Genesis 13 - 15

The faith that Abram has is 'taking God at his word and acting upon it.'  When God speaks and commands him to act the text shows no delay in Abram's compliance.  We would like to have God give us direct instruction as we make decisions.  However, Abram may have heard God directly but Abram did not have a whole book to consult like we do.  The Bible conveys God's desire for how we live and make decisions.  Are you taking in God's word daily and acting upon it?

Genesis 13 -15

¹ So Abram went up from Egypt to the Negev, with his wife and everything he had, and Lot went with him. ² Abram had become very wealthy in livestock and in silver and gold.

 ³ From the Negev he went from place to place until he came to Bethel, to the place between Bethel and Ai where his tent had been earlier ⁴ and where he had first built an altar. There Abram called on the name of the LORD.

 ⁵ Now Lot, who was moving about with Abram, also had flocks and herds and tents. ⁶ But the land could not support them while they stayed together, for their possessions were so great that they were not able to stay together. ⁷ And quarreling arose between Abram's herdsmen and the herdsmen of Lot. The Canaanites and Perizzites were also living in the land at that time.

 ⁸ So Abram said to Lot, "Let's not have any quarreling between you and me, or between your herdsmen and mine, for we are brothers. ⁹ Is not the whole land before you? Let's part company. If you go to the left, I'll go to the right; if you go to the right, I'll go to the left."

 ¹⁰ Lot looked up and saw that the whole plain of the Jordan was well watered, like the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt, toward Zoar. (This was before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.) ¹¹ So Lot chose for himself the whole plain of the Jordan and set out toward the east. The two men parted company: ¹² Abram lived in the land of Canaan, while Lot lived among the cities of the plain and pitched his tents near Sodom. ¹³ Now the men of Sodom were wicked and were sinning greatly against the LORD.

 ¹⁴ The LORD said to Abram after Lot had parted from him, "Lift up your eyes from where you are and look north and south, east and west. ¹⁵ All the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring ^[a] forever. ¹⁶ I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone could count the dust, then your offspring could be counted. ¹⁷ Go, walk through the length and breadth of the land, for I am giving it to you."

 ¹⁸ So Abram moved his tents and went to live near the great trees of Mamre at Hebron, where he built an altar to the LORD. 

 ¹ At this time Amraphel king of Shinar, ^[b] Arioch king of Ellasar, Kedorlaomer king of Elam and Tidal king of Goiim ² went to war against Bera king of Sodom, Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar). ³ All these latter kings joined forces in the Valley of Siddim (the Salt Sea ^[c] ). ⁴ For twelve years they had been subject to Kedorlaomer, but in the thirteenth year they rebelled.

 ⁵ In the fourteenth year, Kedorlaomer and the kings allied with him went out and defeated the Rephaites in Ashteroth Karnaim, the Zuzites in Ham, the Emites in Shaveh Kiriathaim ⁶ and the Horites in the hill country of Seir, as far as El Paran near the desert. ⁷ Then they turned back and went to En Mishpat (that is, Kadesh), and they conquered the whole territory of the Amalekites, as well as the Amorites who were living in Hazazon Tamar.

 ⁸ Then the king of Sodom, the king of Gomorrah, the king of Admah, the king of Zeboiim and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar) marched out and drew up their battle lines in the Valley of Siddim ⁹ against Kedorlaomer king of Elam, Tidal king of Goiim, Amraphel king of Shinar and Arioch king of Ellasar—four kings against five. ¹⁰ Now the Valley of Siddim was full of tar pits, and when the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, some of the men fell into them and the rest fled to the hills. ¹¹ The four kings seized all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah and all their food; then they went away. ¹² They also carried off Abram's nephew Lot and his possessions, since he was living in Sodom.

 ¹³ One who had escaped came and reported this to Abram the Hebrew. Now Abram was living near the great trees of Mamre the Amorite, a brother ^[d] of Eshcol and Aner, all of whom were allied with Abram. ¹⁴ When Abram heard that his relative had been taken captive, he called out the 318 trained men born in his household and went in pursuit as far as Dan. ¹⁵ During the night Abram divided his men to attack them and he routed them, pursuing them as far as Hobah, north of Damascus. ¹⁶ He recovered all the goods and brought back his relative Lot and his possessions, together with the women and the other people.

 ¹⁷ After Abram returned from defeating Kedorlaomer and the kings allied with him, the king of Sodom came out to meet him in the Valley of Shaveh (that is, the King's Valley).

 ¹⁸ Then Melchizedek king of Salem ^[e] brought out bread and wine. He was priest of God Most High, ¹⁹ and he blessed Abram, saying,
       "Blessed be Abram by God Most High,
       Creator ^[f] of heaven and earth.

