When
The Rains Came That First Time, So Long Ago...
The LORD 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 the LORD was sorry that he had made
man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. So the LORD
said, "I will blot out man whom I have created from the
face of the ground, man and beast and creeping things and birds
of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them." But
Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD. These are the generations
of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation;
Noah walked with God. Now the earth was corrupt in God's sight,
and the earth was filled with violence. And God saw the earth,
and behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their
way upon the earth. And God said to Noah, "I have determined
to make an end of all flesh; for the earth is filled with violence
through them; behold, I will destroy them with the earth. Make
yourself an ark of gopher wood; make rooms in the ark, and cover
it inside and out with pitch. This is how you are to make it:
the length of the ark three hundred cubits, its breadth fifty
cubits, and its height thirty cubits. Make a roof for the ark,
and finish it to a cubit above; and set the door of the ark
in its side; make it with lower, second, and third decks. For
behold, I will bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy
all flesh in which is the breath of life from under heaven;
everything that is on the earth shall die. But I will establish
my covenant with you; and you shall come into the ark, you,
your sons, your wife, and your sons' wives with you. And of
every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring two of every
sort into the ark, to keep them alive with you; they shall be
male and female. Of the birds according to their kinds, and
of the animals according to their kinds, of every creeping thing
of the ground according to its kind, two of every sort shall
come in to you, to keep them alive. Also take with you every
sort of food that is eaten, and store it up; and it shall serve
as food for you and for them." Noah did this; he did all
that God commanded him. Then the LORD said to Noah, "Go
into the ark, you and all your household, for I have seen that
you are righteous before me in this generation. For in seven
days I will send rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights;
and every living thing that I have made I will blot out from
the face of the ground." And Noah did all that the LORD
had commanded him. On that day all the fountains of the great
deep burst forth, and the windows of the heavens were opened.
The flood continued forty days upon the earth; and the waters
increased, and bore up the ark, and it rose high above the earth.
The waters prevailed and increased greatly upon the earth; and
the ark floated on the face of the waters. And the waters prevailed
so mightily upon the earth that all the high mountains under
the whole heaven were covered; the waters prevailed above the
mountains, covering them fifteen cubits deep. And all flesh
died that moved upon the earth, birds, cattle, beasts, all swarming
creatures that swarm upon the earth, and every man; everything
on the dry land in whose nostrils was the breath of life died.
He blotted out every living thing that was upon the face of
the ground, man and animals and creeping things and birds of
the air; they were blotted out from the earth. Only Noah was
left, and those that were with him in the ark. And the waters
prevailed upon the earth a hundred and fifty days. But God remembered
Noah and all the beasts and all the cattle that were with him
in the ark. And God made a wind blow over the earth, and the
waters subsided; the fountains of the deep and the windows of
the heavens were closed, the rain from the heavens was restrained,
and the waters receded from the earth continually. At the end
of a hundred and fifty days the waters had abated; and in the
seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, the ark
came to rest upon the mountains of Ar'arat. And the waters continued
to abate until the tenth month; in the tenth month, on the first
day of the month, the tops of the mountains were seen. At the
end of forty days Noah opened the window of the ark which he
had made, and sent forth a raven; and it went to and fro until
the waters were dried up from the earth. Then he sent forth
a dove from him, to see if the waters had subsided from the
face of the ground; but the dove found no place to set her foot,
and she returned to him to the ark, for the waters were still
on the face of the whole earth. So he put forth his hand and
took her and brought her into the ark with him. He waited another
seven days, and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark;
and the dove came back to him in the evening, and lo, in her
mouth a freshly plucked olive leaf; so Noah knew that the waters
had subsided from the earth. Then God said to Noah, "Go
forth from the ark, you and your wife, and your sons and your
sons' wives with you. Bring forth with you every living thing
that is with you of all flesh - birds and animals and every
creeping thing that creeps on the earth - that they may breed
abundantly on the earth, and be fruitful and multiply upon the
earth." So Noah went forth, and his sons and his wife and
his sons' wives with him. And every beast, every creeping thing,
and every bird, everything that moves upon the earth, went forth
by families out of the ark. Then Noah built an altar to the
LORD, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird,
and offered burnt offerings on the altar. And when the LORD
smelled the pleasing odor, the LORD said in his heart, "I
will never again curse the ground because of man, for the imagination
of man's heart is evil from his youth; neither will I ever again
destroy every living creature as I have done. While the earth
remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter,
day and night, shall not cease." From that first great
journal, The Bible
