Genesis 7:12
in Genesis 7And the rain fell upon the earth for forty days and forty nights.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights.
KJV
And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights.
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This verse in Genesis 7
Commentary
6 notes on this verseAnd the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights,.... So long it was falling upon it, after the windows of heaven were opened. Aben Ezra would have it, that all things were in such confusion, during the flood, that there was no difference between day and night, since, it is said, "day and night shall not cease any more"; and that after the waters ceased, then Noah knew that forty days and nights had passed, for God had revealed this secret to him; but the text seems more to make against him than for him.
This site's exposition
all the fountains of the great deep
on Genesis 7:11-12
The water comes from below before it comes from above. Both sources open on the same day, the great deep from beneath and the floodgates overhead, so the waters God separated on the second day of Genesis 1 come back together. The date is given to the day, the seventeenth day of the second month, and Genesis 8:14 dates the going out the same way.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers2 voices
And then what? "All the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the flood gates of heaven were opened. And the rain fell upon the earth forty days and forty nights."
The fact, too, that he brought on the deluge for forty days and nights is a further wonderful sign of his loving kindness. His purpose in his great goodness was that at least some of them might come to their senses and escape that utter ruin, having before their eyes the annihilation of their peers and the destruction about to overwhelm them. I mean, the likelihood is that on the first day some proportion were drowned, an additional number on the second day, and likewise on the third day and so on. His reason for extending it for forty days was that he might remove from them any grounds for excuse. You see, had it been his wish and command, he could have submerged everything in one downpour. Instead, out of fidelity to his characteristic love he arranged for a stay of so many days.
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
(3.) That it is impossible to escape the righteous judgments of God when they come against sinners with commission; for God can arm both heaven and earth against them; see Job xx. God can surround men with the messengers of his wrath, so that, if they look upwards, it is with horror and amazement, if they look to the earth, behold, trouble and darkness, Isa. viii.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
The rain was upon the earth - Dr. Lightfoot supposes that the rain began on the 18th day of the second month, or Marcheshvan, and that it ceased on the 28th of the third month, Cisleu.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
ויהי הגשם, as G’d had predicted so it came to pass; it kept raining non-stop for 40 days.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 6 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
8 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַֽיְהִ֥י | vayhi | and it was | H1961 → | 3559 times |
| הַגֶּ֖שֶׁם | hageshem | the rain | H1653 → | |
| עַל־ | ʾal- | on | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| הָאָ֑רֶץ | haaretz | the earth | H776 → | 2504 times |
| אַרְבָּעִ֣ים | ʾarbaim | forty | H705 → | 136 times |
| י֔וֹם | yom | day[s] | H3117 → | 2304 times |
| וְאַרְבָּעִ֖ים | vearbaim | and forty | H705 → | 136 times |
| לָֽיְלָה׃ | layelah | night[s] | H3915 → | 233 times |
וַֽיְהִ֥יand it was
vayhiH1961 →3559 times
הַגֶּ֖שֶׁםthe rain
hageshemH1653 →
עַל־on
ʾal-H5921 →5755 times
הָאָ֑רֶץthe earth
haaretzH776 →2504 times
אַרְבָּעִ֣יםforty
ʾarbaimH705 →136 times
י֔וֹםday[s]
yomH3117 →2304 times
וְאַרְבָּעִ֖יםand forty
vearbaimH705 →136 times
לָֽיְלָה׃night[s]
layelahH3915 →233 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Matthew 4:2After fasting forty days and forty nights, He was hungry.
it leads to
- Exodus 34:28
So Moses was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights without eating bread or drinking water. He wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant—the Ten Commandments.
Reached by 3 separate paths from here.
- Deuteronomy 9:18
Then I fell down before the LORD for forty days and forty nights, as I had done the first time. I did not eat bread or drink water because of all the sin you…
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- 1 Kings 19:8
So he got up and ate and drank. And strengthened by that food, he walked forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Deuteronomy 9:9
When I went up on the mountain to receive the tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant that the LORD made with you, I stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights.…
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Luke 4:2
where for forty days He was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and when they had ended, He was hungry.
- Exodus 34:28
Through
Deuteronomy 9:9When I went up on the mountain to receive the tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant that the LORD made with you, I stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights.…
it leads to
- Exodus 24:18
Moses entered the cloud as he went up on the mountain, and he remained on the mountain forty days and forty nights.
- Exodus 24:18
Through
Genesis 7:4For seven days from now I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights, and I will wipe from the face of the earth every living thing I have made.”
it leads to
- Genesis 6:13
Then God said to Noah, “The end of all living creatures has come before Me, because through them the earth is full of violence. Now behold, I will destroy both them and the earth.
- Genesis 7:17
For forty days the flood kept coming on the earth, and the waters rose and lifted the ark high above the earth.
- Genesis 6:13
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Genesis
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Chrysostom, HOMILIES ON GENESIS 25.11; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Salvian the Presbyter, GOVERNANCE OF GOD 1.7.