מַבּוּל

From the study of Jubilees 6:4

Range of meaning

Used almost only for the Flood of Genesis 6–11 (also Psalm 29:10). It means the cosmic deluge, the waters above and below breaking in and undoing creation, not a local flood.

Against the English

'Flood' is right, but in English it also covers ordinary local floods. Mabbûl names one world-undoing event.

Used elsewhere in the period

Psalm 29:10 says 'The LORD sat enthroned at the Flood.' 1 Enoch 10 and 1 Enoch 89 describe the Flood as judgment on the world corrupted by the Watchers, the fallen angels. Jubilees 5 tells the same story.

From the study of Psalm 29:10

Range of meaning

A rare, almost technical noun. Its 12 other occurrences are all in Genesis 6:17–11:10 and all name the great Flood ('the waters of the mabbûl', 'after the mabbûl'). HALOT, following J. Begrich (1928), argues it first meant the heavenly ocean, the waters above the sky-dome of Genesis 1:6–7, which poured down 'through the windows of the heavens' in Genesis 7:11. On that view the Flood was the mabbûl let loose. The word's origin is uncertain. Suggestions include the root y-b-l ('to flow'), b-l-l ('to mix, confound') and Akkadian loanwords, and none is settled.

Against the English

English 'flood' is an everyday word for any overflowing river or storm runoff. The Hebrew is not everyday. It is the proper term for the Flood, or for the cosmic waters behind it. Lowercase 'flood' (KJV, BSB, NIV, ESV) lets readers picture the floodwater of the storm just described. NLT's 'floodwaters' pushes further that way. NJPS and WEB capitalise 'the Flood' and so keep the link to Genesis.

How it drifted

English has only one word for an ordinary flood and the primeval Flood, so the special status of mabbûl disappears unless the translation capitalises it or adds a note.

Used elsewhere in the period

Genesis 6:17; 7:6, 7, 10, 17; 9:11, 15, 28; 10:1, 32; 11:10. The Septuagint translates it here with kataklysmos, the same word it uses for Noah's Flood in Genesis. Ancient Jewish readers took it the same way. The Aramaic Targum paraphrases the verse as God sitting in judgment on the generation of the Flood. The Talmud (b. Zevachim 116a) tells how the nations, terrified by the thunder at Sinai, asked whether God was bringing another flood, and were answered with Psalm 29:10–11. A close Ugaritic parallel (KTU 1.101) describes the storm god Baal sitting enthroned on his mountain 'like the flood' (mdb), using a related water word.

From the study of Genesis 10:1

Range of meaning

'The Flood', the cosmic deluge of Noah's day. Used only for that event: 13 times in Genesis 6–11 and once in Psalm 29:10 ('the LORD sat enthroned over the mabbul'). Not used for ordinary floods, which take other words (e.g. sheteph, nahar).

Against the English

'Flood' (BSB, KJV, ESV, NIV) is accurate but generic. YLT's 'deluge', NLT's 'great flood' and the Septuagint's kataklysmos ('the cataclysm') better show that this is a unique, world-ending event.

Used elsewhere in the period

Psalm 29:10 connects it with the heavenly ocean above the sky ('waters above the expanse', Genesis 1:7; compare 7:11, 'the windows of the heavens were opened'). Mesopotamian flood traditions (Atrahasis, Gilgamesh XI) use Akkadian abūbu for the destructive Deluge. Some link mabbul with that word, others with the Hebrew root y-b-l ('to carry along'). The origin of the word is uncertain.