What Does Genesis 7:18 Mean?
And the waters grew mighty and multiplied greatly upon the earth, and the ark went upon the face of the waters.
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
And the waters prevailed, and were increased greatly upon the earth; and the ark went upon the face of the waters.THE KEY
The flood does not merely press against the ark; it becomes the surface on which the ark moves.
THE MEANING
The verse speaks while the ground beneath you disappears: the waters prevail, yet the ark keeps moving on their surface. Overwhelming force and continued movement occupy the same scene; the water that covers the earth also bears the vessel.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie that movement must wait until the overwhelming force passes is undone here: the ark moves while the waters still prevail.
THE ROOT
וַיִּגְבְּרוּ
wayyigberu
GROWS FROM
גבר
גָּבַר (gābar): to be strong, grow mighty, prevail.
“grew mighty” in this verse is wayyigberu. English “prevail” can sound like winning a contest; גָּבַר (gābar, be strong or prevail) marks force asserting itself. The verse pairs that force with the ark’s movement: the waters dominate the earth, but their face is also the plane across which the vessel goes.
ALSO GROWS
gibbôr: mighty one, warrior
גִּבּוֹר
This branch carries the same force of might that the waters display when they prevail.
gever: man, strong man
גֶּבֶר
The shared root links prevailing with embodied strength, making the waters’ force vivid.
וַתֵּלֶךְ
wattēlekh
GROWS FROM
הלך
הָלַךְ (hālak): to go, walk, travel.
“went” in this verse is wattēlekh. The verb comes from the ordinary word for walking or going. Here a vessel takes the role of a mover: even while floodwaters dominate the scene, the ark travels over them.
ALSO GROWS
halikhah: walking, going
הֲלִיכָה
This branch keeps the movement in the verse concrete: the ark is going, not simply remaining in place.
holekh: one who goes, walking
הוֹלֵךְ
The same root describes an ongoing mover, echoing the ark’s continued passage across the waters.
וַיִּרְבּוּ
wayyirbu
GROWS FROM
רבה
רָבָה (rābāh): to become many, multiply, increase.
“multiplied greatly” in this verse is wayyirbu. The verb presents more than a rise: the waters multiply and spread across the earth. Beside גָּבַר (gābar, prevail), it stacks scale with force, the waters are both more abundant and dominant.
ALSO GROWS
hirbah: to multiply, increase
הִרְבָּה
This causative form makes the multiplying quality of the waters explicit.
ribbuy: multiplication, increase
רִבּוּי
This noun preserves the root’s sense of abundance growing in number or extent.
THE PATTERN
Overwhelming waters do not end the story of what they carry.
And when she could no longer hide him, she took for him an ark of reeds, and smeared it with bitumen and pitch, and set the child in it, and set it among the rushes on the lip of the river.When you cross through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not kindle upon you.who once refused to yield, while the slowness to heat of God waited in the days of Noah, as the ark was being built, in which few, eight living souls, were delivered through water.THE THREAD
And when she could no longer hide him, she took for him an ark of reeds, and smeared it with bitumen and pitch, and set the child in it, and set it among the rushes on the lip of the river.Hebrew uses the same rare word תֵּבָה (tevah, ark or vessel) for Noah’s ark and the basket that carries Moses. In both verses, a vessel is placed among dangerous waters and becomes the means by which life is preserved.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us