Genesis 7:12

And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights.

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
rain	הַגֶּ֖שֶׁם ha.Ge.shem	H1653	a shower · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
earth	הָאָ֑רֶץ ha.'A.retz	H776	the earth (at large · definite article + noun, common feminine singular absolute
forty	אַרְבָּעִ֣ים 'ar.ba.'Im	H705	forty · cardinal number, masculine plural absolute
days	י֔וֹם Yom	H3117	a day (as the warm hours) · noun, common masculine singular absolute
forty	וְאַרְבָּעִ֖ים ve.'ar.ba.'Im	H705	forty · conjunction + cardinal number, masculine plural absolute
nights	לָֽיְלָה La.ye.lah	H3915	properly · noun, common masculine singular absolute

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

Genesis 7:4 For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights; and every living substance that I have made will…
Genesis 7:17 And the flood was forty days upon the earth; and the waters increased, and bare up the ark, and it was lift up above the earth.
Matthew 4:2 And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred.
Exodus 24:18 And Moses went into the midst of the cloud, and gat him up into the mount: and Moses was in the mount forty days and forty nights.
Deuteronomy 9:9 When I was gone up into the mount to receive the tables of stone, even the tables of the covenant which the LORD made with you, then I abode…
Deuteronomy 9:18 And I fell down before the LORD, as at the first, forty days and forty nights: I did neither eat bread, nor drink water, because of all your…
Deuteronomy 10:10 And I stayed in the mount, according to the first time, forty days and forty nights; and the LORD hearkened unto me at that time also, and t…
1 Kings 19:8 And he arose, and did eat and drink, and went in the strength of that meat forty days and forty nights unto Horeb the mount of God.

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Genesis 7:11-12

Here is, I. The date of this great event; this is carefully recorded, for the greater certainty of the story. 1. It was in the 600th year of Noah's life, which, by computation, appears to be 1656 years from the creation. The years of the old world are reckoned, not by the reigns of the giants, but the lives of the patriarchs; saints are of more account with God than princes. The righteous shall be had in everlasting remembrance. Noah was now a very old man, even as men's years went then. Note, (1.) The longer we live in this world the more we see of the miseries and calamities of it; it is therefore spoken of as the privilege of those that die young that their eyes shall not see the evil whi…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Genesis 7:9

There went in two and two--Doubtless they were led by a divine impulse. The number would not be so large as at first sight one is apt to imagine. It has been calculated that there are not more than three hundred distinct species of beasts and birds, the immense varieties in regard to form, size, and color being traceable to the influence of climate and other circumstances.

Adam Clarke on Genesis 7:12

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.

John Gill on Genesis 7:12

And 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.

John Calvin

The Church Fathers

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.
— John Chrysostom, HOMILIES ON GENESIS 25.11

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

Deluge — The name given to Noah’s flood, the history of which is recorded in Gen. 7 and 8. It began in the year 2516 B.C., and continued twelve lunar months and ten days, or exactly one solar year. The cause…
Flood — An event recorded in Gen. 7 and 8. (See DELUGE.) In Josh. 24:2, 3, 14, 15, the word “flood” (R.V., “river”) means the river Euphrates. In Ps. 66:6, this word refers to the river Jordan.
Judgments of God — (1.) The secret decisions of God’s will (Ps. 110:5; 36:6). (2.) The revelations of his will (Ex. 21:1; Deut. 6:20; Ps. 119:7-175). (3.) The infliction of punishment on the wicked (Ex. 6:6; 12:12;…
Noah — Rest, (Heb. Noah) the grandson of Methuselah (Gen. 5:25-29), who was for two hundred and fifty years contemporary with Adam, and the son of Lamech, who was about fifty years old at the time of Adam’s…
Rain — There are three Hebrew words used to denote the rains of different seasons, (1.) Yoreh (Hos. 6:3), or moreh (Joel 2:23), denoting the former or the early rain. (2.) Melqosh, the “latter rain” (Prov.…
Ark · .Animals saved in — .Animals saved in
Clouds · Frequently the instrument of God’s judgments — Frequently the instrument of God’s judgments
Deluge, The · Produced by: Forty days’ incessant rain — Produced by: Forty days’ incessant rain
Rain · Forty days of, at the time of the great flood of Noah — Forty days of, at the time of the great flood of Noah

Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).

Genesis 7:12

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Genesis 7:11-12

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Genesis 7:9

Adam Clarke on Genesis 7:12

John Gill on Genesis 7:12

John Calvin

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Genesis 7:12

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Genesis 7:11-12

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Genesis 7:9

Adam Clarke on Genesis 7:12

John Gill on Genesis 7:12

John Calvin

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Keil & Delitzsch on Genesis 7:1-16

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Genesis 7:11-12

Rashi on Genesis 7:12