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Genesis 8:2

EOB (Eastern / Greek Orthodox Bible):

The underground water and the rain from the sky stopped.

EOB Footnote:

The MT includes the phrase “and the rain from the heavens was restrained” which is absent from the LXX, making the MT’s description of the cessation of the flood more complete by explicitly mentioning both the stopping of the fountains and the rain.

Other Translations:

KJV (King James Version):

“null”

WEB (World English Bible):

“The deep’s fountains were broken up, and the sky’s windows were opened.”

Benton LXX (Vaticanus):

The verse from the Brenton translation of the Septuagint (LXX) is not available.

Douai-Rheims (Vulgate):

“Fountains also of the deep, and the floodgates of heaven, were shut up: and the rain from heaven was restrained.”

Apostoliki Diakonia (LXX):

The springs of the deep and the floodgates of heaven were closed, and the rain from heaven was restrained.

YLT (Young Literal Translation )(MT):

“And the fountains of the deep and the windows of the heavens were closed, and the rain from the heavens was restrained.”

BBE (Bible in Basic English):

“The fountains of the deep and the windows of heaven were shut, and the rain from heaven was stopped.”

EOB COMMENTARY:

EOB Commentary:

Genesis 8:2 Commentary

The Cessation of Divine Judgment

This verse marks the pivotal moment when God restrains the waters of judgment, closing the fountains of the deep and the windows of heaven. The Fathers understood this not merely as a meteorological event but as a profound theological statement about divine mercy tempering divine justice.

Typological Significance for Christ and Baptism

The closing of the heavenly windows and the restraining of the abyss prefigure the moment when Christ descends into the waters of the Jordan. Saint Cyril of Jerusalem and other Fathers taught that just as the waters of the flood were instruments of both judgment and salvation, so too the waters of baptism become the means by which the old Adam is drowned and the new creation emerges. The ark floating upon the restrained waters typifies the Church sailing safely through the waters of this world, protected by the wood of the Cross.

Saint Ephrem the Syrian observed that the fountains of the great deep being stopped corresponds to Christ’s authority over the chaotic waters, demonstrated when He calmed the sea and walked upon the waves. The One who closed the abyss in Noah’s day is the same Logos who commands the storms to cease.

Liturgical Connections

The Orthodox Church commemorates these events during the Great Blessing of Waters at Theophany. The prayers invoke the imagery of God’s mastery over the waters, connecting creation, the flood, the crossing of the Red Sea, and Christ’s baptism into one continuous narrative of salvation. The priest prays that the waters be sanctified, recalling how God transformed the destructive flood waters into instruments of purification and new beginning.

In the hymnography of Great Lent, particularly during the Canon of Saint Andrew of Crete, the faithful are called to contemplate the flood as an image of repentance. Just as God closed the fountains of judgment when the time of purification was complete, so He receives the penitent sinner who emerges from the waters of tears and confession.

Spiritual Application

The Fathers also read this verse as applicable to the interior life. The passions, like the uncontrolled waters, must be restrained by divine grace working through ascetic struggle. Saint John Climacus and the hesychast tradition speak of the nous descending into the heart, where the turbulent waters of disordered thoughts are stilled. The same God who stopped the primordial waters grants stillness (hesychia) to the soul that takes refuge in the ark of prayer and fasting.

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