There was a time long ago, when the world had become a wicked place.There were wars and murders, there was robbing and burning.Conquering armies ravaged the land, and families lived in the shadow of violence.Greed and selfishness were everywhere.And there was a meanness of spirit in people that made them evil and cruel.Now one day God looked down on the earth from up in heaven.He saw that the beautiful place he had made was full of violence and hate.And that it was people who had made the world such an evil place.And it grieved him to his heart.In his anger, God said in a voice of thunder,I will destroy all those whom I have created.But in that dark time, there was one good righteous man named Noah,who lived with his wife and three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and their wives.Noah and his family tended their animals with care and love,and in all things they obeyed the laws of God.This is the story of Noah and his family,and of the great thing they did at the dawn of time.But the Lord remembered Noah and said,You have found favor in my sight.You and your family will be spared.And then God told Noah what he must do.The Lord said, I will cause a great flood to happen,and everything that is on the earth shall die.You must make an ark, and this is how you are to make it.The length of the ark shall be 450 feet,its width 75 feet,and its height 45 feet.Make a sturdy roof for the ark,Noah proceeded to do exactly as the Lord had commanded.He and his sons journeyed into the forest,and cut logs of cypress wood.They brought the logs back, and measured them,and cut them at the lengths according to God's instructions.Noah and his sons sawed the wood, and hammered the pegs.The sound of hammers, and the singing of cypresses,were heard in the forest.Noah cut the wood, and hammered the pegs.The sound of hammers, and the singing of saws,and the sweet smell of cypress wood filled the air.Slowly the ark began to take shapeunder the hands of Noah and his sons.Months went by, and the wooden skeleton of a great shiprose in the midst of Noah's fields.It was so wide, it covered an entire vineyard.It stood so high, that the top of it could be seen from miles away.Passing caravans would leave their trailsto see the great vessel being built.And people laughed at Noah for building an ark on dry ground.Noah and his sons kept on with their labor,until the day came when the great ark was finished.And it was a great ark, high and wide, thick and strong.Then once more God spoke to Noah.In seven days I will send a great flood,and here is what I want of you.Take with you into the ark two of every living thing,great or small, that walks or creeps or flies.Take two of each, male and female,so all can survive and replenish the earth.The animals obeyed God's call,and came from all corners of the earth.The animals obeyed God's call,and came from all corners of the earth.The beasts, birds and other creatures of the earthmade their way toward the ark,and the species were without number,and the procession was without end.Now the Lord said to Noah,Take food for you and your family,and for each kind of animal according to its needs.Store it inside the ark,so each will have enough to eat and drink for a long time.And when they had finished collecting all the food and water,Noah and his wife, his sons and their wives,all climbed aboard, stored their belongings and made ready.When all was finished,Noah looked out on the world from the door of the ark.And then the animals came.In swarms, in packs, in droves,in herds and flocks.From every quarter they descended on Noah's fieldsand stopped at the door of the great ship.For seven days,the parade of animals made their way up the wooden rampand into the ark.Two by two, creatures all,large and small,foul and clean, good and mean,fierce and tame, in they came,pair by pair, gross and fair,all that walked, crawled or stalked on dry earth found a birth.A place was there for every species and type.Still, the procession continued in an endless stream.And on the seventh day,two creatures of every kind on earthwere safely on board the ark,down to the smallest insect.The world of God's creatures was contained in Noah's great ark.When at last the work was done,and all the creatures were settled in perches and stalls,clouds darkened the sky.Noah lifted the ropes attached to the great doors of the arkand pulled with all his strength.Slowly, they swung shut.And then the windows of the heavens openedand the rains began to fall.Lightly at first,the rains fell as though nothing more than a summer shower.The rains increased,creating puddles that grew into ponds.The ponds grew into lakes,and the lakes overflowed into streams.The streams swelled into rivers,and the rivers grew into raging torrents that flowed over the earthuntil they formed a vast