Discovery BoxGenesis 7:4 
Context7:4 For in seven days 1 I will cause it to rain 2 on the earth for forty days and forty nights, and I will wipe from the face of the ground every living thing that I have made.”
Genesis 7:17-20
Context7:17 The flood engulfed the earth for forty days. As the waters increased, they lifted the ark and raised it above the earth. 7:18 The waters completely overwhelmed 3 the earth, and the ark floated 4 on the surface of the waters. 7:19 The waters completely inundated 5 the earth so that even 6 all the high mountains under the entire sky were covered. 7:20 The waters rose more than twenty feet 7 above the mountains. 8
1 tn Heb “for seven days yet,” meaning “after [or “in”] seven days.”
2 tn The Hiphil participle מַמְטִיר (mamtir, “cause to rain”) here expresses the certainty of the act in the imminent future.
3 tn Heb “and the waters were great and multiplied exceedingly.” The first verb in the sequence is וַיִּגְבְּרוּ (vayyigbÿru, from גָּבַר, gavar), meaning “to become great, mighty.” The waters did not merely rise; they “prevailed” over the earth, overwhelming it.
4 tn Heb “went.”
5 tn Heb “and the waters were great exceedingly, exceedingly.” The repetition emphasizes the depth of the waters.
6 tn Heb “and.”
7 tn Heb “rose fifteen cubits.” Since a cubit is considered by most authorities to be about eighteen inches, this would make the depth 22.5 feet. This figure might give the modern reader a false impression of exactness, however, so in the translation the phrase “fifteen cubits” has been rendered “more than twenty feet.”
8 tn Heb “the waters prevailed fifteen cubits upward and they covered the mountains.” Obviously, a flood of twenty feet did not cover the mountains; the statement must mean the flood rose about twenty feet above the highest mountain.
