What Does Genesis 8:5 Mean in the King James?
And the waters decreased continually until the tenth month: in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, were the tops of the mountains seen.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The mountains do not rise; they become visible as the covering keeps withdrawing.
THE MEANING
The waters keep diminishing until the mountain tops come into view. What has been hidden beneath the covering is revealed as the covering recedes, step by step.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Being out of sight does not mean something is gone; what is still covered may already be there.
THE ROOT
הָלוֹךְ וְחָסוֹר
halokh ve-chasor
GROWS FROM
חסר
to lack, diminish, or be reduced
“decreased continually” in this verse is halokh ve-chasor. The Hebrew describes the waters as going on in a state of diminishing. Its root, חסר, carries the sense of lack: the covering recedes by degrees until the mountains can be seen.
ALSO GROWS
chaser: lacking; diminishing
חָסֵר
This is the word-form behind the waters’ steady reduction.
machsôr: lack; need; want
מַחְסוֹר
It shows the same root naming what is missing as well as the process of becoming less.
נִרְאוּ
nir'u
GROWS FROM
ראה
to see, look, or appear
“were seen” in this verse is nir'u. The mountains are described as being seen: the verse marks a change in visibility, not the mountains’ arrival. The root connects seeing with appearing, so the diminishing waters uncover what was already beneath them.
ALSO GROWS
ra'ah: to see; look at
רָאָה
It names the act of perceiving that becomes possible as the water recedes.
mar'eh: sight; appearance
מַרְאֶה
It carries the root’s movement from seeing to what comes into view.
THE PATTERN
As covering waters are bounded or withdrawn, what they concealed comes into view.
And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.Thou hast set a bound that they may not pass over; that they turn not again to cover the earth.Then the channels of waters were seen, and the foundations of the world were discovered at thy rebuke, O LORD, at the blast of the breath of thy nostrils.THE THREAD
And the waters returned from off the earth continually: and after the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters were abated.Genesis 8:3 uses the same root, חסר (chaser), for the waters diminishing. Verse 5 shows that steady reduction reaching a threshold: the mountain tops can now be seen.
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