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Amplified Bible

Genesis 8:22

"While the earth remains, Seedtime and harvest, Cold and heat, Winter and summer, And day and night Shall not cease."

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Agriculture;   Blessing;   Covenant;   Gifts from God;   Harvest;   Noah;   Seasons;   Spring;   Summer;   Winter;   Scofield Reference Index - Sacrifice;   Thompson Chain Reference - Agriculture;   Agriculture-Horticulture;   Day;   Earth;   Harvest;   Heat;   Meteorology;   Seasons, the;   Spring;   Summer;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Day;   Deluge, the;   Harvest, the;   Night;   Providence of God, the;   Seed;   Summer;   Winter;   Years;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Doves;   Sabbath;   Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Noah;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Day;   Flood, the;   Grief, Grieving;   Offerings and Sacrifices;   Prophet, Prophetess, Prophecy;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Seasons;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Arcturus;   Providence;   Year;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Day of the Lord;   Fertility Cult;   History;   Night;   Poetry;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Deluge;   Seed, Seedtime;   Time;   Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament - Agriculture;   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Curse, the;   Seasons;   The Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary - Noah;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Flood;   Winter;  

Encyclopedias:

- Condensed Biblical Cyclopedia - Noah;   International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Cease;   Day;   Harvest;   Intercession;   Promise;   Revelation;   Seasons;   Winter;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Agriculture;   Jubilees, Book of;   Judaism;  

Devotionals:

- Daily Light on the Daily Path - Devotion for December 21;   Every Day Light - Devotion for February 25;  

Parallel Translations

English Standard Version
While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease."
Update Bible Version
While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.
New Century Version
"As long as the earth continues, planting and harvest, cold and hot, summer and winter, day and night will not stop."
New English Translation
"While the earth continues to exist, planting time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, and day and night will not cease."
Webster's Bible Translation
While the earth remaineth, seed-time and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.
World English Bible
While the earth remains, seed time and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease."
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
in alle the daies of erthe, seed and ripe corn, coold and heete, somer and wyntir, nyyt and dai, shulen not reste.
Young's Literal Translation
during all days of the earth, seed-time and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night, do not cease.'
Berean Standard Bible
As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night shall never cease."
Contemporary English Version
As long as the earth remains, there will be planting and harvest, cold and heat; winter and summer, day and night.
Complete Jewish Bible
So long as the earth exists, sowing time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, and day and night will not cease."
American Standard Version
While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.
Bible in Basic English
While the earth goes on, seed time and the getting in of the grain, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, will not come to an end.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
Yet therefore shall not sowyng tyme and haruest, colde and heate, sommer and wynter, day and nyght, ceasse all the dayes of the earth.
Darby Translation
Henceforth, all the days of the earth, seed [time] and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night, shall not cease.
Easy-to-Read Version
As long as the earth continues, there will always be a time for planting and a time for harvest. There will always be cold and hot, summer and winter, day and night on earth."
JPS Old Testament (1917)
While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.'
King James Version (1611)
While the earth remaineth, seed-time and haruest, and cold, and heat, and Summer, and Winter, and day and night, shall not cease.
King James Version
While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.
New Life Bible
While the earth lasts, planting time and gathering time, cold and heat, summer and winter, and day and night will not end."
New Revised Standard
As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease."
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
During all the days of the earth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat and summer and winter, and day and night, shall not cease.
Geneva Bible (1587)
Hereafter seede time & haruest, & colde and heate, and sommer and winter, and day and night shal not cease, so long as ye earth remaineth.
George Lamsa Translation
From henceforth, while the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.
Good News Translation
As long as the world exists, there will be a time for planting and a time for harvest. There will always be cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night."
Douay-Rheims Bible
All the days of the earth, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, night and day, shall not cease.
Revised Standard Version
While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease."
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
All the days of the earth, seed and harvest, cold and heat, summer and spring, shall not cease by day or night.
English Revised Version
While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.
Christian Standard Bible®
As long as the earth endures,seedtime and harvest, cold and heat,summer and winter, and day and nightwill not cease.”
Hebrew Names Version
While the eretz remains, seed time and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease."
Lexham English Bible
As long as the earth endures, seed and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will not cease.
Literal Translation
While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Nether shall sowynge tyme and haruest, colde and heate Sommer and wynter, daye and night ceasse so longe as the earth endureth.
THE MESSAGE
For as long as Earth lasts, planting and harvest, cold and heat, Summer and winter, day and night will never stop."
New American Standard Bible
"While the earth remains, Seedtime and harvest, Cold and heat, Summer and winter, And day and night Shall not cease."
New King James Version
"While the earth remains, Seedtime and harvest, Cold and heat, Winter and summer, And day and night Shall not cease."
New Living Translation
As long as the earth remains, there will be planting and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night."
New American Standard Bible (1995)
"While the earth remains, Seedtime and harvest, And cold and heat, And summer and winter, And day and night Shall not cease."
Legacy Standard Bible
While all the days of the earth remain,Seedtime and harvest,And cold and heat,And summer and winter,And day and nightShall not cease."

