11 In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, all the fountains of the great deep came bursting through, and the windows of heaven were open;
And the fountains of the deep and the windows of heaven were shut, and the rain from heaven was stopped.
And God made the arch for a division between the waters which were under the arch and those which were over it: and it was so.
Let your tenths come into the store-house so that there may be food in my house, and put me to the test by doing so, says the Lord of armies, and see if I do not make the windows of heaven open and send down such a blessing on you that there is no room for it.
For this is what the Lord has said: I will make you a waste town, like the towns which are unpeopled; when I make the deep come upon you, covering you with great waters.
And that captain said to the man of God, Even if the Lord made windows in heaven, would such a thing be possible? And he said to him, Your eyes will see it, but you will not have a taste of the food.
Have you no fear of me? says the Lord; will you not be shaking with fear before me, who have put the sand as a limit for the sea, by an eternal order, so that it may not go past it? and though it is ever in motion, it is not able to have its way; though the sound of its waves is loud, they are not able to go past it.
When they say, There is peace and no danger, then sudden destruction will come on them, as birth-pains on a woman with child; and they will not be able to get away from it.
Because as in those days before the overflowing of the waters, they were feasting and taking wives and getting married, till the day when Noah went into the ark,
For the Lord, the God of armies, is he at whose touch the land is turned to water, and everyone in it will be given up to sorrow; all of it will be overflowing like the River, and will go down again like the River of Egypt; It is he who makes his rooms in the heaven, basing his arch on the earth; whose voice goes out to the waters of the sea, and sends them flowing over the face of the earth; the Lord is his name.
At the sound of his voice there is a massing of the waters in the heavens, and he makes the mists go up from the ends of the earth; he makes the thunder-flames for the rain and sends out the wind from his store-houses.
For truly, I will send a great flow of waters over the earth, for the destruction from under the heaven of all flesh in which is the breath of life; everything on the earth will come to an end.
When he made strong the skies overhead: when the fountains of the deep were fixed: When he put a limit to the sea, so that the waters might not go against his word: when he put in position the bases of the earth:
And he gave orders to the clouds on high, and the doors of heaven were open; And he sent down manna like rain for their food, and gave them the grain of heaven.
He makes the waters of the sea come together in a mass; he keeps the deep seas in store-houses.
Or where were you when the sea came to birth, pushing out from its secret place; When I made the cloud its robe, and put thick clouds as bands round it, Ordering a fixed limit for it, with locks and doors; And said, So far you may come, and no farther; and here the pride of your waves will be stopped?
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Genesis 7
Commentary on Genesis 7 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 7
In this chapter we have the performance of what was foretold in the foregoing chapter, both concerning the destruction of the old world and the salvation of Noah; for we may be sure that no word of God shall fall to the ground. There we left Noah busy about his ark, and full of care to get it finished in time, while the rest of his neighbours were laughing at him for his pains. Now here we see what was the end thereof, the end of his care and of their carelessness. And this famous period of the old world gives us some idea of the state of things when the world that now is shall be destroyed by fire, as that was by water. See 2 Pt. 3:6, 7. We have, in this chapter,
Gen 7:1-4
Here is,
Gen 7:5-10
Here is Noah's ready obedience to the commands that God gave him. Observe,
Gen 7:11-12
Here is,
Gen 7:13-16
Here is repeated what was related before of Noah's entrance into the ark, with his family and creatures that were marked for preservation. Now,
Gen 7:17-20
We are here told,
Gen 7:21-24
Here is,
Let us now pause awhile and consider this tremendous judgment! Let our hearts meditate terror, the terror of this destruction. Let us see, and say, It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God; who can stand before him when he is angry? Let us see and say, It is an evil thing, and a bitter, to depart from God. The sin of sinners will, without repentance, be their ruin, first or last; if God be true, it will. Though hand join in hand, yet the wicked shall not go unpunished. The righteous God knows how to bring a flood upon the world of the ungodly, 2 Pt. 2:5. Eliphaz appeals to this story as a standing warning to a careless world (Job 22:15, 16), Hast thou marked the old way, which wicked men have trodden, who were cut down out of time, and sent into eternity, whose foundation was overflown with the flood?