Wayfinding Bible - Flipbook - Page 21
15
PG
24
Genesis 8
PG 16
PG 16
OBSERVATION POINT
To find out if any dry ground was available, Noah had
to send something out of the ark. He first selected the
raven, a large, black scavenger that could survive in
the harsh post-flood conditions since it ate decaying
corpses. The raven’s release didn’t tell Noah much
about the water levels, since it could find places to
rest even if the water was still high. Releasing the
dove would provide more useful information since
this bird refused to rest on floating debris or a corpse.
On its second flight, the dove returned with an olive
branch, so Noah knew that the olive trees, which grew
in the lower plains, were sprouting again.
died—birds, domestic animals, wild animals,
small animals that scurry along the ground,
and all the people. 22 Everything that breathed
and lived on dry land died. 23 God wiped out
every living thing on the earth—people, livestock, small animals that scurry along the
ground, and the birds of the sky. All were destroyed. The only people who survived were
Noah and those with him in the boat. 24 And the
floodwaters covered the earth for 150 days.
THE FLOOD RECEDES
8
But God remembered Noah and all the wild
animals and livestock with him in the boat.
He sent a wind to blow across the earth, and
the floodwaters began to recede. 2 The underground waters stopped flowing, and the torrential rains from the sky were stopped. 3 So the
floodwaters gradually receded from the earth.
After 150 days, 4 exactly five months from the
time the flood began,* the boat came to rest
on the mountains of Arar at. 5 Two and a half
months later,* as the waters continued to go
down, other mountain peaks became visible.
6
After another forty days, Noah opened the
window he had made in the boat 7 and released
a raven. The bird flew back and forth until the
floodwaters on the earth had dried up. 8 He
also released a dove to see if the water had receded and it could find dry ground. 9 But the
dove could find no place to land because the
water still covered the ground. So it returned
to the boat, and Noah held out his hand and
drew the dove back inside. 10 After waiting
another seven days, Noah released the dove
again. 11 This time the dove returned to him in
the evening with a fresh olive leaf in its beak.
Then Noah knew that the floodwaters were
EXPLORATION POINT
We’ve all seen flooding; if not firsthand, we’ve seen it
on video clips—spring floods of the Mississippi River,
hurricanes on southern coastlines, and tsunamis in
Japan. We’ve also seen post-flood devastation—
bloated bodies, mucky debris, broken trees, and
colorless vegetation. There’s nothing pretty “after the
flood.” Starting over is difficult. But God’s presence
and his promise strengthened Noah to persevere; he
will strengthen us too during difficult times.
almost gone. 12 He waited another seven days
and then released the dove again. This time it
did not come back.
13
Noah was now 601 years old. On the first
day of the new year, ten and a half months
after the flood began,* the floodwaters had
almost dried up from the earth. Noah lifted
back the covering of the boat and saw that
the surface of the ground was drying. 14 Two
more months went by,* and at last the earth
was dry!
15
Then God said to Noah, 16 “Leave the boat,
all of you—you and your wife, and your sons
and their wives. 17 Release all the animals—the
birds, the livestock, and the small animals that
scurry along the ground—so they can be fruitful and multiply throughout the earth.”
18
So Noah, his wife, and his sons and their
wives left the boat. 19 And all of the large and
small animals and birds came out of the boat,
pair by pair.
20
Then Noah built an altar to the Lord, and
there he sacrificed as burnt offerings the animals and birds that had been approved for
that purpose.* 21 And the Lord was pleased
with the aroma of the sacrifice and said to
himself, “I will never again curse the ground
because of the human race, even though
everything they think or imagine is bent toward evil from childhood. I will never again
destroy all living things. 22 As long as the earth
remains, there will be planting and harvest,
cold and heat, summer and winter, day and
night.”
8:4 Hebrew on the seventeenth day of the seventh month; see 7:11.
8:5 Hebrew On the first day of the tenth month; see 7:11 and note
on 8:4. 8:13 Hebrew On the first day of the first month; see 7:11.
8:14 Hebrew The twenty-seventh day of the second month arrived; see
note on 8:13. 8:20 Hebrew every clean animal and every clean bird.