Contextual Overview

20And Noah built an altar to the LORD, and took of every [ceremonially] clean animal and of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar. 21The LORD smelled the pleasing aroma [a soothing, satisfying scent] and the LORD said to Himself, "I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intent (strong inclination, desire) of man's heart is wicked from his youth; and I will never again destroy every living thing, as I have done. 22"While the earth remains, Seedtime and harvest, Cold and heat, Winter and summer, And day and night Shall not cease."

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

While the earth remaineth: Heb. as yet all the days of the earth, Isaiah 54:8

seedtime: Most of the European nations divide the year into four distinct parts, called quarters or seasons; but there are six divisions in the text, which obtained in Palestine among the Hebrews, and exist among the Arabs to the present day. According to this gracious promise, the heavenly bodies have preserved their courses, the seasons their successions, and the earth its increase for the use of man. Genesis 45:6, Exodus 34:21, Psalms 74:16, Psalms 74:17, Song of Solomon 2:11, Song of Solomon 2:12, Isaiah 54:9, Jeremiah 5:24, James 5:7

day: Jeremiah 31:35, Jeremiah 33:20-26

Reciprocal: Genesis 1:5 - and Genesis 1:14 - and let Genesis 9:11 - And I Genesis 9:16 - everlasting Deuteronomy 28:16 - in the field Job 26:10 - until Job 38:33 - the ordinances Psalms 19:2 - night unto Psalms 24:2 - and Psalms 65:8 - outgoings Psalms 104:20 - makest Psalms 119:91 - They continue this Psalms 148:3 - sun Ecclesiastes 1:5 - sun Jeremiah 33:25 - If my 2 Peter 2:5 - spared

Cross-References

Genesis 8:8
Then Noah sent out a dove to see if the water level had fallen below the surface of the land.
Genesis 8:9
But the dove found no place on which to rest the sole of her foot, and she returned to him to the ark, for the waters were [still] on the face of the entire earth. So he reached out his hand and took the dove, and brought her into the ark.
Genesis 8:11
The dove came back to him in the evening, and there, in her beak, was a fresh olive leaf. So Noah knew that the water level had subsided from the earth.
Genesis 8:12
Then he waited another seven days and sent out the dove, but she did not return to him again.
Genesis 8:16
"Go out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons and their wives with you.
Genesis 8:17
"Bring out with you every living thing from all flesh—birds and animals and every crawling thing that crawls on the earth—that they may breed abundantly on the earth, and be fruitful and multiply on the earth."
Genesis 8:20
And Noah built an altar to the LORD, and took of every [ceremonially] clean animal and of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar.
Genesis 45:6
"For the famine has been in the land these two years, and there are still five more years in which there will be no plowing and harvesting.
Exodus 34:21
"You shall work for six days, but on the seventh day you shall rest; [even] in plowing time and in harvest you shall rest [on the Sabbath].
Jeremiah 5:24
'They do not say in their heart, "Let us now fear and worship the LORD our God [with profound awe and reverence], Who gives rain in its season, Both the autumn and the spring rain, Who keeps for us The appointed weeks of the harvest."

