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directions. It is a MISTRANSLATION to say the waters rose 15 cubits above the mountains. The
15 cubits refers to how much water fell -- not how deep the water was.

According to Webster's New World Dictionary, the English word "upward" means "to-
ward a higher place" or, in other words, to proceed from the bottom to a higher place or position.
However, the Hebrew word used by Moses in Genesis (that the King James' scholars incorrectly
translated "upward") actually means to DESCEND "FROM ABOVE." To come "from above"
means the exact OPPOSITE to the word "upward," and means to fall downward -- not to rise up-
ward! This can be demonstrated in Joshua 3:13 and 16 where the self-same word is used to refer
to the waters of the Jordan River flowing DOWNWARD toward the Dead Sea -- "from above."
Notice: "And it shall come to pass, as soon as the soles of the feet of the priests who bear the ark
of the Lord, the Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of the Jordan, that the waters of the
Jordan shall be cut off, the waters that COME DOWN [MALEMELAH] from upstream, and they
shall stand as a heap" (Joshua 3:13).

Now notice verse 16: "...that the waters which CAME DOWN [MALEMELAH] from up-
stream stood still, and rose up in a heap very far away at Adam, the city that is beside Zaretan." I
don't believe we have to mention that water in all rivers flows DOWNWARD -- not upward! In
Isaiah 45:8 the prophet Isaiah uses a variant of the same word -- MAMAEL -- to invoke: "Drop
down, ye heavens, FROM ABOVE, and let the skies pour down righteousness."

So, relates Ernest Martin,

The King James' translators (and followed by a host of others) have given a diametrically opposite mean-
ing to the Hebrew word MALEMELAH and thereby missing the point entirely of what Moses meant. It is
no wonder that people over the centuries have been confused in understanding the flood narrative (ibid., p.
20).

In actual fact Moses wrote that the waters of the Flood came "from above." And as well as
that, he even gave details about the EXACT amount of precipitation that fell "from above." "He
said the waters 'prevailed' (or they came 'from above' in their strength) to the tune of fifteen cubits
(just about 23 feet of water came down from the sky). In a word, Moses was reporting that 23 feet
of water (that is, 276 inches of rainfall) fell to earth in that 40 day period. This would answer to
about 7 inches of rainfall occurring on each of the 40 days and this represents about a third of an
inch an hour. That was a lot of rain!" (ibid., p. 20).

Not nearly as much rain as we calculated for a flood that covered Mt. Everest by 15
cubits!!

You might ask how Noah knew that about 276 inches (15 cubits) of rain came down during
that 40 day period. The Bible doesn't reveal the answer to this question, but Noah could have re-
ceived a revelation from God, or he could have simply measured it with a rain gauge. People
weren't stupid in Noah's day. He could also have measured the height of the waters after the Flood
against the height of some well known mountain or landmark near where the ark came to rest.

Critics of this understanding might argue that Moses recorded in Genesis that the mountains
were COVERED by the waters that descended from the heavens -- and he meant even the highest
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