Noah's Ark

• Found: Genesis chapters 6 - 9

The Evil World (Genesis 6)

After God made Adam and Eve, they had children, their children had children and so on until there was a great number of people on the Earth. However the people were wicked and turned away from God. God was sorry He had made man, so decided that He would wipe out every person on the planet with a great flood.

There was one man who was good in God's eyes, though, and his name was Noah. God told Noah to build a big boat out of gopher wood, and to put in it all the animals that God brought to him, because a great flood was coming.

The Flood Comes (Genesis 7)

Noah built his ark as the Lord had told him. It took him many years, but he kept on. When he was finished, God told him he had a week until the flood came. All kinds of animals came to the ark, in sevens and in twos, and God shut them in the ark with Noah, his wife, his three sons (Shem, Ham and Japheth) and their wives.

The rains started. It rained for forty days and forty nights. The waters rose and lifted up the ark. They rose over all the hills so the Earth was completely covered. All the land animals and birds were killed, apart from those who were safe in the ark.

The Waters Go Down (Genesis 8)

After some months the waters started to go down again and eventually the tops of the mountains could be seen. The ark came to rest on mount Ararat and Noah opened the window on the ark to see the newly cleansed world. He sent out a raven, which didn't return, so he sent out a dove. The dove could find no place to rest, so came back again. Noah waited a week and again sent out the dove. This time it returned with an olive branch in its mouth. Another week later Noah sent the dove out again. This time it didn't return. It was nearly time to leave the ark.

One year after entering the ark, God told Noah it was time to leave. Noah and his family and all the animals came out of the ark and walked on the new land.

The Promise (Genesis 9)

When God brought Noah out of the ark he told him to go forth and multiply. His family and the animals they had saved would repopulate the Earth. He also made a promise to Noah. Never again would He destroy the Earth with a flood. He left a reminder of this promise in the sky: a rainbow, which appears whenever it rains.

Noah lived to be nine hundred and fifty years old before he died.

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