Bible Strands
Genesis 7:12
And the rain fell upon the earth for forty days and forty nights.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The narrative records the execution of God’s prior command as the floodwaters begin to pour upon the earth in Noah’s six hundredth year. The text places this event immediately after the opening of the deep and the heavens, preceding Noah’s entry into the ark.
The words — The Hebrew phrase וַיְהִי הַגֶּשֶׁם (va/y.Hi ha./Ge.shem) literally renders "and the rain was," marking its arrival as a concrete reality. The sequence אַרְבָּעִים יוֹם וְאַרְבָּעִים לַיְלָה (ar.ba.'Im Yom ve./ar.ba.'Im La.ye.lah) specifies the exact duration of forty days and forty nights.
The thread — This duration fulfills the warning in Genesis 7:4 and is extended in Genesis 7:17, where the flood continues for the same period. The number forty also structures Matthew 4:2, marking a span of testing and preparation.
Why it lands — The text demands recognition of divine timing and the precise execution of a stated warning. It requires the reader to note that the event occurred exactly as declared, without deviation or delay.
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
And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights.
Cross-references
- Genesis 7:4 For seven days from now I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights, and I will wipe from the face of the earth every living thing I have made.”
- Genesis 7:17 For forty days the flood kept coming on the earth, and the waters rose and lifted the ark high above the earth.
- Matthew 4:2 After fasting forty days and forty nights, He was hungry.
- Exodus 24:18 Moses entered the cloud as he went up on the mountain, and he remained on the mountain forty days and forty nights.
- Deuteronomy 9:9 When I went up on the mountain to receive the tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant that the LORD made with you, I stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights. I ate no bread and drank no water.
- Deuteronomy 9:18 Then I fell down before the LORD for forty days and forty nights, as I had done the first time. I did not eat bread or drink water because of all the sin you had committed in doing what was evil in the sight of the LORD and provoking Him to anger.
- Deuteronomy 10:10 I stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights, like the first time, and that time the LORD again listened to me and agreed not to destroy you.
- 1 Kings 19:8 So he got up and ate and drank. And strengthened by that food, he walked forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God.