Die SchöpfungPatriarchLeaderc. 2900–1950 BC (according to biblical chronology)
Noah was a righteous man who lived in a time when the world was full of evil and violence. God chose him to build an ark to save his family and the animals from the great flood. He is regarded as the ancestor of all humanity after the flood and received the first covenant with the rainbow as a sign.
In a time when human wickedness was great on the earth, Noah found favor in the Lord's eyes because he was a righteous and blameless man who walked with God.
God revealed to Noah that He would destroy the earth with a flood and gave him detailed instructions to build an ark of cypress wood to save his family and the animals.
13So God said to Noah, "The end of all flesh has come before me, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. And behold, I am about to destroy them, along with the earth.
14Make yourself an ark of cypress wood;* make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out. [*Footnote: Hebrew gopher wood; the exact kind of tree is unknown.]
16Make a roof for the ark,* finishing it to a cubit from the top, and put a door in the side of the ark. Build it with lower, middle, and upper decks. [*Footnote: The Hebrew word rendered 'roof' is uncertain; it may mean an opening for light.]
17As for me, I am about to bring the floodwaters on the earth, to destroy all flesh under the heavens that has the breath of life in it. Everything on the earth will perish.
Noah entered the ark with his family and all the animals as God had commanded. Then God caused it to rain for forty days and forty nights, and the water covered the whole earth.
4For in seven days from now I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights, and I will wipe from the face of the ground every living thing I have made."
11In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month—on that day all the springs of the great deep burst open, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened.
After the waters had receded, Noah sent out a dove that returned with an olive leaf. Finally, God opened the ark, and Noah could go out with his family and all the animals.
1But God remembered Noah and every living creature and all the animals that were with him in the ark. God sent a wind sweeping over the earth, and the waters began to subside.
11Toward evening the dove came back to him, and there in its beak was a freshly plucked olive leaf. Then Noah knew that the waters had gone down from the earth.
13In the six hundred and first year, on the first day of the first month, the waters had dried up from the earth. Noah removed the covering of the ark and looked out, and the surface of the ground was dry.
Noah's Sacrifice and God's Covenant with the Rainbow
Noah built an altar and offered sacrifices to the Lord. God established a covenant with Noah and promised never again to destroy the earth with a flood, setting the rainbow as a sign of this covenant.
21The LORD smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: "Never again will I curse the ground because of man, for the inclination of the human heart is evil from his youth. Never again will I strike down every living thing as I have done.
10and with every living creature that is with you—the birds, the livestock, and all the wild animals with you, every creature that came out of the ark, every living thing on earth.
11I establish my covenant with you: never again will all flesh be destroyed by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to devastate the earth."
12And God said, "This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come:
15I will remember my covenant between me and you and every living creature of all flesh, and never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all flesh.
The book of Hebrews highlights Noah as an example of faith, since he built the ark in reverence to save his household and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith. Peter also mentions Noah as a preacher of righteousness.
7By faith Noah, warned by God about things not yet seen, in reverent fear built an ark to save his household. Through it he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.
5and if he did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, when he brought the flood upon a world of the ungodly;
20who long ago were disobedient, while God waited patiently in the days of Noah as the ark was being built. In it only a few—eight souls in all—were brought safely through the water.