Genesis 8
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Summary
The flood comes to an end. The waters begin to decrease and after forty days, Noah opens the window of the ark and sends a raven out until the waters were dried up off the earth. He also sends out a dove to see if the waters have dried up. The second time, the dove returns with an olive leaf, signifying that the land is dry. Noah opens the ark and builds an altar to the Lord and makes an offering to Him. The Lord is pleased with his offering.
Commentary
Bible Central Commentary
These free resources were developed for use in the free ScripturePlus app. Many of the contributors are professors of religion and ancient scripture at Brigham Young University.
Jeffrey M. Bradshaw, “Genesis 8,” in Genesis, Old Testament Minute Commentary Series, ed. Taylor Halverson (Springville, UT: Book of Mormon Central, 2021).
Historical Commentaries
Many of the commentaries below are in the public domain and were authored over 100 years ago. In many cases, they do not reflect the findings of modern scholarship, but they may be helpful for understanding the history of biblical scholarship.
Videos
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Historical Settings
Time
*All Dates Are Approximate, according to the narrative of the Bible. These dates may reflect literary significance as opposed to the precise dates of history.
See Biblical Chronology- Before 2500 BC
Further Reading
Jeffrey M. Bradshaw, “The Ark and the Tent: Temple Symbolism in the Story of Noah,” Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship 44 (2021): 93–136.
Book of Mormon Central, “How Does The Book of Mormon Use a Hebrew Pun on King Noah’s Name? (Mosiah 11:6),” KnoWhy 406 (February 8, 2018).
Matthew L. Bowen, “’This Son Shall Comfort Us’: An Onomastic Tale of Two Noahs,” Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship 23 (2017): 263–298.
Paul Y. Hoskisson and Stephen O. Smoot, “Was Noah’s Flood the Baptism of the Earth?” in Let Us Reason Together: Essays in Honor of the Life’s Work of Robert L. Millet, ed. J. Spencer Fluhman and Brent L. Top (Provo, UT: BYU Religious Studies Center; Salt Lake City: Deseret Book 2016), 163–188.
Complete Commentary on the Whole Bible
Matthew Henry (1706)
Commentary on the Bible
Adam Clarke (1831)
Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable
Thomas Constable
Rashi’s Commentary
Rashi (Shlomo Yitzchaki)
Notes on the Bible
Albert Barnes (1834)
Exposition of the Entire Bible
John Gill (1746–63)
Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament
Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch (1857–78)
Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible
John Wesley (1754–65)