1 And God remembereth Noah, and every living thing, and all the cattle which are with him in the ark, and God causeth a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters subside,
Hippolytus of Rome · AD 235 Hippolytus, the expositor of the Targum, and my master, Jacobus Rohaviensis, have said: On the twenty-seventh day of the month Jiar, which is the second Hebrew month, the ark rose from the base of the holy mount; and already the waters bore it, and it was carried upon them round about towards the four cardinal points of the world.
John Chrysostom · AD 407 See how God did everything out of his esteem for the human being. As in the case of the destruction of human beings in the flood he destroyed also along with them the whole range of brute beasts, so in this case too, when he intends to show his characteristic love for the good man out of his regard for him, he extends his goodness to the animal kingdom as well, the wild beasts,…
Bede · AD 735 But the Lord remembered Noah, and all the living creatures, and all the cattle that were with him in the ark, and caused a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters were diminished.
2 and closed are the fountains of the deep and the net-work of the heavens, and restrained is the shower from the heavens.
Jerome · AD 420 (Chapter 8, Verse 2) And the water subsided, and the fountains of the deep were revealed, and the floodgates of heaven were opened. The interpreters have translated the phrase 'fountains of the deep were revealed' as 'the closed and sealed fountains were opened'.
Bede · AD 735 And the fountains of the deep were closed, and the windows of heaven, and the rains from heaven were restrained, and the waters returned from the earth, going and coming, and they began to decrease after one hundred and fifty days.
3 And turn back do the waters from off the earth, going on and returning; and the waters are lacking at the end of a hundred and fifty days.
Ephrem the Syrian · AD 373 The springs of the abyss and the floodgates of heaven were open forty days and forty nights and "the ark was afloat for one hundred fifty days." But after one hundred fifty days the waters began to subside and the ark came to rest on Mt. Qardu. In the tenth month the tops of the mountains were seen.
4 And the ark resteth, in the seventh month, in the seventeenth day of the month, on mountains of Ararat;
Cosmas Indicopleustes · AD 550 In the Chaldaean books of Bêrôsus and certain others it is thus written: that ten kings reigned over the Chaldaeans 2242 myriads of years, but, under their tenth king Xisuthrus, as they called him, there was a great flood, and that Xisuthrus being warned by God embarked in a ship with his wife and kindred and cattle, and that having been brought over in safety, as their story g…
Bede · AD 735 And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, upon the mountains of Armenia. That the ark rested in the seventh month refers symbolically to that seventh rest about which it has often been spoken, as those who are perfect and who have the stability of a mind fixed upon God, as if squared, tend toward rest.
5 and the waters have been going and becoming lacking till the tenth month; in the tenth month, on the first of the month, appeared the heads of the mountains.
Bede · AD 735 But the waters went back and decreased until the tenth month. The time of the tenth month can signify that period during which the saints enter the joys of eternal light with the Lord. For He also in the Gospel by the name of the denarius, which was to be given to the laborers of the vineyard, intimates the perception of the same heavenly kingdom.
6 And it cometh to pass, at the end of forty days, that Noah openeth the window of the ark which he made,
John Chrysostom · AD 407 But for the present we need to explain the reason why the bird [the raven] did not come back. Perhaps, with the waters subsiding, the bird, being unclean, happened upon corpses of men and beasts and, finding nourishment to its liking, stayed there!
Jerome · AD 420 (Verse 6) After forty days, Noah opened the door of the ark which he had made, and released a raven, but it did not return to him until the waters had dried up from the earth. As for the dove, it is said differently: He released a raven, and it went out, going and coming back until the waters had dried up from the earth.
