In Genesis, Noah waited seven days between the dove’s releases from the Ark.
The sequence appears in Genesis 8. After the raven was sent out, Noah released a dove, and the text then says he waited another seven days before sending it again. When the dove returned with an olive leaf, Noah waited a further seven days before releasing it for the third time.
The repeated interval creates a measured pattern in the account. The first return showed that the waters still covered usable ground, the olive leaf showed that vegetation had emerged, and the dove’s final non-return suggested that dry land was available.
This seven-day interval is separate from the forty days of rain mentioned earlier in Genesis. The story includes several different time spans, and they should not be merged: forty days describes rainfall, while seven days describes Noah’s waiting periods before the dove tests.