Noah's Ark
God instructed Noah to build an ark.
God saw how great wickedness had become and decided to wipe mankind from the face of the earth. However, one righteous man among all the people of that time, Noah found favor in God's eyes. With very specific instructions, God told Noah to build an ark for him and his family in preparation for a catastrophic flood that would destroy every living thing on earth.
God also instructed Noah to bring into the ark two of all living creatures, both male and female, and seven pairs of all the clean animals, along with every kind of food to be stored for the animals and his family while on the ark. Noah obeyed everything God commanded him to do.
After they entered the ark, rain fell on the earth for a period of forty days and nights. The waters flooded the earth for a hundred and fifty days, and every living thing on the face of the earth died. As the waters receded, the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat. Noah and his family continued to wait for almost eight more months while the surface of the earth dried out.
Finally after an entire year, God invited Noah to come out of the ark. Immediately, he built an altar and worshiped the Lord with burnt offerings from some of the clean animals. God was pleased with the offerings and promised never again to destroy all the living creatures as he had just done. Later God established a covenant with Noah: "Never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth." As a sign of this everlasting covenant God set a rainbow in the clouds.
The Scripture
Genesis 6:3-9:19
The Warning Of God
And the Lord said, My Spirit shall not always strive wit man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years. There were giants in the Earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and that they bore children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown. And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the Earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the Lord that He had made man on the Earth and it grieved Him Heart. And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the Earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repents Me that I have made them.
Noah The Ark
But Noah found Grace in the sight of the Lord. These are the generation of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with Go. And Noah begat three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. The Earth also was corrupt before God, and the Earth was filled with violence. And God looked upon the Earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the Earth. And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before Me; for the Earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the Earth. Make thee an Ark of gopher wood; rooms shall you make in the Ark, and shall pitch it within and without pitch. And this is the fashion which you shall make it of: The length of the Ark shall be three hundred cubits, the width of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits. (450 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet high) A window shall you make to the Ark, and in a cubit shall you finish it above; and the door of the Ark shall you set in the side thereof; with lower, second, and third stories shall you make it. And behold, I , even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the Earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and every thing that is in the Earth shall die. But with you will I establish My Covenant; and you shall come into the Ark, you, and your sons, and your wife, and your son's wives with you. And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shall you bring into the Ark, to keep them alive with you; they shall be male and female. Of fowls after their kind, and of cattle after their kind, of every creeping thing of the Earth after his kind, two of every sort shall come unto you, to keep them alive. And take you unto you of all food that is eaten, and you shall gather it to you; and it shall be for food for you, and for them. Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he.
God's Command To Enter The Ark
And the Lord said unto Noah, Come thou and all your house into the Ark; for you have I seen righteous before Me in the generation. Of every clean beast you shall take to you by sevens, the male and his female: and of beasts that are not clean by two, the male and his female. Of fowls also of the air by sevens, the male and the female; to keep seed alive upon the face of all the Earth. For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the Earth forty days and forty nights; and every living substance that I have made will I destroy from off the face of the Earth. And Noah did according unto all that the Lord commanded him.
The Flood Begins
And Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters was upon the Earth. And Noah went in, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives with him, into the Ark, because of the waters of the flood. Of clean beasts, and of beasts that are not clean, and of fowls, and of every thing that creeps upon the Earth. There went in two and two unto Noah into the Ark, the male and female, as God had commanded Noah. And it came to pass after seven days, that the waters of the flood were upon the Earth. In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the foundations of great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened. And the rain was upon the Earth forty days and forty nights. In the selfsame day entered Noah, and Shem, and Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noah's wife, and the three wives of his sons with them, into the Ark. They, and every beast after his kind, and all the cattle after their kind, and every creeping thing that creeps upon the Earth after his kind, and every fowl after his kind, every bird of every sort. And they went in unto Noah into the Ark, two and two of all flesh, wherein is the breath of life. And they went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God had commanded him: and the Lord shut him in. And the flood was forty days upon the Earth; and the waters increased, and bore up the Ark, and it was lift up above the Earth. And the waters prevailed, and were increased greatly upon the Earth; and the Ark went upon the face of the waters. And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the Earth; and all the high hills, that were under the whole heaven, were covered. Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail; and the mountains were covered. And all flesh died that moved upon the Earth, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of beast, and of every creeping thing that creeps upon the Earth, and every man: All in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land, died. And every living substance was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground, both man, and cattle, and creeping things, and the fowl of the heaven; and they were destroyed from the Earth: and Noah only remained alive, and they who were with him in the Ark. And the waters prevailed upon the Earth an hundred and fifty days.
