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Genesis

About this book

The Flood

Chapter 7

1 The Lord said to Noah, “Come into the ark,⁠ you and all your household, for I consider you godly among this generation.⁠ 2 You must take with you seven pairs of every kind of clean animal, the male and its mate, two of every kind of unclean animal, the male and its mate,⁠ 3 and also seven pairs of every kind of bird in the sky, male and female, to preserve their offspring on the face of the entire earth.⁠ 4 For in seven days I will cause it to rain on the earth for 40 days and 40 nights, and I will wipe from the face of the ground every living thing that I have made.”⁠ 5 And Noah did all that the Lord commanded him. 6 Noah was 600 years old when the floodwaters engulfed the earth. 7 Noah entered the ark along with his sons, his wife, and his sons’ wives because of the floodwaters. 8 Pairs of clean animals, of unclean animals, of birds, and of everything that creeps along the ground,⁠ 9 male and female, came into the ark to Noah, just as God had commanded him. 10 And after seven days the floodwaters engulfed the earth.⁠ 11 In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month—on⁠ that day all the fountains of the great deep burst open and the floodgates of the heavens were opened.⁠ 12 And the rain fell on the earth 40 days and 40 nights. 13 On that very day Noah entered the ark, accompanied by his sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth, along with his wife and his sons’ three wives.⁠ 14 They entered, along with every living creature after its kind, every animal after its kind, every creeping thing that creeps on the earth after its kind, and every bird after its kind, everything with wings. 15 Pairs of all creatures that have the breath of life came into the ark to Noah. 16 Those that entered were male and female, just as God commanded him. Then the Lord shut him in.⁠ 17 The flood engulfed the earth for 40 days.⁠ As the waters increased, they lifted the ark and raised it above the earth. 18 The waters completely overwhelmed the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the waters.⁠ 19 The waters completely inundated the earth so that even all the high mountains under the entire sky were covered.⁠ 20 The waters rose more than 20 feet above the mountains. 21 And all living things that moved on the earth died, including the birds, domestic animals, wild animals, all the creatures that swarm over the earth, and all humankind. 22 Everything on dry land that had the breath of life in its nostrils died. 23 So the Lord destroyed every living thing that was on the surface of the ground, including people, animals, creatures that creep along the ground, and birds of the sky. They were wiped off the earth. Only Noah and those who were with him in the ark survived.⁠ 24 The waters prevailed over the earth for 150 days.

Texts in conversation

Compare Genesis 7:18 and 4 Maccabees 15:31

Hebrew Bible · Pseudepigrapha, Wisdom and Poetry

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Summary

Genesis 7 describes the rising floodwaters lifting Noah's ark until it floats on their surface. 4 Maccabees compares the mother of seven martyrs to the ark, enduring waves and winds that stand for the emotions she suffers while her sons are tortured.

Passages

Genesis 7:18

Hebrew Bible
17 The flood engulfed the earth for 40 days. As the waters increased, they lifted the ark and raised it above the earth. 18 The waters completely overwhelmed the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the waters. 19 The waters completely inundated the earth so that even all the high mountains under the entire sky were covered.
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Genesis

4 Maccabees 15:31

Pseudepigrapha, Wisdom and Poetry
29 Mother of the nation, defender of the law, champion of piety, and winner of the contest within your heart! 30 More noble than men in endurance, and braver than men in perseverance! 31 Just as Noah’s ark, carrying the world in the world-flooding deluge, endured the waves, 32 so you, guardian of the law, though overwhelmed on every side by the flood of your emotions and battered by the strong winds of your sons’ tortures, nobly endured the storms for the sake of piety.
19–100 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in 4 Maccabees

References

“... This leads us to the comparison between the martyr mother and Noah's ark itself. [...] Thus, the author of 4 Maccabees dares to point out the correspondence between the mother enduring the sight of her seven sons being tortured to death, which is figuratively understood as an overwhelming "flood of emotions," and Noah's ark withstanding the stormy waters of the deluge. [...] The interest of 4 Maccabees in those characters is almost self-explanatory: Abraham and Isaac as well as Daniel and the men in the fiery furnace serve as paradigms of the willingness to sacrifice one's own life or that of one's children in obedience to the divine will. This may be inferred from the stories in Gen 22 and the Book of Daniel themselves. By contrast, the reference to the ark of Noah seems rather odd. Granted that the comparison with the mother of the young martyrs confirms the overall proposition of 4 Maccabees and perhaps even illustrates the assertion that she is stronger than men by comparing her to the ark as an object, there still remain several questions. How does the author arrive at this comparison? Apparently, the perception of the ark and the deluge as expressed in this passage can hardly be derived from the well known story of the Flood and its righteous survivor as reported in the Book of Genesis. If so, where could it come from? Is there any evidence of a similar perception of the Flood story in ancient literature, be it Jewish or early Christian or even Greco-Roman? Or should this passage rather be considered an innovation by the author of 4 Maccabees himself? ...”
Matthias Weigold, “The Deluge and the Flood of Emotions: The Use of Flood Imagery in 4 Maccabees in Its Ancient Jewish Context,” in The Books of the Maccabees: History, Theology, Ideology, ed. Géza G. Xeravits and József Zsengellér (Leiden: Brill, 2007), 203–204.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Genesis 7:18 and 4 Maccabees 15:31

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