flood that swept away everything in its path.Now the full force of the flood pounded the earth,uprooting trees and destroying everything in its fury.The floodwaters rose and melted the huge ark off the landuntil it floated on a sea of destruction.The rising tide continued without stop.This was the flood that the Lord had ordained,which would destroy all life on earth.All that was inside the ark was safe,but everything on land, with a breath of life, perished.The floodwaters rose higher stilluntil even the highest mountains were covered.The world submerged under the waters of devastation was silent,gone were the evil ways that had brought on the flood.All was still beneath the endless world of water.In that eerie calm, there was only peace.But high above the earth, the rains continued.It rained for 40 days and nights.The rain was so thick that it could cover the entire earth.The rain was so thick that it could cover the entire earth.The rain was so thick that it could cover the entire earth.The rains continued.It rained for 40 days and 40 nights.The animals huddled in their berths and were frightened.But God remembered Noah and made a wind blow over the earth,and the seas grew calm.Noah and his family tended to each of the animals in the ark,giving each one food according to its kind.But Noah did not allow one animal to prey on another.With only two of each, the ark was no place for devouring each other.The elephants, lions, and other creatures of the junglewere restless in their cramped quarters.The birds missed the air and sky,the land animals their hills and mountains.Noah and his family cared for them,and the creatures responded with the coos and howls,the squawks and growls.It was their language.At last, the sun broke through the cloudsand blessed the quietly drifting ark with its warmth,and life renewed itself on board the ark.The Ark of the CovenantNoah looked down into the water and saw a welcome sight.Dolphins and whales and all the other creatures of the deep.And Noah knew then that whatever lived in water had survived.Days turned into weeks,and weeks into months,and still the waters prevailed over the earth.At night, the only sounds were the endless waterslapping at the sides of the ark,the creaking of her decks and timbers,and the cries of the animals that come to life after dark.The Ark of the CovenantBut for Noah, there was neither rest nor peace.Would the journey never end?Would the waters never recede?The Ark of the CovenantThe Ark of the CovenantIn the seventh month, the ark came to rest on the top of Mount Ararat.Noah looked out.The ark was surrounded by water still,but now, all around, the tops of mountains could be seen.So Noah opened the window of the ark and sent forth a raven.The RavenHe also sent forth a doveto see if the waters had subsided from the face of the earth.The raven was never seen again.The dove flew far and wideand could find no place to set her foot.So she returned to the ark.She bore no signs of new growth on the land.So Noah returned her to her perch.He waited another seven days and again sent the dove out of the ark,and again she spread her wings and flew out over the waters.Then, just as the sun was setting,the dove reappeared in the sky,and as she neared, Noah saw that she held in her beak a freshly plucked olive leaf.So Noah knew that life had once again returned to the earth.Noah's ArkNoah's ArkWith time, a new world emerged from beneath the waters.From the deck of the ark, Noah could see mountains and hillsand solid ground on which to set foot,and he knew that the time had come to leave the ark.Noah's ArkAnd God spoke to Noah and said,Go forth from the ark, you and your family.Set free every living thing that is with you,birds and animals and every creeping thing,that they may breed abundantly and multiply upon the earth.Noah's ArkAnd Noah with his sons released all the animals.Each went its own way, wandering off to build a new home and fill the earth with life.Noah watched all the creatures that had been entrusted to his caremake their way into a reborn world.Noah's ArkNoah's ArkAnd Noah and his family left the great and mighty arkthat had served them and the animals so well during the weeks and months of the flood.Noah's ArkNoah's ArkNoah's ArkAnd God said to Noah, Here is my promise to you.Never again will I curse the earth because of men.Neither will I ever again destroy every living creature as I have done.Noah's ArkI set my bow in the clouds, and it shall be a sign of that promise.Whenever I bring clouds over the earth, and the bow is seen in the clouds,I will remember my promise to you and all creatures.From this time forward, seed time and harvest, summer and winter, day and night shall not cease.Noah's ArkNoah's family offered thanks.And Noah planted a vineyard.Noah's ArkNoah's ArkNoah's Ark