What Does Genesis 7:11 Mean?
In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on that very day, all the springs of the great deep were split open, and the windows of heaven were opened.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
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 KEY
The same Hebrew word that cracks the deep open here also cleaves rock elsewhere, so an opening can flood the world or release water that sustains it.
THE MEANING
The world stands between two openings: springs in the great deep burst from below, and heaven’s windows open above. Water presses in from both directions, overwhelming the ground between them. The catastrophe is a breach at every edge.
THE ROOT
נִבְקְעוּ
nivqe'u
GROWS FROM
בקע
baqaʿ
To split, cleave, or break open.
“split open” in this verse is nivqe'u. The root names an opening by rupture. It appears when the deep’s springs break out here, when rock is cleaved for water, and when the sea is split; the root names the breach, while the surrounding passage shows whether it overwhelms or makes a way.
ALSO GROWS
clave: Split or cleaved (Psalm 78:15).
וַיְבַקַּע
The same root describes rock split so water can emerge from within it.
wayyibbaqʿû: Were split or divided (Exodus 14:21).
וַיִּבָּקְעוּ
The sea is split by the same root, turning its waters into a passage.
נִפְתָּחוּ
nifteḥu
GROWS FROM
פתח
pataḥ
To open or make an opening.
“opened” in this verse is nifteḥu. The root פתח (pataḥ, to open) describes the heavens’ windows here. The same verb later describes Noah opening the ark’s window, carrying the word from the vast openings above to the single opening he makes to look out.
ALSO GROWS
opened: He opened (Genesis 8:6).
וַיִּפְתַּח
The same root describes Noah opening the ark’s window after the flood’s rain.
doorway: An entrance or opening.
פֶּתַח
The noun shares the root of “opened,” naming an opening as a passage through a boundary.
מַעְיְנֹת
maʿyanot
GROWS FROM
עין
ʿayin
Eye; also a spring or source, where water emerges into view.
“springs” in this verse is maʿyanot. The word for spring belongs to the same word family as עַיִן (ʿayin, eye). The broken fountains are outlets where the deep’s hidden water comes into view.
ALSO GROWS
eye: An eye.
עַיִן
The shared word family links the spring to an outlet through which what is within becomes visible.
spring: A spring or source of water.
מַעְיָן
This singular form names the very sources whose openings release the deep’s waters.
THE PATTERN
When a contained source is released, water crosses its boundary and changes what lies before it.
And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the LORD made the sea go back by a strong breath of the east all that night, and made the sea dry ground, and the waters were split.He split the rocks in the wilderness, and let them drink as from the great depths.The one who leans his weight into me, as the writing has said, rivers of living waters will flow from his belly.THE THREAD
He split the rocks in the wilderness, and let them drink as from the great depths.Both verses use בקע (baqaʿ, to split open): here the deep’s springs burst out and flood the world; in the psalm, rock is cleaved and water gives drink. The shared root names the opening, while what follows reveals its force.
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