Wikipedia's first sentence called it “noah and his family”. Today it says “time period chronicled in the bible between the fall of man and the genesis flood narrative in biblical cosmolo”.
Found by software in Wikipedia's own edit history. Not yet read by hand. The quoted words are Wikipedia's.
Compared with the live article on 2026-08-04.
We saved snapshots of this article over twenty years; you are reading the 2005 one. Red dashes: removed from Wikipedia since.Pale dots: rewritten; the numbered note shows what it says now.Red text: written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot.1 tap a number or a side note to jump between them
The opening as it read in 2005
According to the Bible , the only survivors from the antediluvian period were Noah and his family. (Image by Gustave Doré ) The antediluvian period was the period that preceded the Great Flood of Noah as related in the Book of Genesis in the Hebrew Bible . It was an important feature in versions of natural history that were formerly much more widely accepted, but accepted by creationists . The primary source of knowledge about the antediluvian period is Genesis, chapters 5 and 6.1
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 16210618.
The opening as it stood in 2010 4 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear
The Deluge ends the antediluvian (i.e., pre-Flood) period.(Image by Thomas Cole ) The antediluvian (or pre-diluvian ) period – meaning "before the deluge" – is the period referred to in the Bible between the Creation of the Earth and the Deluge (flood).The story takes up chapters 1-6 (excluding the flood narrative) of Genesis .In popular culture, the term is used to refer to any ancient and murky period.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 367983904.
The opening as it stood in 2015
The Creation, beginning of the antediluvian (i.e., pre-Flood) world.(Artist's rendition by James Tissot ) The antediluvian (alternatively pre-diluvian or pre-Flood ) period —meaning "before the deluge"—is the period referred to in the Bible between the Fall of man and the Deluge (flood) in the biblical cosmology . The narrative takes up chapters 1-6 (excluding the flood narrative) of Genesis . The term found its way into early geology and lingered in science until the late Victorian era . Colloquially, the term is used to refer to any ancient and murky period.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 659650649.
The opening as it stood in 2020
The Creation, beginning of the Antediluvian (i.e., Pre-Flood) world. (Artist's rendition by James Tissot .) Look up antediluvian in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.The antediluvian (alternatively pre-diluvian or pre-flood ) period is the time period chronicled in the Bible between the fall of humans and the Genesis flood narrative in the biblical cosmology .The term was coined by Thomas Browne .The narrative takes up chapters 1–6 (excluding the flood narrative) of the Book of Genesis .The term found its way into early geology and science until the late Victorian era . Colloquially, the term is used to refer to any ancient and murky period.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 956103166.
The opening as it stood on October 6, 2023
Dealing about the time period before the flood For the geological period with lower worldwide sea levels, see Last glacial period . The Creation, beginning of the Antediluvian (i.e., Pre-Flood) world. (Artist's rendition by James Tissot .) Look up antediluvian in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. The antediluvian (alternatively pre-diluvian or pre-flood ) period is the time period chronicled in the Bible between the fall of man and the Genesis flood narrative in biblical cosmology . The term was coined by Thomas Browne . The narrative takes up chapters 1–6 (excluding the flood narrative) of the Book of Genesis . The term found its way into early geology and science until the late Victorian era . Colloquially, the term is used to refer to any ancient and murky period.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1176538239.
The opening as it stood in 2025
Dealing about the time period before the flood For the geological period with lower worldwide sea levels, see Last glacial period . The Creation, beginning of the Antediluvian (i.e., Pre-Flood) world. (Artist's rendition by James Tissot .) Look up antediluvian in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. The antediluvian (alternatively pre-diluvian or pre-flood ) period is the time period chronicled in the Bible between the fall of man and the Genesis flood narrative in biblical cosmology . The term was coined by Thomas Browne (1605–1682). The narrative takes up chapters 1–6 (excluding the flood narrative) of the Book of Genesis . The term found its way into early geology and science until the late Victorian era . Colloquially, the term is used to refer to any ancient and murky period.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1298241958. This is our newest snapshot; the live article may have moved again since.
Today
Wikipedia's first sentence called it “noah and his family”. Today it says “time period chronicled in the bible between the fall of man and the genesis flood narrative in biblical cosmolo”. Read the current article and compare.
2005
2010
2015
2020
Oct '23
2025
Counts in the opening at each snapshot. Green: the word gained ground. Red: it was cut. Grey: no change.
What Wikipedia says this is
Every article opens by defining its subject. This one was redefined since 2005, and today's defining sentence is their current revision.
Then
noah and his family
Now
time period chronicled in the bible between the fall of man and the genesis flood narrative in biblical cosmolo
Struck red text is no longer in the article; dotted amber text was rewritten. Every revision id links to Wikipedia's copy; the text shown is our own saved copy. Data: /data. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA; quoted for the record; not affiliated with Wikipedia.