The Waters Recede
And God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the cattle that was with him in the Ark; and God made a wind to pass over the Earth, and the waters assuaged. The fountains also of the deep and the windows of heaven were stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained. And the waters returned from off the Earth continually: and after the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters were abated. And the Ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat. And the waters decreased continually until the tenth month: in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, were the tops of the mountains seen. And it came to pass at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the Ark which he had made. And he sent forth a raven, which went forth to and fro, until the waters were dried up from off the Earth. Also he sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters were abated from off the face of the ground; But the dove found no rest for the sole of her foot, and she returned unto him into the Ark, for the waters were on the face of the whole Earth: then he put forth his hand, and took her, and pulled her in unto him into the Ark. And he stayed yet other seven days; and again he sent forth the dove out of the Ark; And the dove came in to him in the evening; and, lo, in her mouth was an olive leaf plucked off; so Noah knew that the waters were abated from off the Earth. And he stayed yet other seven days; and sent forth the dove; which returned not again unto him any more. And it came to pass in the six hundredth and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried up from off the Earth: and Noah removed the covering of the Ark, and looked, and, behold, the face of the ground was dry. And in the second month, on the seven and twentieth day of the month, was the Earth dried.
Leaving the Ark
And God spoke unto Noah, saying Go forth of the Ark, you, and your wife, and your sons, and your son's wives with you. Bring forth with you every living thing that is with you, of all flesh, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of every creeping thing that creeps upon the Earth; that they may breed abundantly in the Earth, and be fruitful, and multiply upon the Earth. And Noah went forth, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives with him. Every beast, every creeping thing, and every fowl, and whatsoever creeps upon the Earth, after their kinds, went forth out of the Ark.
Noah's Sacrifice
And Noah built an Alter unto the Lord; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered Burnt Offerings on the Altar. And the Lord smelled a sweet savor; and the Lord said in His Heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake; for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done. While the Earth remained, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.
The Covenant
And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the Earth. And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the Earth, and upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moves upon the Earth, and upon all the fish of the sea; into your hand are they delivered. Every moving thing that lives shall be meat for you; even as the green her have I have given you all things. But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall you not eat. And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the and of man; at the hand of every man's brother will I require the life of man. Whoso sheds man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the Image of God made He man. And you, be ye fruitful, and multiply; bring forth abundantly in the Earth, and multiply therein. And God spoke unto Noah, and to his sons with him, saying, And I, behold, I establish My Covenant with you, and with your seed after you; And with every living creature that is with you, of the fowl, of the cattle, and of every beast of the Earth with you; form all that go out of the Ark, to every beast of the Earth. And I will establish My Covenant with you, neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the Earth. And God said, This is the token of the Covenant which I make between Me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations. I do set My bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a Covenant between Me and the Earth. And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the Earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud (rainbow). And I will remember My Covenant, which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh. And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the Everlasting Covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the Earth. And God said unto Noah, This is the token of the Covenant, which I have established between Me and all flesh that is upon the Earth. And the sons of Noah, who went forth of the Ark, were Shem, and Ham, and Japheth: and Ham is the father of Canaan. These are the three sons of Noah: and of them was the whole Earth overspread.