The First Rainbow

The Lord saw that men had become very wicked and that in their minds and their hearts there was only evil. He regretted that he had made man on earth and in his heart he grieved very deeply.

And God said to Noah: "The end of all flesh is before me. I will destroy all living things on earth for because of them the eart is filled with evil and violence."

"Make an ark of cypress wood," comanded the Lord. "Make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and out with pitch.... You shall put a window in it and in its side you shall put a door. The ark shall have three decks: a lower, a second and a third.

"You shall do this because I shall bring upon the earth a great flood which shall destroy every living thing. But with you I will make a promise and the promise shall be called a covenant. You shall enter the ark with your sons, and your wife, and your sons' wives with you.

"Of every living creature upon the earth you shall bring into the ark two of each sort to keep them alive with you. They shall be male and female. Birds of all kinds, cattle, and every creeping thing, two of every animal in creation shall come to you for you to keep them alive.

"And take with you some of every kind of food that is eaten. Gather it up, and it shall be food for you and the creatures that are with you."

Then the Lord shut Noah in the ark, and the waters of the flood were upon the earth. All the fountains of the great deep were broken up and the windows of heaven opened. The rain fell upon the earth forty days and forty nights. The waters swelled and lifted the ark above the earth.... Forty-five feet more did the waters rise above the high mountains and they were indeed covered.

God remembered Noah and every living creature with him in the ark. God caused a wind to pass over the earth and to quiet the waters. The waters receded for a hundred and fifty days so that in the seventh month on the seventeenth day of the month, the ark rested on the mount of Ararat.

At the end of forty days, Noah opened the window of the ark and sent out a raven, which flew to and fro. He also sent out a dove to see if the waters had dried from the ground anywhere. The dove found no rest for the sole of her foot and she returned to the ark for the waters still covered the earth....

He waited seven more days and once again he sent out the dove. The dove came back to him in the evening and, when she did so, there was in her mouth a freshly plucked olive leaf. So Noah knew that the waters had receded from the face of the earth.

Noah waited still another seven days before he sent out the dove. This time, the dove did not return. The water had dried from the earth, so Noah opened the window of the ark. He looked out and saw that the ground was dry.

"I [God] set my rainbow in the cloud and this rainbow shall be a token of the covenant between me and the earth.

"And it shall come to pass when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the rainbow shall be seen in the cloud. I will look upon it, and I will remember the everlasting covenant between me and you and every living creature upon the earth."