The waters of Genesis 7 do a remarkable amount of the acting. Meanwhile, after Yahweh shuts Noah in, Noah does nothing until he opens the window in Genesis 8.

In this episode, we follow the verbs and grammatical subjects through Genesis 7–8 and ask what we see when we read the flood as a narrative before reducing it to a set of theological propositions.

We’ll look closely at the Hebrew gabar, the word translated “prevailed,” and the crescendo created as the waters gain and sustain mastery over the terrestrial world. We’ll also work through the 40- and 150-day chronology, the disappearance of the high ground, some illuminating ancient Near Eastern flood imagery, and the familiar question of whether Genesis describes a global or local flood.

The argument here is not that Genesis secretly answers our modern hydrological questions if we parse the geography carefully enough. Narratively, the flood is total, but that literary totality and a modern scientific description are not necessarily the same kind of claim.

But easy, big fella. Genesis is not telling us that the floodwaters were raging like an old man trying to send back soup in a deli. But when Genesis 8 finally describes the waters subsiding, the Hebrew verb can elsewhere describe anger or wrath subsiding. The sea was not actually angry that day, my friends. But for a while, the waters are very much masters of their domain.

On This Rock Biblical Theology Community: https://on-this-rock.com/

Website: [genesismarksthespot.com](http://genesismarksthespot.com/)

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/GenesisMarkstheSpot

Music credit: "Marble Machine" by Wintergatan

Link to Wintergatan’s website: https://wintergatan.net/

Link to the original Marble Machine video by Wintergatan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvUU8joBb1Q&ab_channel=Wintergatan

00:00:00 The Waters Prevailed
00:05:38 Reading the Flood as Narrative
00:11:02 Yahweh Shuts Noah In
00:16:27 What the Waters Are Doing
00:25:54 Multiplying and Becoming Mighty
00:32:15 The 150 Days and Flood Chronology
00:36:53 Global, Local, and Narrative Geography
00:44:04 Mountains, Cubits, and the World of Genesis
00:49:11 Total Judgment and Preservation
00:53:38 When the Waters Subside
00:55:01 Follow the Verbs