For most of Church history, Christians have believed that the great Flood was global in extent. But today we hear many scoffing voices of the kind that Peter warned us about: “scoffers will come in the last days” and “they willfully forget: that . . . the earth . . . perished, being flooded with water” (2 Peter 3:3–6). Certainly the pressure from outspoken secular opponents of the Bible has raised questions in the minds of some Christians about the Scriptural account of the flood. “Perhaps the flood was only local?” they wonder. “Maybe the original word for ‘earth’ didn’t mean the whole globe, but just a region.”
Indeed, those who consult a lexicon or Bible dictionary may be confused to discover that the word erets, in addition to meaning “earth,” can be translated “land.” Furthermore, they may come across the term tevel, which is normally translated “world,” and may wonder why this word was not used instead of erets in the description of the flood if it had indeed been global.
Thankfully, we can obtain clarity on this issue from the Scriptures. By examining the meaning and usage of erets and tevel, and looking at the context of the description of the Flood, we can be left in no doubt about its global extent.
The word אֶרֶץ (erets)1 occurs in the first verse of the Bible:
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth [erets] (Genesis 1:1).2
God uses the term erets here in reference to the entire dry land mass of the planet:3
And God called the dry land Earth [erets], and the gathering together of the waters He called Seas (Genesis 1:10).
In the first 11 chapters of Genesis, which cover the first two millennia (one third of earth's history), erets occurs 96 times.4
- In 84 occurrences (87.5 percent) the context is global,5 implying any or every part of the entire land mass of the planet:
“and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth [erets]” (Genesis 1:15)
“. . . let them have dominion . . . over all the earth [erets] and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth [erets]” (Genesis 1:26).6
- On 12 occasions (12.5 percent) the context is localized, clearly referring to a particular restricted portion of the land mass, and is usually translated as “land”:7
Then Cain went out from the presence of the Lord and dwelt in the land [erets] of Nod on the east of Eden (Genesis 4:16).
It is probably with reference to this second, localized context that some got the idea of erets meaning “a block of land.” But the primary, or default, meaning of erets in Genesis 1–11 is the entire land mass of the planet.
The earth [erets] is the Lord's, and all its fullness,
The world [tevel] and those who dwell therein (Psalm 24:1).
However, whereas erets is the fourth most common noun in the Hebrew Scriptures, used 2,505 times,10 tevel is rare, found just 36 times. Erets is used in all 39 books of the Old Testament;11 tevel is in just 10 (see Figure 1).
So while erets and tevel may be very similar in meaning, in terms of usage, tevel is 70 times less common, being found nowhere in the first five books, authored by Moses. On the other hand, as already established, in Genesis 1–11 erets refers primarily to the complete land mass of the planet,12 making it an entirely suitable choice for Moses to use in describing a flood of global proportions.13
Ultimately, the text of Genesis 7 leaves no doubt about the extent of the Flood. For instance, if the Flood had been localized, the birds could have flown to safety beyond the reach of the waters; yet we read that the birds were destroyed along with all other land-based creatures (Genesis 7:21, 23). The text describes in detail, with repetition, the full devastating and global nature of God's judgment:
Now the flood was on the earth [erets] forty days. The waters increased and lifted up the ark, and it rose high above the earth [erets]. The waters prevailed and greatly increased on the earth [erets], and the ark moved about on the surface of the waters. And the waters prevailed exceedingly [literally, “much, much”] on the earth [erets], and all the high hills under the whole heaven were covered. The waters prevailed fifteen cubits upward, and the mountains were covered. And all flesh died that moved on the earth [erets]: birds and cattle and beasts and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth [erets], and every man. All in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life, all that was on the dry land, died. . . . Only Noah and those who were with him in the ark remained alive. (Genesis 7:17–23)
Note that it says “all the high hills under the whole heaven were covered” (Genesis 7:19). There are five important elements in this phrase, which together leave no doubt whatsoever about the worldwide extent of the Flood:
- The predominant meaning of the original Hebrew word translated by the NKJV here as “hills,” הָרִים (harim; singular, הַר [har]), is in fact “mountains.” Indeed, of the 558 occurrences of har in the Hebrew Scriptures,14 over three-quarters are rendered “mountain” or “mount.”15 So the NKJV (and KJV) choice of “hills” in v. 19 is puzzling and potentially misleading. It is also inconsistent to use “hills” here because in the very next verse (v. 20) the NKJV (together with the KJV) translates the identical word, harim, as “mountains.” Many other versions translate harim as “mountains” in both instances (vv. 19 and 20).16
- The word “high” here translates the Hebrew adjective גָּבֹהַּ (gavoah), meaning “high, lofty, exalted.” This removes any possible shred of doubt about whether the Bible is speaking of hills or mountains.17
- The phrase begins with “all,” reflecting the original Hebrew כֹּל (kol), meaning “all, every.” According to a straightforward reading of the text, not one mountain was left uncovered.
