The Law · Chapter 8 of 50

Genesis 8

God remembers Noah and sends a wind to calm the waters. The flood recedes, and the ark rests on Ararat. Noah sends out a raven and then a dove, which at last returns with an olive leaf and then not at all. When the earth is dry, God calls the family and animals out. Noah builds an altar, and God resolves never again to curse the ground or destroy all life as He has done.

What happens in Genesis 8

God remembers Noah and every creature with him and makes a wind pass over the earth so the waters begin to subside. The fountains of the deep and windows of heaven are stopped. After a hundred and fifty days the waters abate, and the ark rests on Ararat. The mountaintops appear. Noah sends a raven, then a dove that finds no rest and returns. Seven days later the dove comes back with a fresh olive leaf, and after another seven it does not return.

Noah removes the ark's covering and sees dry ground. God commands him to go forth with his family and all the creatures to breed and multiply. Noah builds an altar and offers clean beasts and birds as burnt offerings. The LORD smells a sweet savor and resolves not again to curse the ground for man's sake, promising that seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, day and night, will not cease.

Genesis 8 in context

Genesis 8 completes the flood narrative, moving from judgment to renewal. Within the Law it echoes creation as dry land emerges again from the waters and life is commanded to multiply. The chapter marks a fresh start for the earth and prepares for the covenant of chapter 9, showing God's settled purpose to preserve the created order despite the persistence of human sin.

Main themes of Genesis 8

Genesis 8 (KJV)

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. 6And 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. 13And 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. 15And 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. 20And 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.

Verses to carry from Genesis 8

“And 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;”Genesis 8:1

“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.”Genesis 8:20

“And 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.”Genesis 8:21

Reflection

The flood's turning point was simply that God remembered Noah. In seasons that feel like endless waters, His remembrance is already moving to bring you out. And like Noah, let your first step onto dry ground be worship, resting your hope not on your own goodness but on an offering that pleases God.

A prayer from Genesis 8