- 1And God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the cattle that was with him in the ark: and God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters asswaged;
- 2The fountains also of the deep and the windows of heaven were stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained;
- 3And the waters returned from off the earth continually: and after the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters were abated.
- 4And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat.
- 5And the waters decreased continually until the tenth month: in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, were the tops of the mountains seen.
- 6 And it came to pass at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made:
- 7And he sent forth a raven, which went forth to and fro, until the waters were dried up from off the earth.
- 8Also he sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters were abated from off the face of the ground;
- 9But the dove found no rest for the sole of her foot, and she returned unto him into the ark, for the waters were on the face of the whole earth: then he put forth his hand, and took her, and pulled her in unto him into the ark.
- 10And he stayed yet other seven days; and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark;
- 11And the dove came in to him in the evening; and, lo, in her mouth was an olive leaf pluckt off: so Noah knew that the waters were abated from off the earth.
- 12And he stayed yet other seven days; and sent forth the dove; which returned not again unto him any more.
- 13 And it came to pass in the six hundredth and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried up from off the earth: and Noah removed the covering of the ark, and looked, and, behold, the face of the ground was dry.
- 14And in the second month, on the seven and twentieth day of the month, was the earth dried.
- 15 And God spake unto Noah, saying,
- 16Go forth of the ark, thou, and thy wife, and thy sons, and thy sons’ wives with thee.
- 17Bring forth with thee every living thing that is with thee, of all flesh, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth; that they may breed abundantly in the earth, and be fruitful, and multiply upon the earth.
- 18And Noah went forth, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons’ wives with him:
- 19Every beast, every creeping thing, and every fowl, and whatsoever creepeth upon the earth, after their kinds, went forth out of the ark.
- 20 And Noah builded an altar unto the LORD; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar.
- 21And the LORD smelled a sweet savour; and the LORD said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man’s sake; for the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done.
- 22While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.
KING JAMES VERSION
GENESIS 8
Read the chapter, follow a linked verse, and continue into related Watchman 33 teaching.
CHAPTER VISUAL
Genesis 8 — The waters recede, the dove returns with an olive leaf, and Noah responds to deliverance with worship.
About this illustration
The resting ark, returning dove, emerging land, and altar combine several moments of the chapter. No rainbow appears because the covenant sign is introduced in Genesis 9.
Scripture basis: Genesis 8:1–22King James Version · Standardized 1769 text with Strong’s numbering · Public domain outside the United Kingdom
EXPLORE THE MESSAGEANCIENT TEXT CONNECTIONS 
Related Watchman 33 Resources
Related 1 Enoch Passages
These links distinguish direct quotation, explicit retelling, strong literary parallel, and broader shared tradition. A parallel does not by itself prove direct dependence.
The torrents cease and the waters withdraw until dry land appears.
The vessel settles, and Noah emerges with his three sons.
After universal destruction, God promises not to destroy all earth-dwellers again and establishes a heavenly sign of the pledge.
Archaeological Evidence
ARCHAEOLOGY EVIDENCEManuscript
Seventh century BC copy of an older Mesopotamian tradition
Gilgamesh Flood Tablet (Tablet XI)
The seventh-century BC Nineveh copy of Gilgamesh Tablet XI preserves Utnapishtim's older Mesopotamian flood story—boat, family, animals, mountain landing, birds, and sacrifice—providing a close literary comparison with Genesis while differing sharply in theology and purpose.
Genesis 6:5–22 · Genesis 7:1–24 · Genesis 8:1–22
ARCHAEOLOGY EVIDENCEManuscript
Old Babylonian composition, principally eighteenth–seventeenth century BC witnesses
Atrahasis Epic Tablets
Old Babylonian Atrahasis joins human creation, overpopulation crises, and a divinely sent flood in one composition, providing an early Mesopotamian framework for comparison with Genesis while presenting radically different views of gods, labor, judgment, and human life.
Genesis 1:26–28 · Genesis 2:7 · Genesis 6:5–22
ARCHAEOLOGY EVIDENCEManuscript
Early Herodian period, late first century BC
4QCommentary on Genesis A (4Q252)
Six Hebrew columns interpret selected Genesis problems, calculating the Flood within a 364-day calendar and reading Jacob’s blessing of Judah as an enduring claim to rule.
Genesis 7:11–24 · Genesis 8:1–19 · Genesis 22:1–19
ARCHAEOLOGY EVIDENCEManuscript
Fourth century AD
Chester Beatty Biblical Papyrus V: A Separate Greek Genesis Witness
Thirty-one leaves of a late-third-century single-column papyrus codex preserve parts of Genesis 8-46, forming a second and materially independent Chester Beatty witness to Greek Genesis.
Genesis 8:13–22 · Genesis 9:1 · Genesis 24:13–27
ARCHAEOLOGY EVIDENCEManuscript
Old Babylonian period, about seventeenth century BC
Eridu Genesis / Ziusudra Flood Tablet
A fragmentary Sumerian tablet from Nippur preserves creation, early cities, a divine flood decision, Ziusudra’s survival, and his post-flood reward.
Genesis 6:9–22 · Genesis 7:17–24 · Genesis 8:15–22
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