Gênesis 8

ARC · Chapter 8/50

¹E lembrou-se Deus de Noé, e de toda a besta, e de todo o animal, e de toda a rez que com elle estava na arca: e Deus fez passar um vento sobre a terra, e aquietaram-se as aguas.

²Cerraram-se tambem as fontes do abysmo, e as janellas dos céus, e a chuva dos céus deteve-se.

³E as aguas tornaram de sobre a terra continuamente, e ao cabo de cento e cincoenta dias as aguas minguaram.

⁴E a arca repousou, no setimo mez, no dia dezesete do mez, sobre os montes de Ararat.

⁵E foram as aguas indo e minguando até ao decimo mez: no decimo mez, no primeiro dia do mez, appareceram os cumes dos montes.

⁶E aconteceu que, ao cabo de quarenta dias, abriu Noé a janella da arca que tinha feito.

⁷E soltou um corvo, que saiu, indo e voltando, até que as aguas se seccaram de sobre a terra.

⁸Depois soltou uma pomba, a vêrse as aguas tinham minguado de sobre a face da terra.

⁹A pomba porém não achou repouso para a planta do seu pé, e voltou a elle para a arca; porque as aguas estavam sobre a face de toda a terra: e elle estendeu a sua mão, e tomou-a, e metteu-a comsigo na arca.

¹⁰E esperou ainda outros sete dias, e tornou a enviar a pomba fóra da arca.

¹¹E a pomba voltou a elle sobre a tarde; e eis, arrancada, uma folha de oliveira no seu bico: e conheceu Noé que as aguas tinham minguado sobre a terra.

¹²Então esperou ainda outros sete dias; e enviou fóra a pomba, mas não tornou mais a elle.

¹³E aconteceu que no anno seiscentos e um, no mez primeiro, no primeiro dia do mez, as aguas se seccaram de sobre a terra: então Noé tirou a cobertura da arca, e olhou, e eis que a face da terra estava enxuta.

¹⁴E no segundo mez, aos vinte e sete dias do mez, a terra estava secca.

¹⁵Então fallou Deus a Noé, dizendo:

¹⁶Sae da arca, tu, e tua mulher, e teus filhos, e as mulheres de teus filhos comtigo.

¹⁷Todo o animal que está comtigo, de toda a carne, de ave, e de gado, e de todo o reptil que se roja sobre a terra traze fóra comtigo; e povôem abundantemente a terra, e fructifiquem, e se multipliquem sobre a terra.

¹⁸Então saiu Noé, e seus filhos, e sua mulher, e as mulheres de seus filhos com elle,

¹⁹Todo o animal, todo o reptil, e toda a ave, e tudo o que se move sobre a terra, conforme as suas familias, saiu para fóra da arca.

²⁰E edificou Noé um altar ao Senhor; e tomou de todo o animal limpo, e de toda a ave limpa, e offereceu holocaustos sobre o altar.

²¹E o Senhor cheirou o suave cheiro, e disse o Senhor em seu coração: Não tornarei mais a amaldiçoar a terra por causa do homem; porque a imaginação do coração do homem é má desde a sua meninice, nem tornarei mais a ferir todo o vivente, como fiz.

²²Emquanto a terra durar, sementeira e sega, e frio e calor, e verão e inverno, e dia e noite, não cessarão.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

The floodwaters begin to recede; Noah sends out a raven and then a dove to check whether the earth is dry, and finally the whole family leaves the ark and Noah offers sacrifices to God.

Explanation

This chapter shows the careful, gradual process of restoration after judgment: God 'remembers' Noah (not because he had forgotten him, but because he now acts on his behalf), and the water recedes little by little, month after month. The use of the dove, which returns with an olive leaf, has become one of the best-known symbols of peace and hope in Western culture. As soon as he steps onto dry ground, Noah's first act is to build an altar and worship — even before tending to his own practical needs, he prioritizes gratitude to God. In response, God promises never again to destroy the earth in this way and guarantees the continuity of the seasons. The central message is that after trial comes restoration, and the first response to salvation should be gratitude.

