Genesis8

God remembered Noah and all living things in the ark, causing a wind to pass over the earth and the floodwaters to recede. The ark rested on the mountains of Ararat, and Noah sent out a raven and then doves to ascertain the earth's dryness, with the second dove returning with an olive leaf. Upon God's command, Noah, his family, and all the animals exited the ark onto the dry ground. Noah then built an altar and offered burnt offerings, prompting God to promise never again to curse the ground or destroy all living creatures by a flood, ensuring the continuation of seasons.

God Causes the Waters to Recede

1
God remembered Noah, all the animals, and all the livestock that were with him in the ship; and God made a wind to pass over the earth. The waters subsided. ​
2
The deep’s fountains and the sky’s windows were also stopped, and the rain from the sky was restrained.
3
The waters continually receded from the earth. After the end of one hundred fifty days the waters decreased.
4
The ship rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on Ararat’s mountains. ​
5
The waters receded continually until the tenth month. In the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains were visible.

Noah Sends Out the Birds

6
At the end of forty days, Noah opened the window of the ship which he had made,
7
and he sent out a raven. It went back and forth, until the waters were dried up from the earth. ​
8
He himself sent out a dove to see if the waters were abated from the surface of the ground,
9
but the dove found no place to rest her foot, and she returned to him into the ship, for the waters were on the surface of the whole earth. He put out his hand, and took her, and brought her to him into the ship.
10
He waited yet another seven days; and again he sent the dove out of the ship.
11
The dove came back to him at evening and, behold, in her mouth was a freshly plucked olive leaf. So Noah knew that the waters were abated from the earth. ​
12
He waited yet another seven days, and sent out the dove; and she didn’t return to him anymore.

The Earth Dries Completely

13
In the six hundred first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried up from the earth. Noah removed the covering of the ship, and looked. He saw that the surface of the ground was dried. ​
14
In the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dry.

God Commands the Family to Exit

15
God spoke to Noah, saying,
16
“Go out of the ship, you, and your wife, and your sons, and your sons’ wives with you.
17
Bring out with you every living thing that is with you of all flesh, including birds, livestock, and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, that they may breed abundantly in the earth, and be fruitful, and multiply on the earth.” ​
18
Noah went out, with his sons, his wife, and his sons’ wives with him.
19
Every animal, every creeping thing, and every bird, whatever moves on the earth, after their families, went out of the ship.

Noah Sacrifices; God's Promise

20
Noah built an altar to the LORD, and took of every clean animal, and of every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. ​
21
The LORD smelled the pleasant aroma. The LORD said in his heart, “I will not again curse the ground any more for man’s sake because the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; neither will I ever again strike every living thing, as I have done. ​
22
While the earth remains, seed time and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night will not cease.” ​

Study Notes for Genesis 8

Verse 1

The phrase 'God remembered Noah' is a theological term meaning God actively turned his attention to act on behalf of his covenant partner. The wind is the primary mechanism God uses to dry the earth, reversing the deluge caused by the 'fountains of the deep' (v. 2).

Verse 4

The ark rested on the 'mountains of Ararat,' a range located in modern-day Eastern Turkey. This marks the end of the 150 days during which the waters prevailed over the earth.

Verse 7

The raven is an unclean bird that sustains itself on carrion; its failure to return merely confirms that some dry surfaces were exposed where it could find sustenance, but not that the earth was habitable.

Verse 11

The olive leaf is a powerful symbol of renewal, life, and the return of vegetation. It confirms to Noah that the judgment had passed and the possibility of a fruitful future had returned to the earth.

Verse 13

Noah waited for God’s explicit command to exit (v. 15), even though he could see the ground was dry. The full duration of their confinement, from the start of the Flood (7:11) to this date, was slightly over a year.

Verse 17

God’s command to multiply and be fruitful echoes the original creation mandate (Gen 1:28). This signals the fresh start for humanity and creation, tasked with repopulating the earth.

Verse 20

Noah’s first act upon leaving the ark is worship, establishing the crucial role of sacrifice and devotion in the post-Flood world. He uses 'clean' animals, suggesting this distinction existed prior to the Mosaic Law.

Verse 21

The recognition that human nature remains inherently corrupt ('evil from his youth') leads God not to destroy humanity again, but to establish a covenant of divine restraint. God accepts the sacrifice as a 'sweet savour,' indicating divine acceptance.

Verse 22

This verse establishes the divine guarantee of cosmic stability, assuring Noah that the reliable cycles of nature (seasons, day/night) will continue. This covenant promise ensures the conditions necessary for human life and agriculture.

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