The Rainbow in the Sky after the Great Flood

(Gen. 8:1-22-9:1-17)      

  God did not forget Noe. God saved Noe and his family because Noe was a good man. He was faithful to God. This is something we must remember. If we try al­ways to please God, He will take care of us.

For forty days and forty nights God sent the rain in torrents upon the earth. Every living thing, except those that were in Noe’s ark, was drowned.

After forty days the rain stopped, but the waters remained upon the earth for one hundred and fifty days.

Then the Lord God sent the wind upon the earth, and the floods went down. After a while, the tops of the mountains reappeared until one day the ark stood still. It had come to rest on top of a hill. However, Noe did not go out of the ark at once. He waited for forty days more. Then he opened the window of the ark and sent out a raven which never returned. Later, Noe sent forth a dove to see if the waters had dried up upon the earth. But the dove, not finding a place where to rest its feet, returned to Noe in the ark. After another week, Noe again sent out the dove. In the evening, it returned with a green olive branch in its beak. Noe, therefore under­stood that the waters had dried up upon the earth: but still he stayed for another week more in the ark. For a third time, he let out the dove which returned no more. Noe, then, with his wife and sons, and the wives of his sons, left the ark, and all living things that were with them in the ark went out with them.

Noe built an altar and upon it he offered sacrifices to God. The Lord God said: "I will never again destroy every living creature as I have done."

God made a promise to Noe and his sons when he said: "I shall put a rainbow in the sky. It will remind Me that never again shall I permit the waters of a flood to destroy all men and all living things."

Then God blessed Noe and all the living creatures that were saved. He said: "Increase and multiply, and replenish the earth."

The rainbow in the sky was a bond of union between Noe and God.