the Week of Christ the King / Proper 29 / Ordinary 34
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New American Standard Bible
Genesis 7:20
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The waters prevailed above the mountains, covering them fifteen cubits deep.
Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail; and the mountains were covered.
It continued to rise until it was more than twenty feet above the mountains.
The waters rose more than twenty feet above the mountains.
Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail: and the mountains were covered.
The waters prevailed fifteen cubits upward, and the mountains were covered.
[In fact] the waters became fifteen cubits higher [than the highest ground], and the mountains were covered.
the watyr was hiyere bi fiftene cubitis ouer the hilis whiche it hilide.
fifteen cubits upwards have the waters become mighty, and the mountains are covered;
The waters rose and covered the mountaintops to a depth of fifteen cubits.
the water covered the mountains by more than twenty-two-and-a-half feet.
Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail; and the mountains were covered.
The waters went fifteen cubits higher, till all the mountains were covered.
Fyfteene cubites vpward did the waters preuayle, so that the mountaynes were couered.
Fifteen cubits upward the waters prevailed; and the mountains were covered.
The water continued to rise above the mountains. The water was more than 20 feet above the highest mountain.
Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail; and the mountains were covered.
Fifteene cubits vpward, did the waters preuaile; and the mountaines were couered.
Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail; and the mountains were covered.
But the water went about four times taller than a man above the tops of the mountains.
the waters swelled above the mountains, covering them fifteen cubits deep.
fifteen cubits upwards, prevailed the waters, so that the mountains became covered.
Fifteene cubites vpwarde did the waters preuaile, when the mountaines were couered.
Fifteen cubits above the mountains did the waters prevail; and the mountains were covered.
it went on rising until it was about twenty-five feet above the tops of the mountains.
The water was fifteen cubits higher than the mountains which it covered.
the waters prevailed above the mountains, covering them fifteen cubits deep.
Fifteen cubits upwards was the water raised, and it covered all the high mountains.
Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail; and the mountains were covered.
The mountains were covered as the water surged above them more than twenty feet.
The waters prevailed fifteen cubits upward, and the mountains were covered.
The waters swelled fifteen cubits above the mountains, covering them.
The waters prevailed, fifteen cubits upward, and the mountains were covered.
Fyftene cubytes hye preuayled ye waters ouer the mountaynes, which were couered.
The waters prevailed fifteen cubits upward, and the mountains were covered.
rising more than twenty-two feet above the highest peaks.
The water prevailed fifteen cubits higher, and the mountains were covered.
The water prevailed fifteen cubits higher, and the mountains were covered.
Contextual Overview
Bible Verse Review
from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge
and the mountains: Psalms 104:6, Jeremiah 3:23
Reciprocal: Genesis 6:15 - cubits
Cross-References
You covered it with the deep sea as with a garment; The waters were standing above the mountains.
"Certainly the hills are a deception, Commotion on the mountains. Certainly in the LORD our God Is the salvation of Israel.
Gill's Notes on the Bible
Fifteen cubits upwards did the waters prevail,.... Either to such an height above the earth, upwards from that, or from the high hills; for though the words do not necessarily imply that, yet it may be allowed, since there was water enough to cover the highest of them; and fifteen cubits of water were enough to drown the tallest man, or largest beast that should be upon the top of any of them:
and the mountains were covered, with water, even it may be allowed fifteen cubits high; nor will this furnish out so considerable an objection to the history of the flood as may be thought at first sight, since the highest mountains are not near so high as they are by some calculated. Sir Walter Raleigh allows thirty miles for the height of the mountains, yet the highest in the world will not be found to be above six direct miles in height. Olympus, whose height is so extolled by the poets, does not exceed a mile and a half perpendicular, and about seventy paces. Mount Athos, said to cast its shade into the isle of Lemnos (according to, Pliny eighty seven miles) is not above two miles in height, nor Caucasus much more; nay, the Peak of Teneriff, reputed the highest mountain in the world, may be ascended in three days (according to the proportion of eight furlongs to a day's journey), which makes about the height of a German mile perpendicular; and the Spaniards affirm, that the Andes, those lofty mountains of Peru, in comparison of which they say the Alps are but cottages, may be ascended in four days' compass o.
o See the Universal History, vol. 1. p. 218. marg. Bedford's Scripture Chronology, ch. 12. p. 152, 153.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible
The prevalence of the waters. The forty days are now completed. And at the end of this period the ark had been afloat for a long time. It was drifted on the waters in the direction in which they were flowing, and toward what was formerly the higher ground.
Genesis 7:19
Upon the land. - The land is to be understood of the portion of the earth’s surface known to man. This, with an unknown margin beyond it, was covered with the waters. But this is all that Scripture warrants us to assert. Concerning the distant parts of Europe, the continents of Africa, America, or Australia, we can say nothing. “All the high hills were covered.” Not a hill was above water within the horizon of the spectator or of man. There were ten generations from Adam to Noah inclusive. We cannot tell what the rate of increase was. But, supposing each couple to have ten children, and therefore the common ratio to be five, the whole number of births would be about five million, and the population in the time of Noah less than four million. It is probable that they did not scatter further than the necessities and conveniences of life demanded. In a fertile region, an area equal to that of the British Isles would be amply sufficient for four million men, women, and children.
Let us suppose, then, a circle of five hundred miles in diameter inhabited by man. Let this occupy the central region of a concentric circle of eight hundred miles in diameter. With a center a little southwest of Mosul, this larger circle would reach fifty miles into the Mediterranean, the Euxine, and the Caspian, and would probably have touched the Persian Gulf at the time of the deluge. If this region were covered with water, it is obvious that no land or mountain would be visible to a spectator within the inner circle of five hundred miles in diameter. “Fifteen cubits upward.” This was half the depth of the ark. It may have taken this draught of water to float it. If so, its grounding on a hill under water would indicate the depth of water on its summit. The gradual rise of the waters was accomplished by the depression of the land, aided, possibly, by a simultaneous elevation of the bed of the ocean. The water, by the mere necessity of finding its level, overflowed the former dry land. The extent of this oscillation of the solid crust of the earth is paralleled by the changes of level which geology indicates, the last of which took place at the time of the six days’ creation. It is possible that most of the land that was then raised was now again temporarily submerged in the returning waters; while distant continents may have all along existed, which never came within the ken of antediluvian man. The sobriety and historical veracity of the narrative are strikingly exhibited in the moderate height to which the waters are said to have risen above the ancient hills.
Genesis 7:21-23
There expired all flesh. - The resulting death of all by drowning is here recounted. “All in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of live died.” This statement refers solely to man, whose higher life is exclusively expressed by the phrase חיים נשׁמת nı̂shmat chayı̂ym, “breath of life” Genesis 2:7. It affirms the death of the whole of mankind. The sum total of animal and vegetable life, with the exception of those in the ark, is here declared to be extinguished.
Genesis 7:24
Fifty and a hundred days. - These, and the forty days of rain, make one hundred and ninety days: about six lunar months and thirteen days. If to this we add the month and seventeen days before the commencement of the rain, we have eight months completed, and are therefore brought to the first day of the ninth month. The waters may be said to prevail as long as the ark had its full draught of water. It is probable they were still rising during the first half of the hundred and fifty days, and then gradually sinking during the other half.
Clarke's Notes on the Bible
Verse Genesis 7:20. Fifteen cubits upward — Should any person object to the universality of the deluge because he may imagine there is not water sufficient to drown the whole globe in the manner here related, he may find a most satisfactory answer to all the objections he can raise on this ground in Mr. Ray's Physico-theological Discourses, 2d edit., 8vo., 1693.
