Answer
In Noah’s time, when the great flood destroyed the earth, the floodwaters poured forth from two sources: rainfall from above and, from below, vast amounts of subterranean water rising to the surface. Moses records what happened this way: “All the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened” (Genesis 7:11, NKJV).
The “fountains of the great deep” (ESV, NKJV, NASB) and the “windows of the heavens” (ESV) describe the origins of water that supplied the great flood. The global catastrophe occurred when “all the underground waters erupted from the earth,” and “the rain fell in mighty torrents from the sky,” and the flood waters rose (Genesis 7:11, NLT). “For forty days the flood kept coming on the earth, and . . . the waters increased” (verse 17). The earth was thrown into chaos, and all the land’s inhabitants except Noah and his family were swept away. But then “the fountains of the deep and the windows of the heavens were closed,” and “the rain from the heavens was restrained” (Genesis 8:2, ESV). The waters began to recede.
The word translated as “deep” (tehôm in Hebrew) in Genesis 7:11 and 8:2 also appears in the creation account (see Genesis 1:2) and in the Song of Moses remembering the drowning of Pharoah’s army in the Red Sea (see Exodus 15:5, 8). The word means “ocean” or “sea depths” and carries the sense of unfathomed waters (Psalm 104:6–9; Job 38:16; Jonah 2:3). It is sometimes used metaphorically in Scripture for desperate circumstances (Psalm 18:16; 30:1; 69:2, 15; 2 Samuel 22:17). Given its biblical association with catastrophic events and as the source of divine punishment, it’s unsurprising that the “great deep” is also a metaphor for God’s righteous judgments in Psalm 36:6.
The word translated as “fountain” (ma‘yənōṯ in Hebrew) in Genesis 7:11 and 8:2 refers to a natural flow of groundwater, such as a spring or headwater. The image of a fountain or spring is used figuratively throughout the Bible to represent God (Psalm 36:9; Jeremiah 2:13), wisdom (Proverbs 10:11; 13:14; 14:27; 16:22; 18:4), a spouse (Proverbs 5:18), prosperity (Hosea 13:15), the fear of the Lord (Proverbs 14:27), life (Ecclesiastes 12:6), and eternal life (Revelation 7:17; 21:6).
The exact phrase fountain of the deep only appears in the flood account and in wisdom literature. Proverbs 8:22–31 ties the wisdom of God with creation and draws readers back to some of the events of Genesis, including the creation of the firmament, the sky, and “the fountains of the deep” (verse 28, ESV).
When the time came for God to judge the world, He sent rain—lots of it—and He also brought floodwaters up from a place below the earth. The “fountains of the great deep” were broken up, releasing the pent-up water below and allowing it to gush up onto dry ground.
