Genesis 7:24

Summary

The verse states that the waters continued to prevail over the earth for a duration of one hundred fifty days. It closes the section describing the flood's rising and sustained coverage of the earth before the subsequent narrative of the waters receding.

Key words

• yigberu ("they increased/prevailed", H1396) — qal verb, third person masculine plural, narrative form (introduced by the vav) indicating a continuing or intensifying action of the waters.
• ha-mmayim ("the waters", H4325G) — masculine plural noun with definite article, the grammatical subject of the verb.
• ha-'aretz ("the earth", H0776G) — feminine singular noun with definite article, object of the preposition 'al ("on", H5921A), marking the surface over which the waters prevailed.
• chamishim ("fifty", H2572) — masculine plural cardinal number, first element of the compound number.
• u-me'at ("and one hundred", H3967) — feminine singular cardinal number in construct form, combined with chamishim to form "one hundred fifty," followed by yom ("day", H3117G) in the singular despite the plural sense of "days."

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence opens with the narrative vav prefixed to yigberu, continuing the sequential storyline established in prior verses. The verb yigberu is a qal (simple, active) form, third person masculine plural, agreeing with its subject ha-mmayim ("the waters"). The root of this verb conveys strength, increase, or prevailing force, consistent with its use elsewhere in the flood narrative to describe the waters' rising dominance over the land.

The construction 'al ha-'aretz ("on the earth") specifies the location of this action, using the preposition 'al with the definite article attached to 'aretz. The final phrase, chamishim u-me'at yom, gives the time span "fifty and one hundred day," which in Hebrew numeral syntax reads as "one hundred fifty days." Notably, yom ("day") appears in the singular form even though the quantity described is plural — a common feature of Hebrew numerals with the noun they count, where the noun stays singular after certain cardinal constructions.

Differences between versions

The LXX (Septuagint) renders the verb differently, using ὑψώθη ("was lifted up" or "was raised"), which conveys a sense of elevation rather than the Hebrew's yigberu ("prevailed" or "increased in strength"). The Vulgate's obtinuerunt ("they took possession of," "they overcame") aligns closely with the Hebrew nuance of dominance or prevailing force. Modern translations such as the BSB ("prevailed") and RV1909 ("prevalecieron") maintain this same nuance, while the SBLIBRE's "cubrieron" ("covered") shifts toward describing the result (total coverage) rather than the ongoing force described by the Hebrew verb.