The Beginning of the Flood
In Noach's six hundredth year, on 17 Cheshvan, the fountains of the deep burst open and the windows of heaven opened; rain fell for forty days.
The date is given with rare precision: "In the six hundredth year of Noach's life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month—on that day all the fountains of the great deep burst open, and the windows of heaven were opened." Water came from below and above at once. Rain fell forty days and forty nights; the waters rose for a hundred and fifty days, fifteen cubits above the highest mountains, and everything on dry land in whose nostrils was the breath of life died.
Noach was told to enter the ark and given seven more days. The Torah notes that "the Lord shut him in"—a human hand did not close the door. Noach was exactly six hundred: born in 1056, so the year is 1656.
Which month is "the second" is disputed: Rabbi Eliezer counts from Tishrei, making it Marcheshvan; Rabbi Yehoshua counts from Nisan, making it Iyar. This timeline follows the first view: 17 Cheshvan. The Flood lasts a full solar year, until a dove returns with a plucked olive leaf.
How we know
Sources
Tanakh
- Bereishit 7:11–24 — the date, the seventeenth of the second month, water below and above, a hundred and fifty days
- Bereishit 8:1–12 — the waters receding, the raven and the dove
Chazal: Mishnah, Talmud, midrash, Zohar
- Rosh Hashanah 11b–12a — the dispute over which month is “the second”: Marcheshvan or Iyar
- Sanhedrin 108b — life inside the ark: the feeding, the raven, Og
- Seder Olam Rabbah 4 — the year 1656 as the year of the Flood in the overall count
Rishonim
- Rashi on Bereishit 7:4 — the seven days before the Flood — mourning for Metushelach
Basis: stated in the Tanakh.
People and places
Methuselah · Noah · Genesis · Cheshvan