Genesis 8:2

Summary

Genesis 8:2 describes the cessation of the flood's water sources: the underground springs and the sky's openings are shut, and the rain stops falling. The verse uses two parallel niphal (passive) verbs to mark the reversal of the flood's onset.

Key words

• yissakheru ("they were shut up", H5534) — niphal narrative verb, passive voice, marking the springs as the grammatical subject being acted upon (closed) rather than acting themselves.
• ma'yenot ("springs of", H4599) — feminine plural construct, linking directly to tehom to form "springs of the deep."
• tehom ("the deep", H8415) — feminine singular, the subterranean/cosmic water source mentioned earlier in Genesis as the source of the flood's waters.
• 'arubbot ("floodgates of", H0699) — feminine plural construct, paired with "the heavens" to describe openings in the sky.
• yikkale ("it was restrained", H3607) — niphal narrative verb, passive, with ha-geshem ("the rain", H1653) as its subject.

What the text says

The verse divides into two clauses joined by the narrative vav (H9001). The first clause has a compound subject — ma'yenot tehom ("springs of the deep") and 'arubbot ha-shamayim ("floodgates of the heavens") — governed by a single niphal verb, yissakheru ("they were shut up"). Both nouns are in construct plural form, meaning the Hebrew presents multiple springs and multiple floodgates, not singular openings. The niphal stem places these sources in the passive: they do not close themselves but "are shut," leaving the agent unstated.

The second clause repeats the pattern with yikkale ("it was restrained"), another niphal verb, this time governing the singular noun ha-geshem ("the rain"). The phrase min-ha-shamayim ("from the heavens") specifies the rain's origin, echoing the same shamayim ("heavens", H8064) mentioned in the first clause. The repetition of shamayim across both clauses creates a structural link between the floodgates' closing and the rain's cessation, though grammatically they are stated as two separate actions on two separate subjects (the floodgates and the rain itself).

Differences between versions

The LXX renders the first verb as apekalyphthēsan ("were uncovered/revealed"), which conveys the opposite sense of the Hebrew yissakheru ("were shut up"). The Vulgate's clausi sunt ("were closed") and the Spanish/English translations align with the Hebrew's sense of closure rather than the LXX's "uncovered." For the second clause, the Hebrew's yikkale ha-geshem ("the rain was restrained") is rendered by the LXX as synescethē ho hyetos ("the rain was held back/restrained"), matching the Hebrew sense, while the Vulgate uses prohibitae sunt ("were prohibited/held back"), also consistent with the Hebrew niphal's passive-restraining nuance.