those whom the Lord of Heaven saved on board the Ark,
when the Holy God everlasting, the steadfast King, let 1405
[the flood] rise up with ever-increasing[18] stream.




XVII.


Then God, Wielder of Victory, was mindful of those
floating on the deep, the son of Lamech and all his 1410
family, whom the Source of Light and Life had locked
up against the water in the bosom of the ship. The
Lord of mankind led the heroes by his Word over far
lands. Soon the flood began to abate; the deluge ebbed,
dark under the sky: the true God had turned back again 1405
the foaming waves, for his children; the Glorious One
[had] stilled the cataracts of rain. For 150 nights under
the skies the foamy ship floated, from the time when
the well-nailed sides of this best of boats first arose
upon the flood until this number of days of dire time 1420
had passed. Then the Ark of Noe, greatest of ocean-
homes, settled on high with its burden on the hills which
are called Armenia: there the pious son of Lamech 1425
awaited the sure promises for a long time, when the
Keeper of Life, the Almighty King, gave him relief from
the perilous chances which he had long undergone,
when the dark waves bore him abroad on the deep over 1430
far countries.