Bible Strands
Genesis 7:11
In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, on the seventeenth day of the second month, all the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The narrator records the precise chronological marker of Noah’s six-hundredth year, second month, seventeenth day, as the floodwaters begin their descent upon the earth.
The words — בִּשְׁנַת (bi/sh.Nat) translates literally as "in the year," anchoring the event to a specific historical timeline, while שֵׁשׁ מֵאוֹת (shesh me.'ot) means "six hundred," specifying Noah’s age at the onset.
The thread — Genesis 8:2 reverses this imagery by describing the closing of the springs of the deep and the floodgates of the heavens, while Proverbs 8:28 references the same "fountains of the deep" gushing forth during the establishment of the clouds.
Why it lands — The text demands recognition of divine timing and sovereign control over natural forces, marking the flood’s onset as a measured historical event rather than a chaotic accident.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.
Cross-references
- Genesis 8:2 The springs of the deep and the floodgates of the heavens were closed, and the rain from the sky was restrained.
- Proverbs 8:28 when He established the clouds above, when the fountains of the deep gushed forth,
- Malachi 3:10 Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house. Test Me in this,” says the LORD of Hosts. “See if I will not open the windows of heaven and pour out for you blessing without measure.
- Amos 9:5 The Lord GOD of Hosts, He who touches the earth and it melts, and all its dwellers mourn—all the land rises like the Nile, then sinks like the river of Egypt—
- 2 Kings 7:19 And the officer had answered the man of God, “Look, even if the LORD were to make windows in heaven, could this really happen?” So Elisha had replied, “You will see it with your own eyes, but you will not eat any of it!”
- Psalms 78:23 Yet He commanded the clouds above and opened the doors of the heavens.
- Jeremiah 5:22 Do you not fear Me?” declares the LORD. “Do you not tremble before Me, the One who set the sand as the boundary for the sea, an enduring barrier it cannot cross? The waves surge, but they cannot prevail. They roar but cannot cross it.
- Jeremiah 51:16 When He thunders, the waters in the heavens roar; He causes the clouds to rise from the ends of the earth. He generates the lightning with the rain and brings forth the wind from His storehouses.
- Genesis 1:7 So God made the expanse and separated the waters beneath it from the waters above. And it was so.
- 2 Kings 7:2 But the officer on whose arm the king leaned answered the man of God, “Look, even if the LORD were to make windows in heaven, could this really happen?” “You will see it with your own eyes,” replied Elisha, “but you will not eat any of it.”