all the crea­tures that move ­along the ­ground and all the b
­ irds — ​ev­ery­thing
that ­moves on land — ​came out of the ark, one kind af­ter ­an­other.
20 Then Noah ­built an al­tar to the Lord  s and, tak­ing some of all the ­clean an­i­mals and
clean  t ­birds, he sac­ri­ficed ­burnt of­fer­ings  u on it. 21 The Lord ­smelled the pleas­ing aroma  v
and said in his h
­ eart: “Never a
­ gain will I c ­ urse the g
­ round  w be­cause of hu­mans, even
­ eart is evil from child­hood.  x And never a
­ gain
­though  a ev­ery in­cli­na­tion of the hu­man h
will I de­stroy all liv­ing crea­tures,  y as I have ­done.
8

22 “As long as the earth endures,
seedtime and harvest,
cold and heat,
summer and winter,
day and night
will never cease.”  z
God’s Covenant With Noah
9
Then God b
­ lessed Noah and his sons, say­ing to them, “Be fruit­ful and in­crease in num­
ber and fill the ­earth.  a 2 The fear and ­dread of you will fall on all the ­beasts of the ­earth,
and on all the ­birds in the sky, on ev­ery crea­ture that ­moves ­along the ­ground, and on all
a  21 Or
humans, for   
7:24 a hundred and fifty days. Identical to 8:3.
Rain comes in the first forty days (7:4,17), and
the mountain tops become visible during the
final forty days (8:5).
8:1 But God remembered Noah. At this turn-
ing point in the flood is the first use of the
verb “remember.” When God remembers, he
acts for judgment (Rev 16:19) or blessing (Gen
30:22; 1 Sam 1:19 – 20). Here he saves faithful
Noah and those with him. Judgment is over
and a new creation lies ahead. wind. See note
on 1:2.
8:4 mountains of Ararat. Mountain range in
modern eastern Turkey. Today Mount Ararat
is the highest peak, but the wording of the
text refers to the range.
8:17 multiply . . . be fruitful and increase. See
1:22,28, where God gave this command to an-
imals and humans after creating them. God
repeats it here as a new world begins, with
the land having been cleansed from the de-
filement caused by the spilling of blood due
to human violence.
8:20  altar. Almost always a place of animal
sacrifice (though later some altars were used
to burn incense).
8:21 Never again will I curse the ground. This
promise may refer to the flood, or it may ful-
fill Lamech’s promise that Noah would bring
relief from the toil caused by the cursed
ground (5:29). The effects of the curse (weeds
and thistles, 3:18) remain, but for Noah, a man
of the ground (9:20), the soil is productive.
evil from childhood. God frankly acknowl-
edges the human condition that will not be
remedied by this judgment. as I have done.
God will not again destroy life on earth by a
flood, but he will cont inue to judge people
(Matt 24:37 – 39; Luke 17:27 – 29), and he will
move forward his plan of redemption for all
(Gen 12:1 – 3).
8:22 This beautiful poem of promise launches
the new world.
9:1 – 17  God’s Covenant With Noah. God’s
salvation of Noah leads to the command to
preserve human life and not destroy people
who are created in God’s image. The sign of
the covenant is the rainbow, by which God’s
promise is guaranteed.
9:1,7 Be fruitful and increase. See note on 8:17.
This command is an “envelope” because the
paragraph begins and ends with it.