8:1 And God a remembered Noah, and b 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;
(a) Not that God forgets his at any time, but when he sends
comfort then he shows that he remembers them.
(b) If God remembered every brute beast, that ought also to
assure his children.
8:4 And the ark rested in the c seventh month, on the
seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat.
(c) Part of September and part of October.
8:5 And the waters decreased continually until the d tenth
month: in the tenth [month], on the first [day] of the
month, were the tops of the mountains seen.
(d) Which was the month of December.
8:9 But 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 e put forth his hand, and
took her, and pulled her in unto him into the ark.
(e) The raven flew to and fro, resting on the ark, but did
not come into it, unlike the dove that was taken in.
8:11 And the dove came in to him in the evening; and, lo, in her
mouth [was] an f olive leaf pluckt off: so Noah knew that
the waters were abated from off the earth.
(f) Which was a sign that the waters were much diminished:
for the olives do not grow on the high mountains.
8:13 And it came to pass in the six hundredth and first year, in
the g 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.
(g) Called in Hebrew Abib, part of March and part of April.
8:16h Go forth of the ark, thou, and thy wife, and thy sons,
and thy sons' wives with thee.
(h) Noah declares his obedience, in that he would not leave
the ark without God's express commandment, as he did
not enter in without the same: the ark being a figure
of the Church, in which nothing must be done outside
the word of God.
8:20 And Noah i builded an altar unto the LORD; and took of
every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered
burnt offerings on the altar.
(i) For sacrifices which were as an exercise of their
faith, by which they used to give thanks to God for his
benefits.
8:21 And the LORD smelled a k 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.
(k) That is, by it he showed himself appeased and his anger
at rest.
8:22 While the earth remaineth, l seedtime and harvest, and
cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night
shall not cease.
(l) The order of nature destroyed by the flood, is restored
by God's promise.
