Noah and the Ark

The world had become full of cruelty, but Noah was a good man who walked with God. God told Noah to build a large boat, an ark, and to take his family and two of every kind of animal. Noah did what God said. It rained for forty days and nights and the earth was covered with water. When the water went down, the ark came to rest on a mountain. Noah sent out a dove, which came back with an olive leaf. God put a rainbow in the sky as a promise that he would never flood the whole earth again.

Read it in the Bible

This story is in Genesis chapter 6 of the Bible.

A verse to remember

I set my rainbow in the cloud, and it will be a sign of a covenant between me and the earth.
Genesis 9:13, World English Bible

Questions to talk about

1. Why did Noah build the ark?
2. What did the dove bring back?
3. What does the rainbow remind us of?

An activity

Make a rainbow with crayons and write "God keeps his promises" under it.

Read next

• The Tower of Babel
• How to tell Bible stories to children

Questions people ask

The stories are simple retellings for children and are not a substitute for reading the Bible. Churches teach the stories in different ways; adapt to your own tradition.