The Bible’s flood narrative is found in the Book of Genesis. The story begins with “The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth” (Gen. 6:5). God therefore intends to destroy all of humanity, except for Noah, his wife, his three sons, and their wives, since Noah was the only righteous man (Gen. 7:1). God commands Noah to build an ark with specific dimensions (150 meters long, 25 meters wide, 15 meters high, Gen. 6:15). Noah is instructed to bring his family aboard as well as a pair of every living creature (seven pairs of clean four-footed animals and birds according to Gen. 7:2–3).

According to the flood narrative, God tells Noah that it would rain for 40 days and nights. Seven days after Noah and all the animals entered the ark, the flood comes, and “the springs of the great deep burst forth.” The water rises so that it covers the highest mountains. All life on earth is destroyed, but “the waters prevailed on the earth 150 days” (Gen. 7:24). After that, the rain stops: “the fountains of the deep and the windows of the heavens were closed, the rain from the heavens was restrained” (Gen. 8:2). When the water begins to recede, the ark comes to rest on the mountains of Ararat (Gen. 8:4). Noah then first sends out a raven and then a dove to see if the water had receded from the ground. The dove returns with an olive leaf in its beak as a sign that the land had begun to appear. Noah, his family, and the animals leave the ark after one year and ten days. Genesis chapter 9 then describes God’s covenant with Noah. God promises that never again will a flood destroy the earth, and as a sign of the covenant, he sets a bow in the clouds (the rainbow).

It is from the story of the flood that the symbol of the dove of peace with the olive branch originates.

Psalm 104:8 suggests where the water went after the rain stopped (according to the 1917 translation): “The mountains rose, and the valleys sank down, to the place that you appointed for them.” The Bible 2000 translation renders it: “up the mountains, down into the valleys, and they stayed where you appointed for them.”

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