 ²⁰ And blessed be ^[g] God Most High,
       who delivered your enemies into your hand."
      Then Abram gave him a tenth of everything.

 ²¹ The king of Sodom said to Abram, "Give me the people and keep the goods for yourself."

 ²² But Abram said to the king of Sodom, "I have raised my hand to the LORD, God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth, and have taken an oath ²³ that I will accept nothing belonging to you, not even a thread or the thong of a sandal, so that you will never be able to say, 'I made Abram rich.' ²⁴ I will accept nothing but what my men have eaten and the share that belongs to the men who went with me—to Aner, Eshcol and Mamre. Let them have their share."  

 ¹ After this, the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision:
       "Do not be afraid, Abram.
       I am your shield, ^[h]
       your very great reward. ^[i] "

 ² But Abram said, "O Sovereign LORD, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit ^[j] my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?" ³ And Abram said, "You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir."

 ⁴ Then the word of the LORD came to him: "This man will not be your heir, but a son coming from your own body will be your heir." ⁵ He took him outside and said, "Look up at the heavens and count the stars—if indeed you can count them." Then he said to him, "So shall your offspring be."

 ⁶ Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness.

 ⁷ He also said to him, "I am the LORD, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to take possession of it."

 ⁸ But Abram said, "O Sovereign LORD, how can I know that I will gain possession of it?"

 ⁹ So the LORD said to him, "Bring me a heifer, a goat and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon."

 ¹⁰ Abram brought all these to him, cut them in two and arranged the halves opposite each other; the birds, however, he did not cut in half. ¹¹ Then birds of prey came down on the carcasses, but Abram drove them away.

 ¹² As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him. ¹³ Then the LORD said to him, "Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated four hundred years. ¹⁴ But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions. ¹⁵ You, however, will go to your fathers in peace and be buried at a good old age. ¹⁶ In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure."

 ¹⁷ When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces. ¹⁸ On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram and said, "To your descendants I give this land, from the river ^[k] of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates- ¹⁹ the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, ²⁰

Questions

1. What happened concerning Abram and Lot's workers?
2. How was this resolved?
3. How was God's promise of land threatened by Lot's presence?
4. How does God remove obstacles to his promises in the Bible?
5. How does God remove obstacles when you live by faith?

Going Deeper

Observation

• What places does Abram visit?
• What does God say to Abram concerning the location of Abram's future land?
• How does God reassure Abram?
• How does God speak concerning the number of descendants?
• How long will Abram's descendents stay away from the land God has given them?

Interpretation

• Can you find the places in the passage on a map?
• How can you enhance your understanding of biblical geography?
• What would the audience reading this already know about Sodom and Gomorrah?
• How and why would Abram rescue lot with 300 or so men?
• What is the deal with the pot and torch?

Application

• Moody is preparing a trip to Israel this Spring/Summer.  Will you visit Israel one day?
• What promises in the Bible are on your mind at the moment?
• How can you walk in faith that God has made promises to you and can keep them?
• If God makes a promises over a 400 year period, how long should you give God to work out his plan in your life?
• Do you have a "God said it.  I do it.  That settles it!" attitude?  Is that healthy?

Genesis 11:27 - 12:20

Abram comes from Ur.  It probably isn't the Ur that the archaeologists have found in southern Mesopotamia.  It's probably one in north-central Mesopotamia, but that does not make Abram's journey any less remarkable.  He left his people;  He left his family; he left what he knew; and he ventured out into the unknown.  All he had was a promise from God that his barren wife of advanced years would go with him and they would found a nation.  Abram's faith is remarkable, but he is a man like us and does some really questionable things.  What is God calling you toward?

Genesis 11:27 - 12:20

 ²⁷ This is the account of Terah.
      Terah became the father of Abram, Nahor and Haran. And Haran became the father of Lot. ²⁸ While his father Terah was still alive, Haran died in Ur of the Chaldeans, in the land of his birth. ²⁹ Abram and Nahor both married. The name of Abram's wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor's wife was Milcah; she was the daughter of Haran, the father of both Milcah and Iscah. ³⁰ Now Sarai was barren; she had no children.

 ³¹ Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, the wife of his son Abram, and together they set out from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to Canaan. But when they came to Haran, they settled there.

 ³² Terah lived 205 years, and he died in Haran.  

 ¹ The LORD had said to Abram, "Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you.

 ² "I will make you into a great nation
       and I will bless you;
       I will make your name great,
       and you will be a blessing.

