“Forty Days and Nights”: Flood Duration and Stylistic Symmetry in the Septuagint
Καὶ ἐγένετο ὁ ὑετὸς ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς τεσσαράκοντα ἡμέρας καὶ τεσσαράκοντα νύκτας (Genesis 7:12 LXX) וַֽיְהִ֥י הַגֶּ֖שֶׁם עַל־הָאָ֑רֶץ אַרְבָּעִ֣ים יֹ֔ום וְאַרְבָּעִ֖ים לָֽיְלָה׃ Repetition, Judgment, and Liturgical Rhythm Genesis 7:12 repeats a central refrain in the Flood narrative: the precise duration of divine judgment. This verse employs biblical numerical parallelism to convey duration and completeness—forty days…