Genesis, Chapters 6-9

In the time of Noah people argued a lot and kept doing bad things. The world was full of hate and everyone had forgotten about God.

Except Noah. Noah loved God.

God was very sad. He told Noah he wanted to start again. He told Noah to make a huge ark. Noah and his family started work on the ark straight away.

When the ark was built God told Noah to take his family and two of every creature on earth into the ark. Something big was going to happen!

As soon as everyone was in the ark and the door was shut rain began to fall. It rained and rained for 40 days and 40 nights. Rain covered the earth and the ark rocked back and forth on the water.

Finally, the rain stopped. Noah and his family were very happy.

Noah opened a window on the ark. First he sent out a black raven, but the raven did not return to the ark. So Noah sent out a white dove. The first time he did this the dove could not find land. Seven days later Noah sent the dove out again and, this time, the bird found dry land and returned with an olive leaf.

The ark eventually came to rest on Mount Ararat. God told Noah and his family to leave the ark. They praised God and a beautiful rainbow appeared. This was a sign of God’s promise to never flood the earth again.

Story illustrations ©Zonderkidz, 2005 Backgrounds and animations available from