When the Bible says that it rained for 40 days and 40 nights does that mean it rained for 80 days?

Answer 1

No. They had 24 hour days in ancient times too. What it means is that it rained day and night for 40 days.

Answer 2

2 things to note. 1st I'll agree with "texasjewboy12" that the Bible is simply making it clear, it wasn't just rain in the afternoon for 40 days, but day and night (i.e., continuously). But note, it also says, "The Waters of the Deep were opened" so there was another source of water to flood the earth. The ocean floor has seams on it, sort of like a giant version of the seams on a baseball, where it appears they were opened at one point.
Some have also conjectured, that the "Firmament" (in the KJV, the best bible translation available) mentioned earlier in Genesis was an ice canopy that existed before the flood; this ice canopy/firmament collapsed, that would have added to the deluge. If that was the case, the flood was from at least 3 parts: Collapsing ice firmament, continual rain, and the fountains of the deep flooding the surface. Another good theory suggests this all could have been precipitated by an impact from an ice asteroid. It would explain why Wooly Mammoths at the South Pole were flash frozen with undigested food in their stomachs (there were frozen palm trees too, it used to be one temperature on the earth due to the firmament in the sky); that would have made the water vapor in the atmosphere condense, and rain; the shock would have made that crack in the earth's crust that encircles the earth, opening the fountains of the earth, just like the Bible says. Too bad Sunday school teachers don't always give the full picture of what happened!

Answer 3

I've always understood that it rained 40 days and 40 nights ... meaning 40 calendar days total. But days, years etc .. aren't clearly defined in the Bible... so I guess we don't know for sure until we get to Heaven.

Answer 4

No it means it rained for 40days and 40 nights.