Fun facts

The place where the ark came to rest, 'the mountains of Ararat' (v. 4), refers to a mountainous region in what is now eastern Turkey, not a single specific peak — the biblical text is broader than the popular tradition that points to the modern Mount Ararat.
The dove with the olive leaf (v. 11) became, millennia later, a universal symbol of peace, used to this day on flags, logos, and in art — a direct influence of this biblical text on world culture.

Verse-by-verse explanation

Gênesis 8:1After so much destruction, the text marks the turning point: God ‘remembered’ Noah and the animals in the ark, and sent a wind that begins to bring the waters down — the first sign that the worst had passed.
Gênesis 8:2The fountains of the deep and the windows of heaven, which had opened at the start of the flood, now close, and the rain stops — the reverse of the process that caused the flooding.
Gênesis 8:3The water begins to recede little by little, gradually, over 150 days — the same length of time the waters had stayed at their peak, mentioned at the end of the previous chapter.
Gênesis 8:4‘Ararat’ was the name of an ancient mountainous region, in an area that today lies between Turkey, Armenia, and Iran — the text doesn’t point to one specific peak, only the mountain range as a whole. That’s why, to this day, expeditions search for remains of the ark on different mountains within that region, since the Bible doesn’t name an exact spot.
Gênesis 8:5It’s only ten months after the flood began that the mountaintops become visible again — a slow drying process that will still take much longer before the earth is truly livable.
Gênesis 8:6After forty more days of waiting, Noah finally opens a window of the ark to start checking conditions outside.
Gênesis 8:7Noah first releases a raven, which flies back and forth without returning to the ark — unlike the dove he releases afterward, which comes back because it can’t find anywhere to land. The difference makes sense: ravens eat almost anything, including carrion, so it could sustain itself flying over the still-flooded earth without needing dry ground to land on.
Gênesis 8:8Noah releases a dove to test whether the water had gone down enough for dry land to exist somewhere.
Gênesis 8:9The dove finds nowhere to land, because the water still covered everything, and returns to the ark — Noah takes it back in, showing care for the bird he sent out.
Gênesis 8:10Noah waits seven more days before trying again, giving the water time to go down a little more.
Gênesis 8:11This time the dove comes back with an olive leaf in its beak — the first concrete proof that vegetation was reappearing somewhere nearby.
Gênesis 8:12After seven more days of waiting, Noah releases the dove a third time, and it doesn’t come back — a sign that it had already found somewhere to live on dry land.
Gênesis 8:13Nearly a year after the flood began, Noah removes the covering of the ark and sees with his own eyes that the surface of the earth was already dry.
Gênesis 8:14It’s only almost two months later that the earth becomes completely dry — the drying process, start to finish, took far longer than the forty days of rain.
Gênesis 8:15Even with the earth dry, Noah waits for God’s command before leaving the ark — he doesn’t decide on his own, he waits for the same authority that told him to enter.
Gênesis 8:16God finally commands Noah to leave the ark with his whole family, ending the time of confinement that began back in chapter 7.
Gênesis 8:17God also commands that all the animals be released, repeating the same command to ‘be fruitful and multiply’ given at creation, in chapter 1 — a fresh start for life on earth.
Gênesis 8:18Noah leaves the ark with his entire family, carrying out the command given in the previous verse.
Gênesis 8:19All the animals leave as well, grouped by kind — the same standard used to organize them when boarding the ark back in chapter 7.
Gênesis 8:20The first thing Noah does after leaving is build an altar and offer sacrifices from the clean animals — a gesture of gratitude right after survival, before even taking up any other activity.
Gênesis 8:21Saying God smelled a ‘sweet savour’ is a very old way of speaking, common among many peoples of the time, to describe that an offering was accepted and pleasing — not a literal description of a nose enjoying the smell of a cookout. It’s the language ancient texts used to express that Noah’s sacrifice was well received.
Gênesis 8:22God promises that, as long as the earth lasts, the cycle of the seasons and of day and night will continue without interruption — a guarantee of stability after the total destruction of the flood.