The Lord saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become,

and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time.

(Genesis 6:5).

The Lord was grieved that he had made man on the earth,

and his heart was filled with pain. (Genesis 6:6).

So the Lord said,

"I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth-

men and animals, and creatures that move along the ground, and birds of the air-

for I am grieved that I have made them." (Genesis 6:7).

But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord. (Genesis 6:8).

This is the account of Noah.

Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time,

and he walked with God. (Genesis 6:9-10).

God said to Noah,

I am going to bring flood waters on the earth to destroy all life under the heavens,

every creature that has the breath of life in it. Everything on earth will perish.

(Genesis 6:17).

Note: It had not rained on the earth before Noah's flood. (Genesis 2:5).

The Lord then said to Noah,

"Go into the ark, you and your whole family ( Noah's and his wife and Noah's three sons

and their wifes. Genesis 6:9-13; Genesis 7:7), because I have found you righteous

in this generation. (Genesis 7:1).

The Lord said,

Seven days from now I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights, ....

(Genesis 7:4).

And after the seven days the flood waters came on the earth. (Genesis 7:10).

In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, on the seventeenth day of the second month-

on that day all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the flood gates of the heavens

were opened. And rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights. (Genesis 7:11-12).

Then God said to Noah,

"Come out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons and their wives. (Genesis 8:15).

GOD'S PROMISE TO ALL GENERATIONS

The Lord said,

"Never again will all life be cut off by the waters of a flood;

Never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth."

(Genesis 9:11).

THE SYMBOL OF THE RAINBOW

God made the following covenant / promise:

"This is the sign of the covenant am making between me and you and every living creature with you, A COVENANT FOR ALL GENERATIONS TO COME will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it (the rainbow) and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.

So God said to Noah, "This is the sign (the rainbow) of the covenant/promise I have established between me and all life on the earth." (Genesis 9: 12-17).