Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail; and the mountains were covered.
When God judges He will overcome; if He begin, He will make an end. The gradual advances of His judgments, meant to bring sinners to repentance, are often twisted into hardening them in their presumption instead. No height on earth escapes His reach; mountains and hills are nothing to Him, and in vain do men flee to them when His hand comes down.
AI summary
Commenting on Genesis 7:17-20
The text says all that had the breath of life in their nostrils died, that excludes fishes, which have no lungs and live in water, not on dry land. Some Jews fancy the waters scalded the fish, but I find no evidence for such a tale.
AI summary
Fifteen cubits upward . . . and the mountains were covered--twenty-two and a half feet above the summits of the highest hills. The language is not consistent with the theory of a partial deluge.