And the waters returned from off the earth continually: and after the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters were abated.
Returned ... continually - literally, going and returning. The clause should be rendered, 'the waters continually subsided from off the earth; and at the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters were much abated.' This translation removes the alleged contradiction between the present passage and Gen. 8:24 of the preceding chapter. The geological explanation given by Hugh Miller, and considered by him coincident with the statement, "the waters returned from off the earth continually," is, that by the upheaval of the land again, which would produce slopes and channels, at the end of 150 days the waters which had flowed from the seas toward the central sunken region began to flow outward, leaving the whole district in the state in which it has ever since remained.