In Genesis, how many days did rain fall during the Flood before it stopped?

In Genesis, rain fell for forty days and forty nights before it stopped.

Genesis 7:12 gives this duration directly. The account says that the Flood began after Noah, his family, and the animals entered the Ark. Genesis 7:17 separately says the floodwaters rose for forty days, so the number describes the period of continuous rain as well as a related rise in the narrative.

The forty-day period is not the total time Noah and his family spent aboard the Ark. Later verses describe the waters remaining high, the Ark resting on the mountains of Ararat, and further waiting before the ground became dry. The complete sequence therefore lasts much longer than forty days.

The number forty also appears in other biblical stories, including Moses’ time on Mount Sinai and Jesus’ fast in the wilderness. Those parallels contributed to its symbolic importance, but the Ark passage specifically uses forty days and forty nights for the rain.