Strong's H3999 (Hebrew)

Hebrew: מַבּוּל (mabbûwl)

Pronunciation: mab-bool'

Morphology: n-m

Derivation: from יָבַל (yâbal) [H2986] in the sense of flowing;

Definition: a deluge

KJV Renderings: flood.

Senses

1. flood, deluge.
1. Noah's flood that submerged the entire planet earth under water for about a year
2. Some think Noah's flood was only local. However the description of it found in Gen. 6 through 8 makes this patently absurd. If it was local, Noah had 120 years to migrate out of the area to safe ground! Why waste all that effort building a ship? He only had to move less than 1500 feet a day to reach the farthest point on the globe! With the possible exception of Ps 29:10, this word always refers to Noah's flood. The real reason for insisting on a local flood is the acceptance of evolution with its long geological ages. Most holding that view are not willing to allow a global world wide flood to have happened less than 5000 years ago. To admit such eliminates the need for the geological ages for most of the geological column would have been rapidly laid down by Noah's flood.

Cross References

Sources. The definition, derivation and KJV renderings are James Strong's own wording from Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible (1890) — public domain. The numbered senses and the Hebrew–Greek cross-references are the editorial work of the OpenScriptures Strong's dictionary, licensed CC BY-SA 3.0; their sense-outline conventions match the Outline of Biblical Usage (Online Bible, Larry Pierce), noted as a convention match rather than a documented claim.