For seven days from now I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights, and I will wipe from the face of the earth every living thing I have made.”
Parallel translations
- WEB In seven days, I will cause it to rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights. I will destroy every living thing that I have made from the surface of the ground.”
- KJV For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights; and every living substance that I have made will I destroy from off the face of the earth.
- NKJV For after seven more days I will cause it to rain on the earth forty days and forty nights, and I will destroy from the face of the earth all living things that I have made.”
- NASB For after seven more days, I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights; and I will wipe out from the face of the land every living thing that I have made.”
- NLT Seven days from now I will make the rains pour down on the earth. And it will rain for forty days and forty nights, until I have wiped from the earth all the living things I have created.”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
God announces that in seven days he will send rain for forty days and nights to destroy all living things. The judgment is precisely timed and certain.
Overview
The seven-day warning gives a final window of patience, while the forty days and nights mark a complete and overwhelming judgment. The number forty recurs in Scripture for periods of testing and trial. God's clear announcement shows that the flood is his deliberate, righteous act, not random catastrophe, and that he keeps his word.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 20
- Gen 7:12And the rain fell upon the earth for forty days and forty nights.
- Gen 7:17For forty days the flood kept coming on the earth, and the waters rose and lifted the ark high above the earth.
- Gen 6:13Then God said to Noah, “The end of all living creatures has come before Me, because through them the earth is full of violence. Now behold, I will destroy both them and the earth.
- Gen 6:17And behold, I will bring floodwaters upon the earth to destroy every creature under the heavens that has the breath of life. Everything on the earth will perish.
- Gen 6:7So the LORD said, “I will blot out man, whom I have created, from the face of the earth—every man and beast and crawling creature and bird of the air—for I am grieved that I have made them.”
- Ps 69:28May they be blotted out of the Book of Life and not listed with the righteous.
- Job 37:11–12He loads the clouds with moisture; He scatters His lightning through them.
- Gen 8:12And Noah waited seven more days and sent out the dove again, but this time she did not return to him.
- Amos 4:7“I also withheld the rain from you when the harvest was three months away. I sent rain on one city but withheld it from another. One field received rain; another without rain withered.
- Job 28:25When God fixed the weight of the wind and measured out the waters,
- Job 22:16They were snatched away before their time, and their foundations were swept away by a flood.
- Rev 3:5Like them, he who overcomes will be dressed in white. And I will never blot out his name from the Book of Life, but I will confess his name before My Father and His angels.
- Gen 7:10And after seven days the floodwaters came upon the earth.
- Gen 7:21–23And every living thing that moved upon the earth perished—birds, livestock, animals, every creature that swarms upon the earth, and all mankind.
- Job 36:27–32For He draws up drops of water which distill the rain from the mist,
- Exod 32:32–33Yet now, if You would only forgive their sin.... But if not, please blot me out of the book that You have written.”
- Gen 29:27–28Finish this week’s celebration, and we will give you the younger one in return for another seven years of work.”
- Gen 2:5Now no shrub of the field had yet appeared on the earth, nor had any plant of the field sprouted; for the LORD God had not yet sent rain upon the earth, and there was no man to cultivate the ground.
- Gen 8:10Noah waited seven more days and again sent out the dove from the ark.
- Gen 6:3So the LORD said, “My Spirit will not contend with man forever, for he is mortal; his days shall be 120 years.”
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Christ at the center
From the first promise that the seed of the woman would crush the serpent (3:15), through Abraham's blessing to all nations and Judah's coming ruler, Genesis sows every seed that flowers in Christ — the true offspring, the better Adam, the ram caught for Isaac.
How Genesis 7:4 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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