Gill's Notes on the Bible

While the earth remaineth,.... Which as to its substance may remain for ever, Ecclesiastes 1:4 yet as to its form and quality will be changed; that and all in it will be burnt up; there will be an end of all things in it, for so the words are in the original, "as yet all the days of the earth", or "while all the days of the earth" are i; which shows that there is a time fixed for its continuance, and that this time is but short, being measured by days: but however, as long as it does continue,

seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night, shall not cease; as they had done, or seemed to do during the flood; for the year past there had been no seedtime nor harvest, and it must have been for the most part damp and cold, through the rains, and the abundance of water on earth, that the difference of seasons was not very discernible; as neither of days and nights at some times, especially when the clouds were so black and thick over the heavens, that neither sun, moon, or stars could be seen; and such floods of water continually pouring down, that it must be difficult to know when it was day, and when night; but for the future it is promised, that these should not cease as long as the world stands: "seedtime and harvest"; the time of sowing seed in the earth, and the time of gathering in the fruits of it when ripe, so necessary for the sustenance of man and beast: once in seven years, and once in fifty years indeed, these ceased in the land of Judea, while the people of Israel resided there; but then this was not general all the world over, in other places there were seedtime and harvest: "and cold and heat, and summer and winter"; in some places indeed there is but little cold, in others but little heat, and the difference of summer and winter is not so discernible in some places as in others, yet there is of all these in the world in general. According to Jarchi, "cold" signifies a more severe season than "winter", or the severer part of the winter; and "heat" a hotter season than the summer, or the hotter part of it. The Jews observe, that the seasons of the year are divided into six parts, and two months are to be allowed to each part; which Lyra, from them, and chiefly from Jarchi, thus gives,

"to seedtime the last half of September, all October, and half November; to cold, the other half of November, all December, and half January; to winter, half January, all February, and half March: to harvest, half March, all April, and half May; to summer, half May, all June, and half July; to heat, half July, all August, and the first half of September.''

But these accounts refer to the land of Judea only: it is enough for the fulfilment of the promise, that they are more or less, at one time of the year or another, in all parts of the world, and so will be until the world shall be no more; and may, in a mystic sense, denote the continuance of the church of God in the world, as long as it endures, and its various vicissitudes and revolutions; sometimes it is a time of sowing the precious seed of the Word; and sometimes it is an harvest, is an ingathering of souls into it; sometimes it is a winter season with it, and all things seem withered and dead; and at other times it is summer, and all things look smiling and cheerful; sometimes it is in a state of coldness and indifference, and at other times exposed to the heat of persecution, and more warm and zealous usually then; sometimes it is night with it, and sometimes day, and so it is like to be, until that state takes place described in Revelation 7:16.

i עד כל ימי הארץ "cunctis diebus terrae", V. L. "adhuc omnes dies terrae", Pagninus, Montanus; so Drusius, Cocceius.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

- XXVII. The Ark Was Evacuated

19. משׁפחה mı̂shpāchah, “kind, clan, family.” שׁפחה shı̂pchâh, “maid-servant; related: spread.”

20. מזבח mı̂zbēach, “altar; related: slay animals, sacrifice.”

21. עלה 'olâh, “whole burnt-offering.” That which goes up. “Step; related: go up.”

Genesis 8:15-19

The command to leave the ark is given and obeyed. As Noah did not enter, so neither does he leave the ark, without divine direction. “The fowl, the cattle, and the creeper.” Here, again, these three classes are specified under the general head of every living tiring. They are again to multiply on the earth. “Every living thing.” This evidently takes the place of the cattle mentioned before. “After their families.” This word denotes their tribes. It is usually applied to families or clans.

Genesis 8:20-22

The offering of Noah accepted. The return to the dry land, through the special mercy of God to Noah and his house, is celebrated by an offering of thanksgiving and faith. “Builded an altar.” This is the first mention of the altar, or structure for the purpose of sacrifice. The Lord is now on high, having swept away the garden, and withdrawn his visible presence at the same time from the earth. The altar is therefore erected to point toward his dwelling-place on high. “Unto the Lord.” The personal name of God is especially appropriate here, as he has proved himself a covenant keeper and a deliverer to Noah. “Of all clean cattle, and every clean fowl.” The mention of clean birds renders it probable that these only were taken into the ark by seven pairs Genesis 7:3. Every fit animal is included in this sacrifice, as it is expressive of thanksgiving for a complete deliverance. We have also here the first mention of the burnt-offering עלה 'olâh; the whole victim, except the skin, being burned on the altar. Sacrifice is an act in which the transgressor slays an animal and offers it in whole, or in part as representative of the whole, to God. In this act he acknowledges his guilt, the claim of the offended law upon his life, and the mercy of the Lord in accepting a substitute to satisfy this claim for the returning penitent. He at the same time actually accepts the mercy of the Most High, and comes forward to plead it in the appointed way of reconciliation. The burnt-offering is the most perfect symbol of this substitution, and most befitting the present occasion, when life has been granted to the inmates of the ark amidst the universal death.

