Noah’s Ark: the flood and the rainbow (Genesis 6–9)

Genesis describes a world that has gone badly wrong: the earth is full of violence, and God is grieved in his heart.

A man who listened

Noah is described as righteous and blameless, a man who walked with God. God tells him to build an ark of gopher wood, with rooms and pitch inside and out, and to bring his family and pairs of every kind of animal aboard.

The waters rise

The rain falls for forty days and nights. The fountains of the deep break open and the waters cover even the mountains. Inside the ark, Noah and those with him are kept safe while everything else is swept away.

The dove and the rainbow

As the waters go down, the ark comes to rest on the mountains of Ararat. Noah sends out a raven, then a dove; the second time, the dove returns with an olive leaf. When the family steps onto dry ground, God makes a covenant with them and every living creature, and sets his bow in the clouds as its sign.

Questions to carry

What does Noah’s quiet obedience look like in an ordinary week? What promise do you need to remember when things feel flooded?

Read the chapter

Read Genesis 6 and continue through Genesis 9 for the whole account.