And in the seventh month: and here expresses result, according to the first interpretation above, and Anchor Bible translates “by the end of one hundred and fifty days the water had diminished so that … the ark came to rest….” For the order of in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, see comments on 7.11.

Came to rest translates a verb meaning to settle down or come to a stop. The equivalent verb in Arabic is used of a camel lowering itself to the ground for loading or mounting. In some languages the term appropriate for a boat will be required rather than a more general term; for instance, “the boat touched land” or “the boat went aground.”

The mountains of Ararat: the Hebrew for mountains is plural and refers to a “range of mountains”; so this expression does not refer to one particular peak or mountain called Ararat. See Good News Translation “a mountain in the Ararat range.” Other examples from recent translations are “a big hill in the place Ararat” and “the place of mountains there at Ararat.”

Ararat is described as a country in 2 Kgs 19.37; Isa 37.38, and as a kingdom in Jer 51.27. It is best known through Assyrian records as “Urartu,” which refers to the region around Lake Van in modern southeast Turkey, and extending into northwest Iran. The name applies also to the people and nation in that area from the ninth to the sixth centuries B.C. Today’s “Mount Ararat” in modern Turkey was given that name much later.

Quoted with permission from Reyburn, William D. and Fry, Euan McG. A Handbook on Genesis. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1997. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .