Genesis 7:17

Summary

Genesis 7:17 describes the flood lasting forty days on the earth, the waters increasing, and the ark being lifted and rising above the earth's surface. The verse narrates the physical action of the water's rise causing the ark to float upward.

Key words

• ma.Bul ("flood", H3999) — definite noun (with article ha, H9009), the specific flood event being narrated.
• i.yir.Bu ("they increased", H7235A) — qal narrative verb, third person masculine plural, describing the waters as the grammatical subject performing the increasing.
• i.yis.'U ("they lifted", H5375H) — qal narrative verb, third person masculine plural; the waters (ha.Ma.yim) are the subject, and ha.te.Vah ("the ark") is the direct object marked by 'et, H0853.
• Ta.rom ("it rose", H7311A) — qal narrative verb, third person feminine singular, agreeing with the feminine noun te.Vah ("ark", H8392), showing the ark itself as subject of this final action.
• me.'Al ("from on/above", H9006 + H5921A) — compound preposition indicating separation from the surface of ha.'A.retz ("the earth", H0776G).

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence is built as a chain of four narrative clauses linked by the vav consecutive (va, H9001), each advancing the action: the flood was (y.Hi, H1961) for forty days upon the earth; the waters increased (yir.Bu); the waters lifted (yis.'U) the ark; and the ark rose (Ta.rom) from upon the earth. This creates a sequence where the subject shifts: first "the flood" is the grammatical subject of the initial clause, then "the waters" becomes subject of the next two verbs, and finally "it" (the ark, grammatically feminine) becomes subject of the last verb.

The verb yis.'U ("they lifted") takes ha.te.Vah ("the ark") as a direct object marked by the untranslatable particle 'et (H0853), making explicit that the waters act upon the ark. The following verb Ta.rom is feminine singular, matching the grammatical gender of te.Vah ("ark"), which confirms that the ark itself is now the subject of the rising action, distinct from the waters that had caused it.

The double occurrence of 'al / me.'Al ha.'A.retz ("on the earth" / "from upon the earth") frames the passage geographically: the flood is initially situated "upon the earth," while the ark's final position is described as separated "from upon the earth."

Differences between versions

The LXX renders the forty-day duration as ἡμέρας καὶ τεσσεράκοντα νύκτας ("forty days and forty nights"), adding "nights," a detail not present in the Hebrew text, which only states 'ar.ba.'Im Yom ("forty days", H0705 + H3117G). The Vulgate follows the Hebrew more closely with "quadraginta diebus" ("forty days"), without mentioning nights. The Hebrew verb Ta.rom ("it rose") describing the ark's own action is rendered in the LXX as ὑψώθη ("was raised/exalted"), a passive form, whereas the Hebrew qal form does not explicitly mark passivity.