Noah
Genesis 6-9
Bible Story
After Adam and Eve left the Garden of Eden, they had many children. Their
children had children and soon many people filled the earth. But people kept
disobeying God and doing what they wanted. They would fight with each
other, steal from each other, and even kill each other. God’s beautiful world
was now filled with disease, violence and death. This made God very sad.
But there was a man who loved God. His name was Noah (nō-u). He was a
good man because he obeyed God. He always tried to do what was right. God
told Noah, “People only think about doing evil things. I must stop them. I am
going to destroy the world and start over again with you and your family.”
God told Noah to build a very large boat called an ark. God gave Noah
instructions on how to build the ark. He also told Noah to put a pair of every
kind of animal into the ark. Noah did everything God told him to. When the
ark was finished, Noah and his family went inside it: his wife, their three
sons and their three daughters-in-law. He put a male and female of every
animal into the big boat. Then God closed the door.
God made it rain for 40 days and nights. Water
came up from the earth and soon the whole world
was covered with water. Every living person and
every living thing died. But Noah, his family and all
the animals in the ark were safe. God protected
them from the flood.
Finally the rain stopped. But it took a long time for the water to go down and
the land to become dry. Finally God told Noah it was safe to leave the ark.
They had been in the boat for 370 days! When Noah and his family got off
the boat, the first thing they did was worship God. They built an altar (all-tur)
and thanked God for protecting them.
God made a promise, “I will never destroy
the whole earth again with water. No matter
how bad people become, I will not destroy
them all with a flood. I will put a rainbow in
the sky as a reminder of My promise.” God
would punish sin and evil again, but not
with a flood. He would do it with a cross. The
rainbow was a reminder to people to hope for
the rescuer God had promised.
Words
1. Altar: a table or small place where people worship; usually an animal,
food or incense are burned as people pray
Idiom
Chasing rainbows: planning to do something exciting, but it is almost
impossible for it to happen
Example: I know you think you’ll be a famous actor someday, but you’re
only chasing rainbows.
Discussion Questions
1. Why did God decide to destroy the earth with a flood?
2. What kind of man was Noah?
3. Who and what were safe in the ark?
4. What do you imagine it was like on the ark? What did it sound like? What
did it look like? What did it smell like?
5. How long did it rain? How long did they live in the ark?
6. Imagine what life was like being alone with family for a year on a boat.
Even though Noah was a good man, what problems might they have had?
7. If you had spent a year on the ark, what is the first thing you would do
when you got off of it?
8. What was the first thing that Noah’s family did when they left the boat?
9. What did God promise Noah and his family? What did He put in the sky
as a reminder of His promise?
Challenge Questions:
Do you think the animals hibernated (slept) or do you think Noah and his
family had to take care of them? What kind of jobs would they have to do?
To see a full-size replica of Noah’s Ark, go to:
[Link]/watch?v=WeIcAtneYrw
To learn about scientific evidence for a worldwide flood, go to:
[Link]/watch?v=82j1IqwA6P0
