how long did it rain in the Flood?

Question

i've heard 40 days and nights, anyone have the passage?


cuz that's not nearly enough time, even raining constantly, to flood the whole earth. weird.

Answer 1

Re-read Genesis chapters 6-9. Besides the rain, the Bible says that the "foundations of the deep" were broken up and that underground water (which scientist tell use today is several times the content of the oceans) poured up from there. It also speaks in Genesis 1 and Genesis 6-9 of a water canopy that covered the earth before the flood. That water canopy was broken up and no longer exist. Finally, it states that the earth was much smoother then it is today. You did not need 5 miles of water to cover Mt Everest, because there were no high mountains yet. They came out of the dividing on the continents that occured later in Genesis 11.

So 40 days of continues rain, mixed with the other, was enough.

Answer 2

It was a constant 40 Days and Nights, but you must keep in mind that when God created the Earth, he surrounded it with a layer of water.

Gen 1:6 ¶ And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.
Gen 1:7 And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which [were] under the firmament from the waters which [were] above the firmament: and it was so.
Gen 1:8 And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.
Gen 1:9 ¶ And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry [land] appear: and it was so.
Gen 1:10 And God called the dry [land] Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that [it was] good.

This is the water that he used to flood the Earth

Gen 7:10 And it came to pass after seven days, that the waters of the flood were upon the earth.
Gen 7:11 In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.
Gen 7:12 And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights.

This is confirmed by Peter:


2Pe 3:5 For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water:
2Pe 3:6 Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished:


Considering that the Earth was surrounded by a layer of water, it is conceivable that 40 days and 40 nights of nonstop rain would be enough to flood it.

Answer 3

Ge 7:4 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.
Ge 7:12 And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights.

Of course, there is enough water on the earth to flood it now, if it was not for the uneven surface of the earth. At any rate, there was more water to be found from the windows of heaven and the fountains of the deep.
Ge 7:11 In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.

The windows of heaven could refer to comets or an ice ring, like the ones around some of the other planets, falling to the surface. "Fountains of the deep" contain a very great deal of water, even now an Arctic Ocean's worth is still left under Asia. Volcanos still pump out a great deal of water.

Also, most of the surface of planet earth is water, I wonder how much of it is locked up in ice.

Answer 4

It says in Gen 7:11 In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened. That says to me that it was more then just rain. The water came from above and below. That would be enough to flood every land mass on the earth.

Also, in Gen 8:6 And it came to pass at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made. So there is the answer to how long it lasted.

Answer 5

What many of you people who choose this argument fail to take into consideration are these passages from the Bible.

Gen 7:11 " ...on that day all the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the windows of the heavens were opened. ..."

Gen 8:2 "...the fountains of the deep and the windows of the heavens were closed,..."

So - the inclusion of "fountains of the deep" obviously means water from the Earth or inside the Earth. It wasn't only rain from "the heavens".

This is why many people who figure out all those formulas of how this cannot be a true story ignore the "fountains of the deep" - no way to calculate it. One would have to know for certain how much water was in "the deep".

I really don't understand how they even know what the rain was like then, either.

Answer 6

It was not just rain but the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.

Genesis 7:4 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. 5 And Noah did according unto all that the LORD commanded him. 6 And Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters was upon the earth. 7 And Noah went in, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives with him, into the ark, because of the waters of the flood. 8 Of clean beasts, and of beasts that are not clean, and of fowls, and of every thing that creepeth upon the earth, 9 There went in two and two unto Noah into the ark, the male and the female, as God had commanded Noah. 10 And it came to pass after seven days, that the waters of the flood were upon the earth. 11 In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened. 12 And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights.

Answer 7

The bible says 40 days and 40 nights. That in itself is an impossibility. Then even if it did rain for 40 days and nights that would not be anywhere near enough water to totally flood the earth. I believe the bible then states that the water covered the earth for 150 days before subsiding. Again physically impossible for that much water to be gone is 150 days. Reading the bible with any assemblance of intelligence will help you realize that it is merely a book of christian mythology. Really no different than that of the ancient Greek and Romans.

Answer 8

The place where it actually says 40 days is Genesis 7:17. Genesis 7:24 says "the waters flooded the earth for a hundred and fifty days." So, by further reading and taking it all in context, I think it actually rained for 150 days, not 40. If you continue into chapter 8, it still talks about the flooding.

Answer 9

yes, 40 days and 40 nights. but then there was time after wards where they ark was just floating around and then being on top of the mount. But, to flood the earth, yeah, why wouldn't that be enough. Sounds like enough to me. It was heavy rain. Like tornado rain. (I'm an Atheist, so I believe the story to be bullshit) but 40 days and night of monsoon rain could cause some damage in the least.

Answer 10

what do you mean not enough? a monsoon lasts a month and can flood an area to about 2 meters. Imagine thousands of these happening at the same time, all over the world, while simultaneously gysers, subterranian floods and the high oceans due to the lack of polar ice-caps fill the earth with water. there's enough water to do it, so why not?