"Go in, thou and all thy house, into the ark; for thee I have seen just before Me in this generation. For yet a while, after seven days, I will rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights; and I will destroy every substance that I have made from the face of the earth." Noe did as he was told; and by the end of the seventh day all were safe within the Ark, as God had commanded him. § 13. The Deluge comes. (B.c. 2524.) "And after the seven days were passed, the waters of the flood overflowed the earth. In the six hun dredth year of the life of Noe, in the second month, in the seventeenth day of the month, all the fountains of the great deep were broken up, the floodgates of heaven were opened, and the rain fell upon the earth forty days and forty nights, and the Lord shut in the Ark from the outside, after Noe, with his three sons, Sem, Cham, and Japheth, had entered into it. And the flood was forty days upon the earth, and the waters increased and lifted up the Ark on high from the earth, for they overflowed exceedingly and covered all the face of the earth. The ARK alone was borne up by the waters. And the waters prevailed over the earth beyond measure, so that all the high mountains under the whole heavens were covered, and the water rose fifteen cubits higher than the mountains which it covered. And all flesh was destroyed that moved upon the earth, both of fowl, cattle, beasts, all creeping things, and all men; and every thing in which was the breath of life on the earth died. Noe alone remained, and they that were with him in the Ark. And the water prevailed upon the earth a hundred and fifty days." This was a terrible end to the blindness and the crimes of the people who suffered this sudden judgment. But they had had several warnings to which they might have listened, only they would not; and at length it became TOO LATE. THE DELUGE. THE SECOND ERA OF THE WORLD. THE PERIOD FROM THE DELUGE TO THE CALL OF ABRAHAM. 21 §1. The Family of Noe saved from the Flood. "And God remembered Noe and all the living creatures and all the cattle which were with him in the ark, and brought a wind upon the earth, and the waters were abated. The fountains also of the deep and the floodgates of heaven were shut up, and the rain was restrained; and the ark rested in the seventh month, in the seventh day of the month, upon the mountains of Armenia. And after that forty days were passed, Noe opening the window of the ark which he had made sent forth a raven, which went forth and did not return till the waters were dried up upon the earth. He sent forth also a dove after him, to see if the waters had now ceased upon the face of the earth. But she not finding where her foot might rest, returned to him into the ark, for the waters were upon the whole earth; and he put forth his hand and caught her and brought her into the ark. And having waited yet seven other days, he again sent forth the dove out of the ark. And she came to him in the evening, carrying a bough of an olive-tree with green leaves in her mouth. Noe therefore understood that the waters had gone from the earth." § 2. The Sacrifice of Noe, and the Covenant of God with Noe. Noe, at God's command, now went out of the ark and built an altar to the Lord, on which he offered a sacrifice of all the clean animals that had been taken into the ark, And God promised never more to destroy every living thing upon the earth as He had done, saying: "Henceforward seed-time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, night and day, shall no more cease.' God also blessed Noe and his sons, and said to them: "Increase and multiply and fill the earth; let the fear and dread of you be upon all the beasts, and upon every thing that moveth upon the earth." He gave them also the law: "Whosoever shall shed man's blood, his blood also shall be shed; for man was made in the image of God." God also said: "I will establish My covenant with you, and all flesh shall be no more destroyed with the waters of a flood, neither shall there be from henceforth a flood to waste the earth." And God said: "This is the sign of the covenant which I give between Me and you, and to every living soul that is with you, for perpetual generations. I will set My bow in the clouds, and it shall be the sign of a covenant between Me and between the earth. And when I shall cover the sky with clouds, My bow shall appear in the clouds: and I will remember My covenant with you, and with every living soul that beareth flesh and there shall no more be the waters of a flood to destroy all flesh. And the bow shall be in the clouds, and I shall see it, and shall |