Let It Rain; Let God Reign. Genesis 7:17-24

May the mumbling commence!

And the rains came down… in spades.  The water also came up from underground.  Soon all land was once again covered with water – even the mountain tops.  Time had gone backward.  God was shaking his great Etch-a-Sketch clear.  Read from Peterson’s the Message:

The flood continued forty days and the waters rose and lifted up the ship high over the Earth.  The waters kept rising, the flood deepened on the Earth, the ship floated on the surface.  The flood got worse until all the highest mountains were covered – the high water mark reached twenty feet above the crest of the mountains.  Everything died.  Anything that moved – dead.  Birds, farm animals, wild animals, the entire teeming exuberance of life – dead.  And all people – dead.  Every living thing, breathing creature that lived on dry land died; he wiped out the whole works – people and animals, crawling creatures and flying birds, every last one of them, gone.  Only Noah and his company on the ship lived.

The floodwaters took over for 150 days.  (Genesis 7:17-24)

Now read from the NIV translation:

For forty days the flood kept coming on the earth, and as the waters increased they lifted the ark high above the earth.  The waters rose and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the water.  They rose greatly on the earth, and all the high mountains under the entire heavens were covered.  The waters rose and covered the mountains to a depth of more than twenty feet.  Every living thing that moved on the earth perished – birds, livestock, wild animals, all the creatures that swarm over the earth, and all mankind.  Everything on dry land that had the breath of life in its nostrils died.  Every living thing on the face of the earth was wiped out; men and animals and the creatures that move along the ground and the birds of the air were wiped from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those with him in the ark. 

The waters flooded the earth for a hundred and fifty days.  (Genesis 7:17-24)

Bad goes to worse.  That’s a definite theme in Peterson’s work with this passage.  While the NIV talks about the waters rinsing greatly, Peterson talks about the flood getting worse.

There’s a new high water mark – far beyond wading at the crest of the mountains.  Much more vivid imagery than “to a depth of twenty or more feet”.  The language is stark.

And the starkness continues.  Peterson hits upon the word died or dead four times in as many sentences.  Peterson keeps the repetition in a different form that strikes home the juxtaposition of an Earth that once was teeming and exuding life that is now dead.  Every last one of them is gone.

Then the statement that Noah and all his companions lived – what a contrast!  Life in the midst of death.  Life in obedience with God.  It hits home more than “Only Noah was left” from the NIV. 

Overall, I appreciate Peterson’s work with this passage.  This is Peterson at his best – bringing home the Spirit of the Word.

Enough mumbling for now…

Peace Out