Where is the story of Noah and the flood in the Bible?
The story of Noah and the flood is told in chapters 6-9 of Genesis, the first book of the Bible. The account opens with the spread of evil on the earth, while Noah is introduced as "a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time." God commands Noah to build an ark of…
The story of Noah and the flood is told in chapters 6-9 of Genesis, the first book of the Bible. The account opens with the spread of evil on the earth, while Noah is introduced as "a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time." God commands Noah to build an ark of gopher wood, giving its measurements in detail; Noah's family and pairs of every living creature are to be taken aboard. In Genesis 7 the flood begins: rain falls forty days and forty nights, and the waters rise above the highest mountains. When the waters recede, the ark comes to rest on the mountains of Ararat; Noah sends out first a raven, then a dove, and the dove's return with an olive leaf signals that the waters have gone down — the image of the dove with an olive branch, known today as a symbol of peace, comes from this scene. The climax is the covenant of Genesis 9: God promises never again to destroy the earth by flood and points to the rainbow as the sign of that promise. Later books keep remembering Noah: Isaiah recalls the post-flood promise as "the days of Noah"; in the New Testament Jesus uses the days before the flood as an example in his call to watchfulness; Hebrews counts Noah among the heroes of faith; 1 and 2 Peter also refer to the flood. Similar flood narratives exist in ancient Mesopotamian literature (such as the Epic of Gilgamesh); what sets the Genesis account apart is its framing of the event within the justice and covenant promise of the one God. The whole narrative can be read on this site on the Genesis 6-9 pages.