In the Beginning: Compelling Evidence for Creation and the Flood

[ Frequently Asked Questions > Did the Flood Last 40 Days and 40 Nights?

Table 26. Log of the Flood Year 1
Day (Duration)	Reference in Genesis	Event	Comments
D - 7	7:1, 4, 10	Loading the Ark begins. Noah, his wife, their three sons, their sons’ wives, and representatives of all air-breathing land animals enter the Ark.
D	7:11, 13	Humans enter the Ark for the last time. Then, on this single day, all the fountains of the great deep burst open² and rain³ begins. [See Figures 42, 57, and 58.]	This occurred on the 17th day of the 2nd month. Noah was 600 years old.
(40 days)	7:12, 17	Rain³falls upon the earth. The Ark is lifted above the earth. The waters increase greatly⁴ upon the earth.	Evidently, the Ark was loaded on dry land.
(150 days)	7:19, 24	Waters prevail [rise with mighty power] upon the earth. They eventually cover all the earth’s preflood mountains.	Notice that the waters rose for 110 days after 40 days of “geshem” rain.
D + 150 days	8:1– 4	A wind passes over the earth. The waters begin to subside; the fountains of the deep and the floodgates of the sky close, and the rain is restrained. The Ark rests upon the mountains of Ararat, and the water steadily recedes.	Months were probably 30 days long. Compare 8:3 and 8:4, and note that 8:4 begins with “And.” At the end of the flood, rapid rising of mountains displaced air and caused the wind.⁵ [See pages 499–500.]
D + 224 days	8:5	The tops of the mountains become visible.	Noah saw at least two peaks.
D + 264 days	8:7	Noah sends out a raven, a scavenger, so it may not have returned.	The birds may have been released at seven-day intervals. (Study Genesis 8:10.) This hints at a seven-day week and a Sabbath—a commemoration of the creation week. [See Genesis 7:4.] Because the dove—a non-scavenger—returned to Noah, Noah could deduce that little food was growing on earth.
D + 271 days⁶	8:8–9	Noah sends out a dove, a non-scavenger. It returns to Noah.
D + 278 days	8:10 –11	Again, Noah releases a dove. It returns with an olive leaf.
D + 285 days	8:12	Noah releases a dove for the third time. It does not return.
D + 314 days	8:13–14	Noah removes the covering of the Ark and sees the dry ground.	Noah stayed in Ark 57 more days. Conditions outside were unsafe. [See page 517.]
D + 371 days	8:15–19	God tells Noah to off-load the Ark.	Humans and animals probably migrated soon afterwards to lower, warmer, higher-pressure elevations.

> References and Notes ]
References and Notes
1. Durations are based on the Masoretic text. The Septuagint text has Noah in the Ark exactly one year. Other manuscripts of Genesis give slightly different times.

2. “Burst open” is a loose translation of (qab@f, which means a violent cleavage. Isaiah 34:15 and 59:5 uses it to describe the hatching or breaking forth from inside an egg; i.e., the breaking of a thin shell or crust. Numbers 16:31 uses it to describe the splitting open of the earth. [See also Psalm 78:15.]

3. M#e$g@E transliterates as geshem. It is the most violent rain. In Ezekiel 13:11–13, geshem rain destroyed mortared walls.

4. “Greatly” is an understatement. “Greatly, greatly” would be a more accurate translation, because Hebrew uses the double superlative construction. This construction is used in only one other place in the Old Testament—in Genesis 17:2 where God makes a covenant with Abraham.

5. Noah and the Ark certainly experienced high winds during the preceding five months. So, the wind that began on the 150th day must have been unusual and extreme.

Noah released the raven 114 days after the wind began, presumably to learn how far the waters had receded. Noah would not have done this if the extreme wind were still blowing, because the raven would have had difficulty returning to the Ark. Therefore, the wind probably lasted less than 114 days.
6. This assumes the dove was released seven days after the raven.