- The Hebrew phrase תַּחַת כָּל־הַשָּׁמָיִם (tachat kol-hashamayim, “under the whole heaven”), occurring just seven times in the Hebrew Scriptures, is paralleled with “ends of the earth [erets]” in Job 28:24. Job says:
God . . . looks to the ends of the earth [erets],
And sees under the whole heavens [tachat kol-hashamayim].
(Job 28:23–24; similarly also Job 37:3)
Furthermore, God Himself says:
Everything under heaven [tachat kol-hashamayim] is Mine (Job 41:11).
Clearly, without any exception, nothing on earth is hidden from God's view, and everything on earth belongs to God. So “under the whole heaven [tachat kol-hashamayim]” includes the entire surface of the globe.
- The words “were covered” translate the passive form of כָּסָה (kasah), meaning “to cover, conceal, hide.” Sadly, and with respect, it must be noted that the late R. L. Harris was misleading when he stated that “the Hebrew does not specify” what covered the “hills.”18 It is abundantly clear both from the immediate context and the wider testimony of Scripture that it was the Flood waters that covered the mountains. The verb kasah is used a number of times to describe a complete submersion in water:
- the waters standing above the mountains:
You who laid the foundations of the earth [erets],
So that it should not be moved forever,
You covered [kasah] it with the deep as with a garment;
The waters stood above the mountains (Psalm 104:5–6).19
- the waters covering the Egyptians who pursued the Israelites into the sea (Exodus 14:28, 15:10; Psalm 106:11)
- the waters covering the sea, as an image of the future filling of the earth with the knowledge of the Lord and of His glory (Isaiah 11:9; Habakkuk 2:14).
- the waters standing above the mountains:
Had any uppermost areas remained unreached by the floodwaters, then some people or creatures—especially birds and insects—may have survived. 20
But the Bible clearly tells us that “all flesh” was destroyed (Genesis 6:17; 7:4, 21–23) and that “all the high hills under the whole heaven were covered” (Genesis 7:19).
Much about the erets changed after the Flood. We read that “the nations were divided on the earth [erets]” (Genesis 10:32) and “the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth [erets]” (Genesis 11:9). Wherever a clan settled became their own little enclave of erets, their own world within a world. Thus erets, previously a predominantly global term, is used increasingly to refer to localized portions of the erets—“lands,” “nations,” or “countries.” Yet God's original definition of erets being “the dry land” in a global context (Genesis 1:10), far from being superseded, prevails throughout the entire Old Testament (see Figure 3).
“All Scripture is given by inspiration of God” (2 Timothy 3:16), including Genesis, and is utterly reliable. And just as we can be sure that the waters once covered the entire planet at the time of the Flood, so also we can be confident that our Messiah and Savior will one day return to the erets and reign in glory—over all of it!
And the Lord shall be King over all the earth [erets] (Zechariah 14:9).
For the earth [erets] shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord
As the waters cover the sea (Isaiah 11:9).