Noah's Ark

There is a story found in the book of Genesis about a good man named Noah. Noah had three sons . God got mad at all the people because they did not live the way God tells everyone they should. So God decided to have a big flood to kill all the bad people, everyone except Noah and his family.

God told Noah to build a very big boat called an ark. To build it out of gopher wood. An ark big enough for Noah and his wife and his three sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth and their wives. An ark big enough for two of every animal .

It took Noah many years to finish building the ark. Then all the animals came into the ark safely with Noah and his family and God shut them in. God then sent a great rain that lasted for forty days! The water rose higher and higher till you could not see even the tallest mountain! Only Noah and his family and all the animals that were in the ark were saved.

The ark floated on the water for about seven months till it landed on the mountains of Ararat. There the ark stayed until the the tops of the mountains were seen. Noah waited, then he sent out a raven and a dove to see if there was dry land. But the dove could not find a place to rest, so it came back. He waited a week, then sent it out again. This time the dove came back with an olive leaf in her mouth. And Noah knew that the waters were lower. So he waited another week, then he sent her out again. She did not come back.

Noah looked on the surface of the earth, and beheld the earth was dry. Soon after, God told Noah to leave the ark, and bring out the animals, to let them multiply on earth. So Noah did so.

Noah built an altar to God and used some of the clean animals to make sacrifices. God saw this and sent a rainbow as a sign that he would never again send a flood to kill all the people.