How long did rain fall during the first stage of Noah’s Flood in Genesis?

In Genesis, rain fell for forty days and forty nights during the first stage of Noah’s Flood.

Genesis 7:12 states that rain fell upon the earth for forty days and forty nights. Later in the account, the waters are described as remaining on the earth for a much longer period, so the rainfall duration is not the same as the total duration of the flood narrative.

This distinction is important because readers sometimes use “forty days” as though it describes the entire event from the beginning of the rain until Noah left the Ark. Genesis instead presents several phases: the rain, the rising waters, the eventual recession, and the waiting period before departure.

The number forty also appears in other biblical narratives as a period associated with testing or transition. In this account, however, the direct answer comes from Genesis 7:12: forty days and forty nights.