Noah and the Great Flood

A long time after God made the world, people everywhere had grown cruel, and it made God's heart very sad. But one man was different. His name was Noah, and Noah walked with God.

God told Noah, "Build an ark" — a great big boat with rooms inside, a window, and a door in the side. A flood was coming, God said. "But you will come into the ark — you, your wife, your sons and their wives. Bring two of every kind of animal, and food for everyone." Noah did everything just as God told him.

In went Noah and his family. In came the animals, two by two. Then the LORD shut the door. Rain fell forty days and forty nights, until the water covered even the mountains. It was a sad time — everything left outside was lost. But inside the ark, all were safe.

God remembered Noah and every animal with him. He sent a wind, and slowly the waters went down, and the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat. Noah sent out a dove, and she came back with a fresh olive leaf in her beak. Things were growing again!

At last the ground was dry, and God said, "Come out of the ark." Out came Noah's family, and out came all the animals. Then Noah built an altar and worshipped the LORD.

God promised Noah and every living creature: never again would a flood cover the whole earth. And God set His rainbow in the clouds as the sign of that promise. "When the rainbow is in the cloud," God said, "I will look at it and remember."