AISBT ReaderGen 7:11–12: "the great deep" and "the windows of the heavens"
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language · Gen 7:11–12 · ✓ Approved

Gen 7:11–12: "the great deep" and "the windows of the heavens"

Says 7:11 dates the event to Noah's 600th year, בַּחֹדֶשׁ הַשֵּׁנִי בְּשִׁבְעָה־עָשָׂר יוֹם לַחֹדֶשׁ, "in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month" (Swete has the twenty-seventh; note.textual.Gen.7.11.flood-date-mt-lxx; note.language.Gen.7.11-Gen.7.24.lxx-date-and-waters), בַּיּוֹם הַזֶּה, "on this day." Then נִבְקְעוּ כָּל־מַעְיְנֹת תְּהוֹם רַבָּה, "split open were all the springs of the great deep": BDB has for the Niphal "be cleft, rent open," for the springs "spring," for the deep "deep, sea, abyss." With it, וַאֲרֻבֹּת הַשָּׁמַיִם נִפְתָּחוּ, "and the windows of the heavens were opened" (BDB "lattice, window, sluice"; "floodgates of the heavens," BSB). 7:12: וַיְהִי הַגֶּשֶׁם עַל־הָאָרֶץ, "and the rain was on the earth" (BDB "rain, shower"), forty days and forty nights. Swete has ἐρράγησαν πᾶσαι αἱ πηγαὶ τῆς ἀβύσσου, with no word for "great," and οἱ καταράκται τοῦ οὐρανοῦ.

Implies The wording is shared: the noun for the deep is that of Gen 1:2, and 8:2 closes the same springs of the deep and windows of the heavens (xref.Gen.7.11.Gen.1.2.heb; xref.Gen.7.11.Gen.8.2.heb). The windows are again "of the heavens" in Mal 3:10, and "in the heavens" in 2 Kgs 7:2, 19.

Uncertain How the figures fit: rain for forty days (7:4, 12, 17); the waters prevail 150 days (7:24; 8:3); the ark rests on the seventeenth of the seventh month (8:4); the earth is dry on the twenty-seventh of the second (8:14). Whether the forty fall within the 150, and on what reckoning of months, the words do not settle. No lean is taken here.

Claims

  • SaysThe date, second month, seventeenth day (Swete the twenty-seventh); נִבְקְעוּ Niphal (BDB "be cleft, rent open"), springs, תְּהוֹם רַבָּה (BDB "deep, sea, abyss"); וַאֲרֻבֹּת הַשָּׁמַיִם (BDB "lattice, window, sluice"); the rain (BDB "rain, shower"); Swete without "great."
  • ImpliesThe deep is the noun of Gen 1:2; 8:2 closes the same springs and windows; "windows of the heavens" again in Mal 3:10, "in the heavens" in 2 Kgs 7:2, 19.
  • UncertainHow the forty and 150 days and the dates of 8:4, 14 fit; no lean.

Citations

  • OSHB CC BY 4.0 Gen 7:11–12 (WLC/OSHB; morph HR/Acmsa, HAcmsa, HVNp3cp (H1234), HNcmpc (H4599), HNcbsa (H8415), HC/Ncfpc (H699), HTd/Ncmsa (H1653))
  • OSHB CC BY 4.0 Gen 1:2; 8:2–4, 14; 2 Kgs 7:2, 19; Mal 3:10 (WLC/OSHB)
  • BDB CC BY 4.0 s.v. H1234, p. 131, entry b.cr.aa; BDB 1906 page image, archive.org hebrewenglishlex00browuoft, leaf n154
  • BDB CC BY 4.0 s.v. H4599, p. 745, entry p.ck.at; BDB 1906 page image, archive.org hebrewenglishlex00browuoft, leaf n768
  • BDB CC BY 4.0 s.v. H8415, p. 1062, entry w.ah.ab; BDB 1906 page image, archive.org hebrewenglishlex00browuoft, leaf n1085
  • BDB CC BY 4.0 s.v. H699, p. 70, entry a.fm.ag; BDB 1906 page image, archive.org hebrewenglishlex00browuoft, leaf n93
  • BDB CC BY 4.0 s.v. H1653, p. 177, entry c.dj.ac; BDB 1906 page image, archive.org hebrewenglishlex00browuoft, leaf n200
  • LXX (Swete) CC BY-SA 4.0 Gen 7:11. LXX read on the Swete page image, vol. 1 (1901), p. 11 (leaf n42).
  • BSB public domain Gen 7:11–12
Sources OSHB CC BY 4.0 BSB public domain BDB CC BY 4.0 LXX (Swete) CC BY-SA 4.0 Bible Scholarship & Tool CC BY 4.0

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

2026-11-11

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