Genesis 8:21

The effect of this plea is here described. The Lord smelled the sweet savor. He accepted the typical substitute, and, on account of the sacrifice, the offerers, the surviving ancestors of the post-diluvian race. Thus, the re-entrance of the remnant of mankind upon the joys and tasks of life is inaugurated by an articulate confession of sin, a well-understood foreshadowing of the coming victim for human guilt, and a gracious acceptance of this act of faith. “The Lord said in his heart.” It is the inward resolve of his will. The purpose of mercy is then expressed in a definite form, suited to the present circumstances of the delivered family. “I will not again curse the soil any more on account of man.” This seems at first sight to imply a mitigation of the hardship and toil which man was to experience in cultivating the ground Genesis 3:17. At all events, this very toil is turned into a blessing to him who returns from his sin and guilt, to accept the mercy, and live to the glory of his Maker and Saviour. But the main reference of the passage is doubtless to the curse of a deluge such as what was now past. This will not be renewed. “Because the imagination of his heart is evil from his youth.” This is the reason for the past judgment, the curse upon the soil: not for the present promise of a respite for the future. Accordingly, it is to be taken in close connection with the cursing of the soil, of which it assigns the judicial cause. It is explanatory of the preceding phrase, on account of man. The reason for the promise of escape from the fear of a deluge for the future is the sacrifice of Noah, the priest and representative of the race, with which the Lord is well pleased. The closing sentence of this verse is a reiteration in a more explicit form of the same promise. “Neither will I again smite all living as I have done.” There will be no repetition of the deluge that had just overswept the land and destroyed the inhabitants.

Genesis 8:22

Henceforth all the days of the earth. - After these negative assurances come the positive blessings to be permanently enjoyed while the present constitution of the earth continues. These are summed up in the following terms:



HEAT Sowing, beginning in October

Reaping, ending in June
COLD Early fruit, in July

Fruit harvest, ending in September



The cold properly occupies the interval between sowing and reaping, or the months of January and February. From July to September is the period of heat. In Palestine, the seedtime began in October or November, when the wheat was sown. Barley was not generally sown until January. The grain harvest began early in May, and continued in June. The early fruits, such as grapes and figs, made their appearance in July and August; the full ingathering, in September and October. But the passage before us is not limited to the seasons of any particular country. Besides the seasons, it guarantees the continuance of the agreeable vicissitudes of day and night. It is probable that even these could not be distinguished during part of the deluge of waters. At all events, they did not present any sensible change when darkness reigned over the primeval abyss.

The term of this continuance is here defined. It is to last as long as the order of things introduced by the six days’ creation endures. This order is not to be sempiternal. When the race of man has been filled up, it is here hinted that the present system of nature on the earth may be expected to give place to another and a higher order of things.

Here it is proper to observe the mode of Scripture in the promise of blessing. In the infancy of mankind, when the eye gazed on the present, and did not penetrate into the future, the Lord promised the immediate and the sensible blessings of life, because these alone are as yet intelligible to the childlike race, and they are, at the same time, the immediate earnest of endless blessings. As the mind developes, and the observable universe becomes more fully comprehended, these present and sensible sources of creature happiness correspondingly expand, and higher and more ethereal blessings begin to dawn upon the mind. When the prospect of death opens to the believer a new and hitherto unknown world of reality, then the temporal and corporeal give way to the eternal and spiritual. And as with the individual, so is it with the race. The present boon is the earnest in hand, fully satisfying the existing aspirations of the infantile desire. But it is soon found that the present is always the bud of the future; and as the volume of promise is unrolled, piece by piece, before the eye of the growing race, while the present and the sensible lose nothing of their intrinsic value, the opening glories of intellectual and spiritual enjoyment add an indescribable zest to the blessedness of a perpetuated life. Let not us, then, who flow in the full tide of the latter day, despise the rudiment of blessing in the first form in which it was conferred on Noah and his descendants; but rather remember that is not the whole content of the divine good-will, but only the present shape of an ever-expanding felicity, which is limited neither by time nor sense.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Genesis 8:22. While the earth remaineth, seed-time and harvest, c.] There is something very expressive in the original, עד כל ימי הארץ od col yemey haarets, until all the DAYS of the earth for God does not reckon its duration by centuries, and the words themselves afford a strong presumption that the earth shall not have an endless duration.

