Genesis 7:20

Summary

Genesis 7:20 states that the waters rose fifteen cubits above (a reference point, likely the mountains mentioned in the surrounding verses) and that this rise resulted in the mountains being covered. The verse uses two verbs to describe first the increase of the water and then the covering of the mountains as its consequence.

Key words

• gavru ("they increased/prevailed", H1396) — qal perfect, 3rd person plural; describes the waters as the grammatical subject performing a completed action of rising or growing strong.
• yekhusu ("they were covered", H3680) — pual (intensive passive) form, introduced by the narrative vav; the mountains are the subject of a passive verb, meaning something was done to them rather than something they did.
• mi-lema'lah (mi + le + ma'la + directional he, H9006/H9005/H4605/H9011) — a compound prepositional phrase meaning "from above" / "upward," reinforced by the directional he which adds a sense of motion or direction "toward" the upper position.
• chamesh esreh ("fifteen", H2568 + H6240) — two cardinal numbers in construct form, combined to express the compound number "fifteen," modifying ammah.
• he-harim ("the mountains", H2022G) — masculine plural noun with definite article, functioning as the entity affected by the passive verb yekhusu.

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence divides into two clauses joined by the narrative vav. The first clause, chamesh esreh ammah mi-lema'lah gavru ha-mayim ("fifteen cubits from above, the waters increased"), places the numerical phrase and the directional expression mi-lema'lah before the verb gavru, emphasizing the measurement itself. The subject ha-mayim ("the waters", H4325G) follows the verb, a common order in Biblical Hebrew narrative for this construction. The second clause, va-yekhusu he-harim ("and the mountains were covered"), uses the pual stem of khasah to mark the mountains as recipients of the covering action, without naming the waters again as an explicit agent in this clause — the passive voice leaves the causer implicit, understood from the preceding clause.

The directional he attached to ma'la is a grammatical feature that Hebrew uses to indicate motion or orientation ("upward," "toward the top"), a nuance not always rendered distinctly in translation, where it may simply appear as "above."

Differences between versions

The LXX (Swete) restructures the second clause with an active verb, epekalypsen ("it covered"), naming the water as the acting subject and adding panta ta ORE ta hypsēla ("all the high mountains"), specifying "all" and "high" — details not present in the Hebrew he-harim ("the mountains"). The Vulgate turns the second clause into a subordinate relative clause, quos operuerat ("which it had covered"), using a pluperfect, whereas the Hebrew presents two independent clauses joined by the narrative vav, describing sequential actions rather than a single sentence with a subordinate clause.