11 In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on the same day all the fountains of the great deep were burst open, and the sky's windows were opened.
The deep's fountains and the sky's windows were also stopped, and the rain from the sky was restrained.
God made the expanse, and divided the waters which were under the expanse from the waters which were above the expanse, and it was so.
For thus says the Lord Yahweh: When I shall make you a desolate city, like the cities that are not inhabited; when I shall bring up the deep on you, and the great waters shall cover you;
and that captain answered the man of God, and said, Now, behold, if Yahweh should make windows in heaven, might such a thing be? and he said, Behold, you shall see it with your eyes, but shall not eat of it:
Don't you fear me? says Yahweh: won't you tremble at my presence, who have placed the sand for the bound of the sea, by a perpetual decree, that it can't pass it? and though the waves of it toss themselves, yet they can't prevail; though they roar, yet they can't pass over it.
For when they are saying, "Peace and safety," then sudden destruction will come on them, like birth pains on a pregnant woman; and they will in no way escape.
For as in those days which were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark,
For the Lord, Yahweh of Hosts, is he who touches the land and it melts, and all who dwell in it will mourn; and it will rise up wholly like the River, and will sink again, like the River of Egypt. It is he who builds his chambers in the heavens, and has founded his vault on the earth; he who calls for the waters of the sea, and pours them out on the surface of the earth; Yahweh is his name.
when he utters his voice, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens, and he causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth; he makes lightnings for the rain, and brings forth the wind out of his treasuries.
I, even, I do bring the flood of waters on this earth, to destroy all flesh having the breath of life from under the sky. Everything that is in the earth will die.
When he established the clouds above, When the springs of the deep became strong, When he gave to the sea its boundary, That the waters should not violate his commandment, When he marked out the foundations of the earth;
Yet he commanded the skies above, And opened the doors of heaven. He rained down manna on them to eat, And gave them food from the sky.
He gathers the waters of the sea together as a heap. He lays up the deeps in storehouses.
"Or who shut up the sea with doors, When it broke forth from the womb, When I made clouds the garment of it, Thick darkness a swaddling-band for it, Marked out for it my bound, Set bars and doors, And said, 'Here you may come, but no further; Here shall your proud waves be stayed?'
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?