Introduction

Noah looks at the violence around himBecause the Earth is filled with wickedness and violence, God decides to destroy it with a flood. Noah is told to build a boat to escape the flood.

Verses
1When men began to multiply on the surface of the ground, and daughters were born to them,
2God’s sons saw that men’s daughters were beautiful, and they took any that they wanted for themselves as wives.
3The LORD said, “My Spirit will not strive with man forever, because he also is flesh; so his days will be one hundred and twenty years.”
4The Nephilim were in the earth in those days, and also after that, when God’s sons came in to men’s daughters and had children with them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.
5The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of man’s heart was continually only evil.
6The LORD was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him in his heart.
7The LORD said, “I will destroy man whom I have created from the surface of the ground—man, along with animals, creeping things, and birds of the sky—for I am sorry that I have made them.”
8But Noah found favour in the LORD’s eyes.
9This is the history of the generations of Noah: Noah was a righteous man, blameless amongst the people of his time. Noah walked with God.
10Noah became the father of three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
11The earth was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.
12God saw the earth, and saw that it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth.
13God said to Noah, “I will bring an end to all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence through them. Behold, I will destroy them and the earth.
14Make a ship of gopher wood. You shall make rooms in the ship, and shall seal it inside and outside with pitch.
15This is how you shall make it. The length of the ship shall be three hundred cubits, its width fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits.
16You shall make a roof in the ship, and you shall finish it to a cubit upward. You shall set the door of the ship in its side. You shall make it with lower, second, and third levels.
17I, even I, will bring the flood of waters on this earth, to destroy all flesh having the breath of life from under the sky. Everything that is in the earth will die.
18But I will establish my covenant with you. You shall come into the ship, you, your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives with you.
19Of every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring two of every sort into the ship, to keep them alive with you. They shall be male and female.
20Of the birds after their kind, of the livestock after their kind, of every creeping thing of the ground after its kind, two of every sort will come to you, to keep them alive.
21Take with you some of all food that is eaten, and gather it to yourself; and it will be for food for you, and for them.”
22Thus Noah did. He did all that God commanded him.

Questions

1. Why did God destroy the world at that time?

v 5 and 6 The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of man’s heart was continually only evil. The LORD was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him in his heart.

2. How did God say He would destroy all flesh?

v 17 I, even I, will bring the flood of waters on this earth, to destroy all flesh having the breath of life from under the sky. Everything that is in the earth will die.

3. What was Noah told to put in the ship?

v 18 to 21 ... You shall come into the ship, you, your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives ... Of every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring two of every sort into the ship, to keep them alive with you. They shall be male and female.  Of the birds after their kind, of the livestock after their kind, of every creeping thing of the ground after its kind, two of every sort ... Take with you some of all food that is eaten, ...

Summary Points

  • v 1 to 4 Those whom God regards as "his sons" marry those who are attractive to look at. Their children are mighty men of renown.
  • v 5 to 8 Because God sees the wickedness of men, he decides to destroy them together with other life on the earth
  • v 9 and 10 Noah is righteous and blameless and finds favour with God
  • v 11 to 22 Because the earth is corrupt and violent, God tells Noah to build a large ship to escape the flood that is coming. Noah is to take his family into the ship together with male and female pairs of all land creatures and food for them and his family

Timeline to 2000 BC

Audio