Genesis 8 · Verse 4

Genesis 8:4

And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat.

Genesis 8:4, King James Version

Genesis 8:4 in other translations

BSB	On the seventeenth day of the seventh month, the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat.
WEB	The ship rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on Ararat’s mountains.
ASV	And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat.
YLT	And the ark resteth, in the seventh month, in the seventeenth day of the month, on mountains of Ararat;
DARBY	And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on the mountains of Ararat.
BBE	And on the seventeenth day of the seventh month the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat.
Webster	And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat.

What does Genesis 8:4 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown

4. seventh month--of the year--not of the flood--which lasted only five months. rested--evidently indicating a calm and gentle motion. upon the mountains of Ararat--or Armenia, as the word is rendered (2Ki 19:37; Is 37:38). The mountain which tradition points to as the one on which the ark rested is now called Ara Dagh, the "finger mountain." Its summit consists of two peaks, the higher of which is 17,750 feet and the other 13,420 above the level of the sea.

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary

Verse 4 The mountains of Ararat - That Ararat was a mountain of Armenia is almost universally agreed. What is commonly thought to be the Ararat of the Scriptures, has been visited by many travelers, and on it there are several monasteries. For a long time the world has been amused with reports that the remains of the ark were still visible there; but Mr. Tournefort, a famous French naturalist, who was on the spot, assures us that nothing of the kind is there to be seen. As there is a great chain of mountains which are called by this name, it is impossible to determine on what part of them the ark rested; but the highest part, called by some the finger mountain, has been fixed on as the most likely place. These things we must leave, and they are certainly of very little consequence. From the circumstance of the resting of the ark on the 17th of the seventh month, Dr. Lightfoot draws this curious conclusion: That the ark drew exactly eleven cubits of water. On the first day of the month Ab the mountain tops were first seen, and then the waters had fallen fifteen cubits; for so high had they prevailed above the tops of the mountains. This decrease in the waters took up sixty days, namely, from the first of Sivan; so that they appear to have abated in the proportion of one cubit in four days. On the 16th of Sivan they had abated but four cubits; and yet on the next day the ark rested on one of the hills, when the waters must have been as yet eleven cubits above it. Thus it appears that the ark drew eleven cubits of water.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Genesis 8:4-12

The ark rested upon a mountain, whither it was directed by the wise and gracious providence of God, that might rest the sooner. God has times and places of rest for his people after their tossing; and many times he provides for their seasonable and comfortable settlement, without their own contrivance, and quite beyond their own foresight. God had told Noah when the flood would come, yet he did not give him an account by revelation, at what times and by what steps it should go away. The knowledge of the former was necessary to his preparing the ark; but the knowledge of the latter would serve only to gratify curiosity; and concealing it from him would exercise his faith and patience. Noah sent forth a raven from the ark, which went flying about, and feeding on the carcasses that floated. Noah then sent forth a dove, which returned the first time without good news; but the second time, she brought an olive leaf in her bill, plucked off, plainly showing that trees, fruit trees, began to appear above water. Noah sent forth the dove the second time, seven days after the first, and the third time was after seven days also; probably on the sabbath day. Having kept the sabbath with his little church, he expected especial blessings from Heaven, and inquired concerning them. The dove is an emblem of a gracious soul, that, finding no solid peace of satisfaction in this deluged, defiling world, returns to Christ as to its ark, as to its Noah, its rest. The defiling world, returns to Christ as to its ark, as to its Noah, its rest. The carnal heart, like the raven, takes up with the world, and feeds on the carrion it finds there; but return thou to my rest, O my soul; to thy Noah, so the word is, Psa 116:7. And as Noah put forth his hand, and took the dove, and pulled her to him, into the ark, so Christ will save, and help, and welcome those that flee to him for rest. (Ge 8:13-19)

Matthew Henry, 1706 · public domain

Genesis 8:4 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.

וַתָּ֤נַחva.Ta.nachand it restedH5117

הַתֵּבָה֙ha.te.Vahthe arkH8392

בַּחֹ֣דֶשׁba.Cho.deshin the monthH2320

הַשְּׁבִיעִ֔יha.she.vi.'I<the> seventhH7637

בְּשִׁבְעָה\־be.shiv.'ah-on [the] seven-H7651

עָשָׂ֥ר'a.SarteenH6240

י֖וֹםYomdayH3117

לַחֹ֑דֶשׁla.Cho.deshof the monthH2320

עַ֖ל'alonH5921

הָרֵ֥יha.Rei[the] mountains ofH2022

אֲרָרָֽט\׃'a.ra.RatAraratH780

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

Cross references for Genesis 8:4

2 Kings 19:37
And it came to pass, as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons smote him with the sword: and they escaped into the land of Armenia. And Esarhaddon his son reigned in his stead.
Isaiah 37:38
And it came to pass, as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons smote him with the sword; and they escaped into the land of Armenia: and Esar–haddon his son reigned in his stead.
Jeremiah 51:27
Set ye up a standard in the land, blow the trumpet among the nations, prepare the nations against her, call together against her the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashchenaz; appoint a captain against her; cause the horses to come up as the rough caterpillers.
Genesis 7:17-19
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. And the waters prevailed, and were increased greatly upon the earth; and the ark went upon the face of the waters. And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth; and all the high hills, that were under the whole heaven, were covered.

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

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

the ark.
7:17-19
seventh month.That is, of the year, not of the deluge.
Ararat.Ararat is generally understood to be Armenia, as it is rendered elsewhere, in which there is a great chain of mountains, like the Alps or the Pyrenees, upon the highest part of which, called by some, "The Finger Mountain," the ark is supposed to have rested.
2Ki 19:37; Isa 37:38; Jer 51:27

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

Context

Genesis 8:3
And the waters returned from off the earth continually: and after the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters were abated.
Genesis 8:4
And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat.
Genesis 8:5
And the waters decreased continually until the tenth month: in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, were the tops of the mountains seen.

Read all of Genesis 8

Genesis 8:4 in other languages

Spanish Reina-Valera 1909	Y reposó el arca en el mes séptimo, á diecisiete días del mes, sobre los montes de Armenia.
French Bible J.N. Darby 1885	Et l’arche reposa sur les montagnes d’Ararat, au septième mois, au dix-septième jour du mois.
German Elberfelder 1871	Und im siebten Monat, am siebzehnten Tage des Monats, ruhte die Arche auf dem Gebirge Ararat.
Latin Clementine Vulgate	Requievitque arca mense septimo, vigesimo septimo die mensis, super montes Armeniæ.