Old Testament Story List

The Flood

It came to pass that, when men multiplied and spread over the earth, God looked at them and found that there was much wickedness among them. He was sorry He had created Man and decided to destroy him - not only man, but all living things, beasts, creeping things, and the fowls of the air.

But there was one man named Noah, a descend-

"Then go into the ark and take with you your wife, your sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and their wives. Take a pair of every sort of living animal into the ark to keep them alive with you, and also enough food for you and for them."

Noah did as God told him, and then the rain began. For forty days and forty nights it fell, until all the mountains were covered and every living thing had been destroyed. Only Noah, and all those that were with him in the ark, remained alive.

For one hundred and fifty days the waters covered the earth. Then God made a wind pass over the earth, and the waters began to recede. On the seventeenth day of the seventh month, the ark came to rest on Mt. Ararat.

Noah let loose a raven, which flew about and did not return, and also a dove, which could find no place to rest and so came back. Noah waited seven more days and again let the dove fly out. That evening the bird returned with an olive leaf in her mouth, so Noah knew that the waters were drying and that the trees were growing again.

In another month, they went out from the ark, for the land was dry at last. They were joyful and offered praise and thanksgiving to God. The animals set out for the forests and plans, and Noah and his sons went forth to build new homes.

God blessed Noah and his sons and made them a promise: that while the earth remained, there should be seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, and day and night. And He set a rainbow to be in the clouds when it rained, to remind Noah and his descendants that the waters should never again become a flood to destroy the earth.