Genesis 8:5

And the waters decreased continually until the tenth month: in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, were the tops of the mountains seen.

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
waters	וְהַמַּ֗יִם ve.ha.Ma.yim	H4325	water · conjunction + definite article + noun, common masculine plural absolute
decreased	וְחָס֔וֹר ve.cha.Sor	H2637	to lack · conjunction + verb, qal infinitive absolute
continually	הָל֣וֹךְ ha.Lokh	H1980	to walk (in a great variety of applications · verb, qal infinitive absolute
until	עַ֖ד 'ad	H5704	as far (or long · preposition
tenth	הָֽעֲשִׂירִ֑י ha.'a.si.Ri	H6224	tenth · definite article + ordinal number, masculine singular absolute
month	הַחֹ֣דֶשׁ ha.Cho.desh	H2320	the new moon · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
tenth	בָּֽעֲשִׂירִי֙ ba.'a.si.Ri	H6224	tenth · preposition with the article + ordinal number, masculine singular absolute
first	בְּאֶחָ֣ד be.'e.Chad	H259	properly · preposition + cardinal number, feminine singular absolute
month	לַחֹ֔דֶשׁ la.Cho.desh	H2320	the new moon · preposition with the article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
tops	רָאשֵׁ֥י ra.Shei	H7218	the head (as most easily shaken) · noun, common masculine plural construct
mountains	הֶֽהָרִֽים He.ha.Rim	H2022	a mountain or range of hills (sometimes used figurative… · definite article + noun, common masculine plural absolute
seen	נִרְא֖וּ nir.'U	H7200	to see · verb, niphal perfect, 3rd person common plural

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 7:11 In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the…

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

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Genesis 8:4-5

Here we have the effects and evidences of the ebbing of the waters. 1. The ark rested. This was some satisfaction to Noah, to feel the house he was in upon firm ground, and no longer movable. It rested upon a mountain, whither it was directed, not by Noah's prudence (he did not steer it), but by the wise and gracious providence of God, that it might rest the sooner. Note, God has times and places of rest for his people after their tossings; and many a time he provides for their seasonable and comfortable settlement without their own contrivance and quite beyond their own foresight. The ark of the church, though sometimes tossed with tempests, and not comforted (Isa 54:11), yet has its rests,…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Genesis 8:5

And the waters decreased continually--The decrease of the waters was for wise reasons exceedingly slow and gradual--the period of their return being nearly twice as long as that of their rise.

Adam Clarke on Genesis 8:4

The mountains of Ararat - That Ararat was a mountain of Armenia is almost universally agreed. What is commonly thought to be the Ararat of the Scriptures, has been visited by many travelers, and on it there are several monasteries. For a long time the world has been amused with reports that the remains of the ark were still visible there; but Mr. Tournefort, a famous French naturalist, who was on the spot, assures us that nothing of the kind is there to be seen. As there is a great chain of mountains which are called by this name, it is impossible to determine on what part of them the ark rested; but the highest part, called by some the finger mountain, has been fixed on as the most likely p…

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John Gill on Genesis 8:5

And the waters decreased continually until the tenth month,.... That is, from the seventeenth of the seventh month, to the first of the tenth month, a space of two months and thirteen days, and being summer time, through the heat of the sun, they decreased apace: in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, were the tops of the mountains seen; not the tenth month of the flood, but of the year; the month Tammuz, as the Targum of Jonathan, and answers to part of June, and part of July; and the first day of this month, according to Bishop Usher (h), was Sunday the nineteenth of July: but according to Jarchi, whom Dr. Lightfoot (i) follows, this was the month Ab, which answers to July and…

The Church Fathers

For on the first day of the tenth month, the mountain peaks appeared. The first day of the tenth month can be understood as the beginning of that eternal life, in which the saints, even while placed in this life, taste and see that the Lord is good. On this day, the mountain peaks appear because the more perfectly this is held in their pure hearts, the more clearly the empty heights of the world, which are inflated in vain, become apparent.
— Bede, Commentary on Genesis (Hexaemeron)

But the waters went back and decreased until the tenth month. The time of the tenth month can signify that period during which the saints enter the joys of eternal light with the Lord. For He also in the Gospel by the name of the denarius, which was to be given to the laborers of the vineyard, intimates the perception of the same heavenly kingdom. For a denarius contains ten obols. So the waters go back, which had flooded the ark, and decrease until the tenth month, because the washing of baptism, where it has fulfilled its office in each of the faithful, ceases. For no one, if he has sinned, can be cleansed anew by the same font of sacred baptism; but it sends those already once washed and sanctified to the hope of heavenly life, when they come and appear before the face of God.
— Bede, Commentary on Genesis (Hexaemeron)

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…
Dove — In their wild state doves generally build their nests in the clefts of rocks, but when domesticated “dove-cots” are prepared for them (Cant. 2:14; Jer. 48:28; Isa. 60:8). The dove was placed on the…
Deluge, The · Decrease of gradual — Decrease of gradual

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 8:5

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Genesis 8:4-5

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Genesis 8:5

Adam Clarke on Genesis 8:4

John Gill on Genesis 8:5

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Genesis 8:5

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Genesis 8:4-5

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Genesis 8:5

Adam Clarke on Genesis 8:4

John Gill on Genesis 8:5

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

John Calvin on Genesis 8:3-5

Keil & Delitzsch on Genesis 8:1-5

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Genesis 8:5

Rashi on Genesis 8:5