Masterpiece Monday: Le Déluge

Great Biblical artworks every Monday.

Author

Alfred Larsen
August 28, 2023

Starting this week, every Monday will be “Masterpiece Monday” where we share a piece of Biblical artwork that you might not have seen before.

Today is an artwork depicting the Great Downpour of Noah’s day. It’s called Le Déluge de Noé et les compagnons (“The flood of Noah and the companions”) by the French painter Léon Comerre (1850–1916).

You can see it in much higher resolution on Wikimedia.

Remember, in our translation, we call the “Flood” the “Great Downpour”. Why? Well, the name given to it in the Greek Septuagint is kataklusmos (it’s where we get the English word cataclysm). However, kataklusmos doesn’t mean flood. Kata means down, and klusmos means pour.

Notice the subtle difference: a flood is a name given to a disaster, whereas a downpour is an action or method of destruction. When the Bible names the Great Flood the “Downpour,” it chooses to name the event after the destructive method (the falling of the rain) – not what resulted from it (the flood). So we’re just accurately transmitting the real name.

Here’s the account from Genesis:

…all the springs under the ground broke open, and the floodgates of the skies were opened. Then it rained on the earth for 40 days and 40 nights… the water got so deep that it lifted the chest high above the ground.

The water dominated and totally covered the land, and the chest was carried along on top of the water. For the water dominated and covered even the tallest mountains under the whole sky… It covered the highest mountains by at least 15 cubits…

God blotted out all His creatures on the face of the earth… The men, the animals, the winged creatures, and the slithering animals. He blotted them all from the earth. The only ones who remained were Noah and those who were with him inside the chest.

Altogether, the water covered the land for 150 days.

Extracts from Genesis 7:10-24

You can read the account from the Greek Septuagint on our website, at https://2001translation.org/read/genesis#_6

Warm regards

The 2001 Translation