In Genesis, Noah waits seven days after the dove returns with an olive leaf before sending it out again.
Genesis 8:10 says Noah waits another seven days and sends the dove a second time. On that flight, the dove does not return, indicating that it can find a place to rest outside the Ark. The earlier flight had produced the famous olive-leaf sign, showing that the waters had receded from the earth’s surface.
The sequence contains repeated seven-day intervals. Noah first waits seven days before sending the dove, then waits another seven days after its return with the leaf. These intervals are distinct from the forty days of rain and the 150 days during which the floodwaters prevail.
The passage does not say that Noah immediately leaves the Ark when the dove fails to return. Genesis continues with later dates and a divine instruction before Noah, his family, and the animals finally go out. The seven-day answer therefore refers specifically to the interval between the leaf-bearing flight and the next release.