The Ark, God’s way of saving people from the Flood

Genesis 7:1 – 10:32. Noah built a large boat or Ark at God’s instruction because God had asked him to save people and animals from the Flood that was coming.

In Hebrew tebah means: boat or vessel.

The ark’s size was about – 154 meters long, 25.5 meters wide and 15 meters high, or 525 feet long, 87 feet wide, 52 feet high – larger than any seagoing vessel until the 20th century.

It was covered with resin on the inside and on the outside.

After the Flood, Noah was given a rainbow, made up of seven colors, as a sign that God would not totally flood the earth again.

Background Reading:

Entering the Ark

7:1 Then the LORD told Noah, “Come—you and all your household—into the ark, because I’ve seen that you alone are righteous in this generation. 2 You are to take with you seven pairs of every clean animal, a male and its mate, and two of the unclean animals, a male and its mate; 3 along with seven pairs of the flying birds, male and female, in order to keep their offspring alive on the surface of all the earth. 4 Seven days from now I’ll send rain on the earth for 40 days and 40 nights, and I’ll destroy every living creature that I’ve made.”

5 Noah did everything that the LORD commanded.

The Flood Begins

6 Noah was 600 years old when water began to flood the earth. 7 Noah, his sons, his wife, and his sons’ wives entered the ark with him before the flood waters arrived. 8 From both clean and unclean animals, from birds, and from everything that crawls on the ground, 9 two by two, male and female, they entered the ark to join Noah, just as God had commanded.

10 Seven days later, the flooding started. 11 On the seventeenth day of the second month, when Noah was 600 years old, all the springs of the great deep burst open, the floodgates of the heavens were opened, 12 and it rained throughout the earth for 40 days and 40 nights. 13 On that very day, Noah entered the ark with his sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth, Noah’s wife, his sons’ three wives with them, 14 along with every species of wild animal, livestock, crawling creature, bird, and every creature that has wings. 15 Two of each living creature entered the ark with Noah. 16 The males and females of each living creature entered the ark, just as God had commanded. Then the LORD sealed them inside.

17 The flood continued throughout the earth for 40 days, while the flood waters increased, lifting the ark so that it rose above the surface of the earth. 18 The flood waters continued to surge, increasing throughout the earth, while the ark floated on the surface of the flood water. 19 The flood water surged even higher throughout the earth, until all the highest mountains under the sky were covered. 20 The flood waters rose 15 cubits above the mountains. 21 Every living thing on earth died—flying creatures, livestock, wildlife, all creatures that swarm over the earth, and all human beings. 22 Everything that breathed and everything that had lived on dry land died. 23 All existing creatures that had lived on the surface of the ground were annihilated, from humans to livestock, from crawling creatures to birds of the sky. They were wiped off the earth. Only Noah remained, along with those who were with him in the ark. 24 The flood waters surged over the earth for 150 days.
Genesis 7:1-24
Continued in Genesis 8:1-10:32.


Other slides in this module: