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flooded that area. The extent of the Genesis flood was LIMITED to the extent of the defilement of
man's sin.

Notice the REASON for the Flood: "...the earth [ERETS-LAND] was filled with violence"
(Genesis 6:11). "LAND" is the correct translation, for violence could only occur where there were
PEOPLE to cause the violence. Since large portions of this earth [planet] were uninhabited at this
point in time -- it was not the planet earth that was filled with violence, but the land in which Noah
lived and the land in which other segments of the human race lived.

Further proof of this is found in YEHOVAH's command to Noah to "fill the earth." This
was the same command given to Adam and later to the people who built the tower of Babel. The
fact that YEHOVAH REPEATED this command to Noah (and intervened dramatically to disperse
the people of Babel's day) strongly implies that the people of Noah's generation had not filled the
earth completely. This view is consistent with the geographical place names recorded in the first
nine chapters of Genesis. They all refer to localities either in or very close to Mesopotamia. The
various Flood traditions we find around the world could be a memory of what happened around
Mesopotamia rather than an event occurring in their country.

"And the Water Returned from Off the Land Continually"

We read in the Genesis account that "the waters increased, and bore up the ark, and it was
lift up above the earth [ERETS-LAND]" (Genesis 7:17). Again, we must read "land" for ERETS
-- this gives us a far more accurate picture than supposing the ark was lifted up above the planet!

If it is generally understood that after forty days of rain the Flood still "prevailed" or main-
tained its level for a period of time before abating (see Genesis 7:24), then if the waters of the
Flood "prevailed" upon the "LAND [ERETS]" in which Noah and other branches of the human
race lived -- AND NOT THE ENTIRE PLANET -- there would still have been streams of water
draining down from higher elevations. This would have maintained the level of the Flood for a pe-
riod of time -- even though it had stopped raining. But if the inundation covered the entire world,
submerging the highest peaks under 15 cubits of water, where would the waters come from to
maintain this level after the rain had stopped? Think about it!

Later, in Genesis 8:1, "God made a WIND to pass over the earth [ERETS-LAND]" and the
waters receded. Anyone with a knowledge of hydrology and weather patterns knows that wind
passing over a body of water picks up moisture which forms clouds which then move with the
wind to drop rain in other areas. But -- and realize this -- if the whole planet was covered with
water, the wind driven, moisture-laden clouds would have only dropped water on more water!
Notes author Ralph Woodrow:

This would be like dipping water out of one end of a swimming pool and pouring it into the other end --
the level would remain unchanged!

But if we understand the Flood as being in certain regions of the earth (planet), then a wind
passing over the waters could carry away moisture to some drier and distant land. This, and
ONLY this, would cause a lowering of the waters as the book of Genesis relates. Ernest Martin
explains that
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