Genesis 8:13

וַֽיְהִי בְּאַחַת וְשֵׁשׁ־מֵאוֹת שָׁנָה בָּֽרִאשׁוֹן בְּאֶחָד לַחֹדֶשׁ חָֽרְבוּ הַמַּיִם מֵעַל הָאָרֶץ וַיָּסַר נֹחַ אֶת־מִכְסֵה הַתֵּבָה וַיַּרְא וְהִנֵּה חָֽרְבוּ פְּנֵי הָֽאֲדָמָֽה׃

✦ Hebrew interlinear

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✦ The same verse in five languages

Hebrew

וַֽ֠יְהִי בְּאַחַ֨ת וְשֵׁשׁ־מֵא֜וֹת שָׁנָ֗ה בָּֽרִאשׁוֹן֙ בְּאֶחָ֣ד לַחֹ֔דֶשׁ חָֽרְב֥וּ הַמַּ֖יִם מֵעַ֣ל הָאָ֑רֶץ וַיָּ֤סַר נֹ֙חַ֙ אֶת־מִכְסֵ֣ה הַתֵּבָ֔ה וַיַּ֕רְא וְהִנֵּ֥ה חָֽרְב֖וּ פְּנֵ֥י הָֽאֲדָמָֽה׃

Greek (Septuagint)

Καὶ ἐγένετο ἐν τῶ ἑνὶ καὶ ἑξακοσιοστῷ ἔτει ἐν τῆ ζωῇ τοῦ Νῶε, τοῦ μηνὸς τοῦ πρώτου, μιᾷ τοῦ μηνός, ἐξέλειπεν τὸ ὕδωρ ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς· καὶ ἀπεκάλυψεν Νώε τὴν στέγην τῆς κιβωτοῦ, καὶ ἴδεν ὅτι ἐξέλειπεν τὸ ὕδωρ ἀπὸ προσώπου τῆς γῆς.

Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0

Latin (Vulgate)

Igitur sexcentesimo primo anno, primo mense, prima die mensis, imminutæ sunt aquæ super terram: et aperiens Noë tectum arcæ, aspexit, viditque quod exsiccata esset superficies terræ.

Spanish

Cuando Noé tenía seiscientos un años, el primer día del primer mes, las aguas se habían secado. Noé quitó el techo del arca y vio que la superficie del suelo ya estaba seca.

Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)

Y sucedió que en el año seiscientos y uno de Noé, en el mes primero, al primero del mes, las aguas se enjugaron de sobre la tierra; y quitó Noé la cubierta del arca, y miró, y he aquí que la faz de la tierra estaba enjuta.

English

In Noah ’s six hundred and first year, on the first day of the first month, the waters had dried up from the earth. So Noah removed the covering from the ark and saw that the surface of the ground was dry.

✦ What the text says

Summary

The verse dates the drying of the waters to the six hundred and first year, first month, first day, using the verb charevu ("they were dried up", H2717A). Noah then removes the ark's covering and perceives directly — via the interjection vehinneh ("there!", H2009) — that the ground's surface has dried.

Key words

charevu ("they were dried up", H2717A) — qal perfect, 3rd person plural; appears twice in the verse (lines 15 and 33), first describing the waters generally, then the ground's surface specifically.
vayyasar ("he removed", H5493G) — hiphil (causative) narrative form: Noah causes the covering to come off, distinct from a simple qal "it came off."
vayyar ("he saw", H7200G) — qal narrative form, continuing the vav-consecutive chain of actions (was → removed → saw).
vehinneh ("there!", H2009) — interjection following vayyar; it introduces what Noah perceives directly, without a subordinating particle.
pene ("surface of", H6440J) — masculine plural construct, literally "face of," governing ha'adamah ("the ground", H0127G).

What the text says

The verse opens with the narrative formula vayehi ("and it was", H1961) followed by the date, built from be'achat veshesh-me'ot shanah — literally "in one and six hundred year." The Hebrew here states the number without an explicit possessive attaching it to Noah within this clause; the connection to Noah's lifespan is established by the surrounding narrative context rather than by a grammatical marker in this verse.

The clause reporting the drying of the waters, charevu hamayim me'al ha'aretz ("the waters were dried up from upon the earth"), uses a qal perfect verb indicating a completed state. This same root and form, charevu, recurs at the end of the verse applied to pene ha'adamah ("the surface of the ground"), creating a verbal echo: the general drying reported first is confirmed by Noah's own observation second.

The sequence of narrative verbs — vayyasar (hiphil, "he removed"), vayyar (qal, "he saw") — moves the action forward. After vayyar, the Hebrew does not use a subordinating conjunction meaning "that" to introduce what Noah sees; instead it places vehinneh ("there!"), an interjection that presents Noah's perception as immediate and vivid rather than as a reported fact.

Differences between versions

The LXX (ἐν τῇ ζωῇ τοῦ Νῶε, "in the life of Noah") and the Vulgate ("sexcentesimo primo anno") both attach the year count explicitly to Noah, as do the modern translations ("Noah's six hundred and first year" in BSB). The Hebrew clause itself does not contain this explicit possessive link at this point in the sentence.

After vayyar ("he saw"), the LXX uses ὅτι ("that") and the Vulgate uses "viditque quod" ("and saw that"), turning Noah's perception into a subordinate clause. The Hebrew instead uses vehinneh ("there!"), an interjection rather than a conjunction of report.

This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.