Bede · AD 735 And when forty days had passed, Noah opened the window of the ark, which he had made, and sent out a raven, etc. We have spoken above about the window of the ark, which, after the flood has subsided, is opened, indicating the secret mysteries of the heavens, to which those baptized are especially initiated; but with these same sacraments some are led to the allurements of the w…
7 and he sendeth forth the raven, and it goeth out, going out and turning back till the drying of the waters from off the earth.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 You do not know when that last hour is going to come and yet you say, "I am reforming." When are you going to reform? When are you going to change? "Tomorrow," you say. Behold, how often you say, "Tomorrow, tomorrow." You have really become a crow. Behold, I say to you that when you make the noise of a crow, ruin is threatening you.
Bede · AD 735 He went out and returned, until the waters were dried up from the earth. It does not say he went out and returned to the ark; but he went out and returned, it says, until the waters were dried up from the earth, because obviously he was turning here and there with uncertain flight, now beginning to go away, now returning as if about to enter the ark, but not really seeking the…
8 And he sendeth forth the dove from him to see whether the waters have been lightened from off the face of the ground,
Maximus of Turin · AD 465 Christ is a dove because he commands his holy ones to be as doves when he says, "Be simple as doves." But the prophet speaks of what Christ the dove is when, in his person, he describes his return to heaven after his suffering: "Who will give me wings like a dove, and I shall fly away and be at rest?" When Christ the Lord, therefore, initiated the sacraments of the church a dov…
9 and the dove hath not found rest for the sole of her foot, and she turneth back unto him, unto the ark, for waters are on the face of all the earth, and he putteth out his hand, and taketh her, and bringeth her in unto him, unto the ark.
Bede · AD 735 He also sent out a dove after him, to see if the waters had ceased upon the face of the earth; but when she did not find where her foot might rest, she returned to him in the ark. For the waters were over the whole earth; and he extended his hand, and having caught her, brought her into the ark.
10 And he stayeth yet other seven days, and addeth to send forth the dove from the ark;
11 and the dove cometh in unto him at even-time, and lo, an olive leaf torn off in her mouth; and Noah knoweth that the waters have been lightened from off the earth.
Ambrose of Milan · AD 397 The Synagogue has not this oil, inasmuch as she has not the olive, and understood not that dove which brought back the olive branch after the deluge.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 The secular powers often and for a long time spare the wicked from corporal punishment and relieve some of them from their harassments, but the hearts of holy men never have any respite until the end of the world from the sinful conduct of men.
Bede · AD 735 But after waiting another seven days, he again sent the dove out of the ark; and it came back to him in the evening, carrying a fresh olive branch in its mouth.
12 And he stayeth yet other seven days, and sendeth forth the dove, and it added not to turn back unto him any more.
Bede · AD 735 Noah then understood that the waters had subsided from the earth, and he waited another seven days, and sent out the dove, which did not return to him again.
13 And it cometh to pass in the six hundredth and first year, in the first month, in the first of the month, the waters have been dried from off the earth; and Noah turneth aside the covering of the ark, and looketh, and lo, the face of the ground hath been dried.
Bede · AD 735 Therefore, in the six hundred and first year, in the first month, on the first day of the month, the waters were dried from the earth; and Noah, opening the covering of the ark, looked out and saw that the surface of the ground was dry.
14 And in the second month, in the seven and twentieth day of the month, the earth hath become dry.
Bede · AD 735 In the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dried. It was stated above that the surface of the ground was dried up in the beginning of the first month; and now, in the second month, nearly completed, it is described as dry because then the ground was dried on the surface with growing grass, so that it could revive and produce anew the grass that t…
15 And God speaketh unto Noah, saying, `Go out from the ark, thou, and thy wife, and thy sons, and thy sons' wives with thee;
John Chrysostom · AD 407 Then all creation was cleansed as if of some blemish, removing all defilement caused in it by human wickedness. Its countenance was made resplendent; God then finally commanded the just man to disembark from the ark, freeing him from that awful prison with these words, "Then the Lord God said to Noah, 'Disembark, you and your sons, your wife and your sons' wives with you, as we…
16 every living thing that is with thee, of all flesh, among fowl, and among cattle, and among every creeping thing which is creeping on the earth, bring out with thee;
Bede · AD 735 God said to Noah, "Go forth from the ark, you and your wife, your sons and your sons' wives with you; bring out with you all the living creatures that are with you of all flesh, both birds and animals, and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, so that they may abound on the earth, be fruitful and multiply on the earth." So Noah went out, with his sons and his wife and…
John Damascene · AD 749 When Noah was ordered to enter the ark and was entrusted with the safeguarding of the seed of the earth, he was given this command, which reads, "Go forth from the ark, you and your wife, and your sons and your sons' wives with you." He had separated them from their wives, so that with the help of chastity they might escape the deep and that worldwide destruction.
