Bible Strands
Genesis 8:2
The springs of the deep and the floodgates of the heavens were closed, and the rain from the sky was restrained.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The narrator describes the post-flood moment as God halts the deluge after sending a wind over the waters. The passage reports divine action without direct speech to a specific audience.
The words — The Hebrew וַיִּסָּכְרוּ (wayyissakheru) means "they were shut up" or "closed," describing the sealing of the deep's springs and heaven's floodgates. The verb וַיִּכְלָא (wayyikhlā) translates literally as "was restrained," indicating the rain's cessation.
The thread — This reversal of waters directly contrasts Genesis 7:11 when the fountains of the deep opened. It also echoes Proverbs 8:28's description of the deep gushing forth at creation, while Matthew 8:26 records Jesus exercising similar authority over winds and seas.
Why it lands — The text states that God closed the deep's springs and heaven's floodgates and restrained the rain. It requires the reader to acknowledge that divine restraint, not natural process alone, halts chaotic judgment.
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
The fountains also of the deep and the windows of heaven were stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained;
Cross-references
- 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.
- Matthew 8:26 “You of little faith,” Jesus replied, “why are you so afraid?” Then He got up and rebuked the winds and the sea, and it was perfectly calm.
- Proverbs 8:28 when He established the clouds above, when the fountains of the deep gushed forth,
- Job 37:11 He loads the clouds with moisture; He scatters His lightning through them.
- Job 38:37 Who has the wisdom to count the clouds? Or who can tilt the water jars of the heavens
- Jonah 2:3 For You cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the current swirled about me; all Your breakers and waves swept over me.
- Matthew 8:9 For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell one to go, and he goes, and another to come, and he comes. I tell my servant to do something, and he does it.”