Seed-time and harvest. - It is very probable that the seasons, which were distinctly marked immediately after the deluge, are mentioned in this place; but it is difficult to ascertain them. Most European nations divide the year into four distinct parts, called quarters or seasons; but there are six divisions in the text, and probably all intended to describe the seasons in one of these postdiluvian years, particularly in that part of the globe, Armenia, where Noah was when God gave him, and mankind through him, this gracious promise. From the Targum of Jonathan on this verse we learn that in Palestine their seed-time was in September, at the autumnal equinox; their harvest in March, at the vernal equinox; that their winter began in December, at the solstice; and their summer at the solstice in June.

The Copts begin their autumn on the 15th of September, and extend it to the 15th of December. Their winter on the 15th of December, and extend it to the 15th of March. Their spring on the 15th of March, and extend it to the 15th of June. Their summer on the 15th of June, and extend it to the 15th of September, assigning to each season three complete months. Calmet.

There are certainly regions of the earth to which neither this nor our own mode of division can apply: there are some where summer and winter appear to divide the whole year, and others where, besides summer, winter, autumn, and spring, there are distinct seasons that may be denominated the hot season, the cold season, the rainy season, c., c.

This is a very merciful promise to the inhabitants of the earth. There may be a variety in the seasons, but no season essentially necessary to vegetation shall utterly fail. The times which are of greatest consequence to the preservation of man are distinctly noted there shall be both seed-time and harvest - a proper time to deposit the different grain in the earth, and a proper time to reap the produce of this seed.

Thus ends the account of the general deluge, its cause, circumstances, and consequences. An account that seems to say to us, Behold the goodness and severity of God! Both his justice and long-suffering are particularly marked in this astonishing event. His justice, in the punishment of the incorrigibly wicked, and his mercy, in giving them so fair and full a warning, and in waiting so long to extend his grace to all who might seek him. Such a convincing proof has the destruction of the world by water given of the Divine justice, such convincing testimony of the truth of the sacred writings, that not only every part of the earth gives testimony of this extraordinary revolution, but also every nation of the universe has preserved records or traditions of this awful display of the justice of God.

A multitude of testimonies, collected from the most authentic sources in the heathen world, I had intended for insertion in this place, but want of room obliges me to lay them aside. But the state of the earth itself is a sufficient proof. Every part of it bears unequivocal evidence of disruption and violence. From the hand of the God of order it never could have proceeded in its present state. In every part we see marks of the crimes of men, and of the justice of God. And shall not the living lay this to heart? Surely God is not mocked that which a man soweth he shall reap. He who soweth to the flesh shall of it reap destruction; and though the plague of water shall no more destroy the earth, yet an equal if not sorer punishment awaits the world of the ungodly, in the threatened destruction by fire.

In ancient times almost every thing was typical, and no doubt the ark among the rest; but of what and in what way farther than revelation guides, it is both difficult and unsafe to say. It has been considered a type of our blessed Lord; and hence it has been observed, that "as all those who were out of the ark perished by the flood, so those who take not refuge in the meritorious atonement of Christ Jesus must perish everlastingly." Of all those who, having the opportunity of hearing the Gospel, refuse to accept of the sacrifice it offers them, this saying is true; but the parallel is not good. Myriads of those who perished during the flood probably repented, implored mercy, and found forgiveness; for God ever delights to save, and Jesus was the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. And though, generally, the people continued in carnal security and sensual gratifications till the flood came, there is much reason to believe that those who during the forty days' rain would naturally flee to the high lands and tops of the highest mountains, would earnestly implore that mercy which has never been denied, even to the most profligate, when under deep humiliation of heart they have returned to God. And who can say that this was not done by multitudes while they beheld the increasing flood; or that God, in this last extremity, had rendered it impossible?

St. Peter, 1 Peter 3:21, makes the ark a figure of baptism, and intimates that we are saved by this, as the eight souls were saved by the ark. But let us not mistake the apostle by supposing that the mere ceremony itself saves any person; he tells us that the salvation conveyed through this sacred rite is not the putting away the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God; i.e. remission of sins and regeneration by the Holy Spirit, which are signified by this baptism. A good conscience never existed where remission of sins had not taken place; and every person knows that it is God's prerogative to forgive sins, and that no ordinance can confer it, though ordinances may be the means to convey it when piously and believingly used.


 
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