Bible Strands
Genesis 7:18
So the waters continued to surge and rise greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the waters.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The narrator describes the peak of the flood event as the waters reach their maximum height and the ark remains buoyant. This moment occurs after forty days of continuous rising and immediately precedes the complete submersion of the highest mountains.
The words — וַ/יִּגְבְּר֥וּ (va/i.yig.be.Ru) translates literally as "they increased" or "prevailed," while הַ/תֵּבָ֖ה (ha./te.Vah) means "the ark." The text uses these terms to record the waters' overwhelming force and the vessel's sustained position above the surface.
The thread — The motif of overwhelming waters appears in Exodus 14:28, Job 22:16, and Psalms 69:15. These passages consistently deploy flood imagery to depict divine judgment or mortal peril.
Why it lands — The text asserts that the ark's preservation occurred solely through the waters' movement, not human intervention. It demands recognition that divine judgment and deliverance operate through the same created forces.
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 waters prevailed, and were increased greatly upon the earth; and the ark went upon the face of the waters.
Cross-references
- Exodus 14:28 The waters flowed back and covered the chariots and horsemen—the entire army of Pharaoh that had chased the Israelites into the sea. Not one of them survived.
- Job 22:16 They were snatched away before their time, and their foundations were swept away by a flood.
- Psalms 69:15 Do not let the floods engulf me or the depths swallow me up; let not the Pit close its mouth over me.
- Psalms 104:26 There the ships pass, and Leviathan, which You formed to frolic there.