Editing Chiastic structure (section)

=== Genesis flood narrative ===
[[Gordon Wenham]] (1978) analyzed the [[Genesis flood narrative]] and concluded that it is essentially an elaborate chiasm.<ref name="Wenham">Gordon J. Wenham, "The Coherence of the Flood Narrative" ''Vetus Testamentum'' 28 (1978) 336–348.</ref> Based on the earlier study of grammatical structure by [[F. I. Andersen]] (1974),<ref name="Andersen">[[F. I. Andersen]], ''The Sentence in Biblical Hebrew'' (The Hague, 1974).</ref> Wenham illustrated a chiastic structure as displayed in the following two tables.

{| class="wikitable" 
|-
|+ Chiastic structure of the [[Genesis flood narrative]]
|-
|A: Noah and his sons (Gen 6:10)
:B: All life on earth (6:13:a)
::C: Curse on earth (6:13:b)
:::D: Flood announced (6:7)
::::E: Ark (6:14-16)
:::::F: All living creatures (6:17–20 )
::::::G: Food (6:21)
:::::::H: Animals in man's hands (7:2–3)
::::::::I: Entering the Ark (7:13–16)
:::::::::J: Waters increase (7:17–20)
::::::::::X: God remembers Noah (8:1)
:::::::::J': Waters decrease (8:13–14)
::::::::I': Exiting the Ark (8:15–19) 
:::::::H': Animals (9:2,3)
::::::G': Food (9:3,4)
:::::F': All living creatures (9:10a)
::::E': Ark (9:10b)
:::D': No flood in future (9:11)
::C': Blessing on earth (9:12–17)
:B': All life on earth (9:16)
A': Noah and his sons (9:18,19a)
|}

Within this overall structure, there is a numerical mini-chiasm of 7s, 40s, and 150s:
{| class="wikitable" 
|-
|+ Chiasm of the numbers 7, 40, and 150
|-
|α: Seven days waiting to enter Ark (7:4)
:β: Second mention of seven days waiting (7:10)
::γ: 40 days (7:17)
:::δ: 150 days (7:24)
::::χ: God remembers Noah (8:1)
:::δ': 150 days (8:3)
::γ': 40 days (8:6)
:β': Seven days waiting for dove (8:10)
α': Second seven days waiting for dove (8:12)
|}