17 and they have teemed in the earth, and been fruitful, and have multiplied on the earth.'
Ephrem the Syrian · AD 373 Those whom he had brought in "one by one" in order to maintain chastity on the ark, he now brought out "two by two" so that they might "be fruitful and multiply in creation." Even with respect to the animals that had preserved their chastity in the ark God said, "Bring forth with you every living thing that is with you of all flesh—birds and animals and every creeping thing tha…
18 And Noah goeth out, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives with him;
Ambrose of Milan · AD 397 Now let us inquire by what order they entered into the ark, how long they remained there, and in what order they went out; how in the first instance Noah entered, and after him his sons; then his wife, and the wives of his sons; and when they went out, in what order they went forth.
19 every beast, every creeping thing, and every fowl; every creeping thing on the earth, after their families, have gone out from the ark.
20 And Noah buildeth an altar to Jehovah, and taketh of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and causeth burnt-offerings to ascend on the altar;
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 [The clean and the unclean] were together in the ark, but they were not equally pleasing to the Lord as a savor of sacrifice, for after the deluge Noah offered sacrifice to God of the clean, not of the unclean.
Philoxenus of Mabbug · AD 523 Now although this meat is a burden unto the wise and prudent, yet was it given by promise unto Noah, and it was sent unto Elijah in a gift, and Abraham received God and His angels thereby, and Isaac was pleased to pour out blessings upon Jacob thereby, and Samuel offered this gift beforehand to Saul as to a king, and David and all the righteous kings made use of such meat, and…
Bede · AD 735 Noah built an altar to the Lord, and taking from all the clean animals and birds, he offered burnt offerings on the altar.
21 and Jehovah smelleth the sweet fragrance, and Jehovah saith unto His heart, `I continue not to disesteem any more the ground because of man, though the imagination of the heart of man is evil from his youth; and I continue not to smite any more all living, as I have done;
Ephrem the Syrian · AD 373 "The Lord smelled" not the smell of the flesh or the smoke of wood, but rather he looked out and saw the simplicity of heart with which Noah offered the sacrifice from all and on behalf of all. And his Lord spoke to him, as he desired that Noah hear, "Because of your righteousness, a remnant was preserved and did not perish in that flood that took place.
John Chrysostom · AD 407 The Scripture says, "And the Lord smelled a sweet odor," that is, he accepted the offerings. But do not imagine that God has nostrils, since God is invisible spirit. Yet what is carried up from the altar is the odor and smoke from burning bodies, and nothing is more malodorous than such a savor.
Bonaventure · AD 1257 The manner in which sacrifice was introduced is seen in the fact that Abel offered a sacrifice by faith, and so did Noah, of whose offering it is said: The Lord smelled the sweet odor. And these sacrifices represented that which Christ offered on the cross. Hence it is said, the Lord smelled: God was appeased by the death of His only Son.
22 during all days of the earth, seed-time and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night, do not cease.'
Ephrem the Syrian · AD 373 And because there was neither planting nor harvest during that year and the seasonal cycles had been disturbed, God restored to the earth that which had been taken away in his anger.
Bede · AD 735 All the days of the earth, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, night and day, shall not cease. For when he had said all the days, he immediately added of the earth, so that you may understand that during all the days in which the earth will have its present state, men should be free from the threat of a universal flood; yet the time will not fail when, ceasi…