And the flood was forty days upon the earth; and the waters increased, and bare up the ark, and it was lift up above the earth.
The flood was forty days upon the earth This refers to the descent of rain and the eruption of water from The flood was forty days upon the earth. This refers to the descent of rain and the eruption of water from subterranean channels, previously mentioned (Genesis 7:12). It is common to say that the words "and forty nights" have been dropped out in this passage from the Hebrew text, as they are found in the Septuagint, as well as in many manuscripts and versions of the Latin Vulgate; and it is very probable that the insertion of the words in those versions was made from the Hebrew text of Hebrews 7:12, where the statement is more circumstantial and complete. 'It is not a good solution of this apparent disagreement to say, that in the former case natural days and nights are meant, consisting of twelve hours each; and in the latter civil days are intended, which consisted of twenty-four hours. The same word, day, is thus made to assume very different significations in the same chapter, which is at least superfluous' (Davidson's 'Hermeneutics'). The simplest and most obvious mode of reconciling the two passages is by considering the words to have been inadvertently omitted by a copyist, and by restoring them to the text, which will read thus, in accordance with Genesis 7:12 - "And the flood was forty days and forty nights upon the earth."
And the waters increased. The lapse of forty days before the ark floated indicates, not a sudden and impetuous irruption, but a gradual and gentle rise of water, which, while it was a pledge to Noah of the accomplishment of the divine pre-intimation respecting the flood, would give a final but still fearful warning to the unbelieving world. The language of the sacred writer in its numerous repetitions is singularly impressive and graphic, giving not so much a record as a historical word-the scene, when "the waters prevailed, upon the face of the waters:
`It floated on its fated track, Borne upwards till th' o'erwhelming rains had ceased, And the wild winds were sleeping; and around No noise was heard, save from the bleating beasts And frequent ripple of the endless seas.'