Genesis 7 · Verse 12

Genesis 7:12

And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights.
Genesis 7:12, King James Version

Genesis 7:12 in other translations

BSBAnd the rain fell upon the earth for forty days and forty nights.
WEBIt rained on the earth forty days and forty nights.
ASVAnd the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights.
YLTand the shower is on the earth forty days and forty nights.
DARBYAnd the pour of rain was on the earth forty days and forty nights.
BBEAnd rain came down on the earth for forty days and forty nights.
WebsterAnd the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights.

What does Genesis 7:12 mean?

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 12 The rain was upon the earth - Dr. Lightfoot supposes that the rain began on the 18th day of the second month, or Marcheshvan, and that it ceased on the 28th of the third month, Cisleu.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Genesis 7:1-12

The call to Noah is very kind, like that of a tender father to his children to come in-doors when he sees night or a storm coming. Noah did not go into the ark till God bade him, though he knew it was to be his place of refuge. It is very comfortable to see God going before us in every step we take. Noah had taken a great deal of pains to build the ark, and now he was himself kept alive in it. What we do in…

Read the full comment on Genesis 7:1-12 →

Genesis 7:12 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

וַֽיְהִ֥יvay.Hiand it wasH1961
הַגֶּ֖שֶׁםha.Ge.shemthe rainH1653
עַל\־'al-onH5921
הָאָ֑רֶץha.'A.retzthe earthH776
אַרְבָּעִ֣ים'ar.ba.'ImfortyH705
י֔וֹםYomday[s]H3117
וְאַרְבָּעִ֖יםve.'ar.ba.'Imand fortyH705
לָֽיְלָה\׃La.ye.lahnight[s]H3915

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Genesis 7:12

  • Genesis 7:4

    For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights; and every living substance that I have made will I destroy from off the face of the earth.

  • Matthew 4:2

    And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred.

  • Genesis 7:17

    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.

  • Exodus 24:18

    And Moses went into the midst of the cloud, and gat him up into the mount: and Moses was in the mount forty days and forty nights.

  • Deuteronomy 9:18

    And I fell down before the Lord, as at the first, forty days and forty nights: I did neither eat bread, nor drink water, because of all your sins which ye sinned, in doing wickedly in the sight of the Lord, to provoke him to anger.

  • Deuteronomy 9:9

    When I was gone up into the mount to receive the tables of stone, even the tables of the covenant which the Lord made with you, then I abode in the mount forty days and forty nights, I neither did eat bread nor drink water:

  • Deuteronomy 10:10

    And I stayed in the mount, according to the first time, forty days and forty nights; and the Lord hearkened unto me at that time also, and the Lord would not destroy thee.

  • 1 Kings 19:8

    And he arose, and did eat and drink, and went in the strength of that meat forty days and forty nights unto Horeb the mount of God.

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
forty.
4,17; Ex 24:18; De 9:9,18; 10:10; 1Ki 19:8; Mt 4:2

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

  • Genesis 7:11

    In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.

  • Genesis 7:12

    And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights.

  • Genesis 7:13

    In the selfsame day entered Noah, and Shem, and Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noah’s wife, and the three wives of his sons with them, into the ark;

Read all of Genesis 7

Genesis 7:12 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909
Y hubo lluvia sobre la tierra cuarenta días y cuarenta noches.
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885
et la pluie fut sur la terre 40 jours et 40 nuits.
German
Elberfelder 1871
Und der Regen fiel auf die Erde vierzig Tage und vierzig Nächte.
Latin
Clementine Vulgate
et facta est pluvia super terram quadraginta diebus et quadraginta noctibus.