Genesis 8:22 - Printer Friendly

ESV: While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease."

NIV: "As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease."

NASB: While the earth remains, Seedtime and harvest, Cold and heat, Summer and winter, And day and night Shall not cease.'

CSB: As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, and day and night will not cease."

NLT: As long as the earth remains, there will be planting and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night.'

KJV: While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.

NKJV: “While the earth remains, Seedtime and harvest, Cold and heat, Winter and summer, And day and night Shall not cease.”

After the previous verse revealed God's commitment to never again curse the earth as He had through the flood or to wipe out humanity and animal-kind in that way, this verse completes God's promise. From this point, throughout the planet's history, the patterns of nature will remain as God has created them. The cycles will continue. Day will follow night. One season will follow another. The world will continue to function predictably according to God's design. This is the grace of God upon all His creation.

It is important to notice that this promise begins with "while the earth remains." God doesn't guarantee that the planet in its current form will exist eternally. In fact, at some point in the future, God will re-make the heavens and the earth (Revelation 21:1). But while it does, those who live on earth will enjoy the goodness of the repetition of the days and seasons by God's great mercy on sinful humanity.

Genesis 8:20–22 describes Noah's first recorded act after leaving the ark. He builds an altar to God and offers clean animals as a sacrifice. Using a common metaphor, Scripture says God smells the aroma and is pleased. God commits to never again curse the earth in the way He did with the flood, and never to strike down all life on earth. As long as the earth remains, the cycles of nature will continue as God had designed them.

Even as all other life was being destroyed, God didn't forget Noah and the animals. He stops the deluge of water flowing from above and below and causes a great wind to blow to begin drying out the earth. The ark comes to rest on the mountains of Ararat. There, its occupants wait for the flood waters to go down. After a full year aboard, Noah and his family and the animals finally disembark. Noah builds an altar in worship to God and offers animal sacrifices. God commits to never curse the earth as He had through the flood, and to never again strike down all life on earth.

Genesis 6 and 7 explain the events leading up to the flood, and the actual catastrophe itself. After the devastation and destruction are over, God begins to dry out the earth in Genesis 8. The waters recede, Noah and the animals finally leave after a year aboard, and Noah offers animal sacrifices in worship to God. God commits to never again strike down all life on earth at once. As long as the earth remains, living things will enjoy the cycles of day, night, and seasons. The following chapters describe the re-population of earth by mankind, leading up to another instance of God's intervention, at the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11).

The book of Genesis establishes fundamental truths about God. Among these are His role as the Creator, His holiness, His hatred of sin, His love for mankind, and His willingness to provide for our redemption. We learn not only where mankind has come from, but why the world is in its present form. The book also presents the establishment of Israel, God's chosen people. Many of the principles given in other parts of Scripture depend on the basic ideas presented here in the book of Genesis. Within the framework of the Bible, Genesis explains the bare-bones history of the universe leading up to the captivity of Israel in Egypt, setting the stage for the book of Exodus.

Accessed 12/21/2024 1:05:19 PM