exegetical · Gen 8:6–12 · ✓ Approved

The raven and the dove (Genesis 8:6–12)

Says After forty days Noah opened the window of the ark, the ordinary word, not the word of 6:16 (8:6), and sent a raven, which went out, going out and returning, until the waters dried (8:7). The BSB has It kept flying back and forth, one reading of whether the raven came back into the ark. The dove goes out to see whether the waters were light (the BSB has receded), finds no resting place, because waters were on the face of all the earth, and is brought back (8:8–9). After seven days she returns with a plucked olive leaf (8:10–11); after seven more she does not return (8:12). See the Hebrew note.

Uncertain Whether returning in 8:7 means a return into the ark, or to and fro, is open. Swete has a purpose clause and did not return; the Samaritan main text agrees with the Masoretic wording. No lean is taken on which reading is original. all the earth in 8:9 is treated with the Genesis 7 note on the flood’s extent, and no lean is taken. Babylonian bird scenes are in the historical note; no dependence is claimed.

Claims

SaysNoah opened the window, not the opening of 6:16, and sent a raven, which went out, going out and returning, then a dove three times: no resting place, a plucked olive leaf, then no return.
UncertainWhether the raven returned into the ark, or Swete’s did not return is original, is open. all the earth in 8:9 is open with the Genesis 7 extent note. No dependence on Babylonian bird scenes is claimed. No lean is taken.

Citations

BSB public domain Gen 8:1–22
OSHB CC BY 4.0 Gen 8:1–22 (WLC/OSHB), cantillation removed
LXX (Swete) CC BY-SA 4.0 Gen 8:1–22, vol. 1, pp. 12–13 (oldtestamentingr01swetuoft, viewer leaves n43–n44); checked against the printed page (scan)
Rogers, Cuneiform Parallels public domain Rogers, Cuneiform Parallels (1912): Eleventh Tablet, col. III ll. 26–49, pp. 97–98 (n124–n125); Berossos, pp. 110–111 (n137–n138); checked against the printed page (scan); paraphrased, as in the historical note
King, Legends of Babylon and Egypt public domain King, Legends of Babylon and Egypt in Relation to Hebrew Tradition (Schweich Lectures 1916, 1918), Sumerian Version, fifth column, p. 77 (n92); checked against the printed page (scan); paraphrased, as in the historical note

Sources Bible Scholarship & Tool CC BY 4.0 BSB public domain OSHB CC BY 4.0 LXX (Swete) CC BY-SA 4.0 Rogers, Cuneiform Parallels public domain King, Legends of Babylon and Egypt public domain

Quotations from LXX (Swete) are used under CC BY-SA 4.0 · Credits

2026-11-11

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