After the Flood, on what day of the seventh month did Noah’s Ark come to rest?

After the Flood, Noah’s Ark came to rest on the seventeenth day of the seventh month.

Genesis 8:4 gives this date for the Ark settling on the mountains of Ararat. The statement follows the period in which the waters prevailed over the earth and marks an important stage in the retreat of the Flood.

The date is easy to confuse with another seventeenth day in the story. Genesis 7:11 places the beginning of the Flood on the seventeenth day of the second month. These are separate dates, five months apart in the narrative’s calendar. The Ark’s resting date is in the seventh month, not the second.

Genesis continues with further waiting periods after the Ark rests. Noah opens the window, sends out a raven and doves, and eventually sees that the ground is dry. The family does not immediately leave when the Ark first comes to rest; the later commands and observations complete the sequence.