 ³ I will bless those who bless you,
       and whoever curses you I will curse;
       and all peoples on earth
       will be blessed through you."

 ⁴ So Abram left, as the LORD had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Haran. ⁵ He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Haran, and they set out for the land of Canaan, and they arrived there.

 ⁶ Abram traveled through the land as far as the site of the great tree of Moreh at Shechem. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. ⁷ The LORD appeared to Abram and said, "To your offspring ^[a] I will give this land." So he built an altar there to the LORD, who had appeared to him.

 ⁸ From there he went on toward the hills east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to the LORD and called on the name of the LORD. ⁹ Then Abram set out and continued toward the Negev.

 ¹⁰ Now there was a famine in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt to live there for a while because the famine was severe. ¹¹ As he was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, "I know what a beautiful woman you are. ¹² When the Egyptians see you, they will say, 'This is his wife.' Then they will kill me but will let you live. ¹³ Say you are my sister, so that I will be treated well for your sake and my life will be spared because of you."

 ¹⁴ When Abram came to Egypt, the Egyptians saw that she was a very beautiful woman. ¹⁵ And when Pharaoh's officials saw her, they praised her to Pharaoh, and she was taken into his palace. ¹⁶ He treated Abram well for her sake, and Abram acquired sheep and cattle, male and female donkeys, menservants and maidservants, and camels.

 ¹⁷ But the LORD inflicted serious diseases on Pharaoh and his household because of Abram's wife Sarai. ¹⁸ So Pharaoh summoned Abram. "What have you done to me?" he said. "Why didn't you tell me she was your wife? ¹⁹ Why did you say, 'She is my sister,' so that I took her to be my wife? Now then, here is your wife. Take her and go!" ²⁰ Then Pharaoh gave orders about Abram to his men, and they sent him on his way, with his wife and everything he had.

Questions

1. Did you read this passage thoughtfully?  If not, read it again.
2. Whose account is this?
3. What is the command to action the the LORD gives Abram?
4. What is Abram's response?
5. What is your response to the life God has called you to live?

Going Deeper

Observation

• What will God make of Abram?
• What word is repeated in various forms in God's poetic speech?
• Who went with Abram?
• What caused Abram to build an altar?
• What was the Egyptians reaction to Sarai?

Interpretation

• Who are the children of Abram?
• How has Israel been a blessing?
• Where is Shechem?
• What does Bethel mean?
• How could the Egyptians find an old woman so attractive?

Application

• As Abram's child through faith, do you exhibit the kind of faith Abram had?  Give an example.
• Is Israel still a blessing to the world?  What about Jewish people as a race?
• Does geography have significance in God's plans?  What about the future?
• How do you manage your family in a crisis?
• How has God cared for you when you are a numbskull?

Genesis 10:1 - 11:26

What was the deal with the Tower of Babel?  In Chicago they have tonnes of skyscrapers and God hasn't come down and destroyed the economy here because of pride, greed, or corruption.  No, wait ...

Actually it is quite different.  The Tower of Babel is a Ziggurat, a centre for religious worship.  Mankind transitions in the story here from having a view of God the is transcendant to building a home and a stairway for God that brings him down to their level.  Mankind ceases to be remade in the image of God, but remakes God in the image of man.  In many ways we have created a God in our image who satisfies us.  Is your God beholden to you, or are you beholden to him?

Genesis 10:1 - 11:26

 ¹These are the generations of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Sons were born to them after the flood.

 ^2(A) The sons of Japheth: Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras. ³The sons of Gomer: Ashkenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah. ⁴The sons of Javan: Elishah,^(B) Tarshish,^(C) Kittim, and Dodanim. ⁵From these^(D) the coastland peoples spread in their lands, each with his own language, by their clans, in their nations.

 ^6(E) The sons of Ham: Cush, Egypt, Put, and Canaan. ⁷The sons of Cush: Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, and Sabteca. The sons of Raamah: Sheba and Dedan. ⁸Cush fathered Nimrod; he was the first on earth to be a mighty man.^{[a] 9}He was a mighty hunter before the LORD. Therefore it is said, "Like Nimrod a mighty hunter before the LORD." ¹⁰The beginning of his kingdom was^(F) Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in^(G) the land of Shinar. ¹¹From that land he went into Assyria and built Nineveh, Rehoboth-Ir, Calah, and ¹²Resen between Nineveh and Calah; that is the great city. ^13(H) Egypt fathered Ludim, Anamim, Lehabim, Naphtuhim, ¹⁴Pathrusim, Casluhim (from whom^[b] the Philistines came), and^(I) Caphtorim.

 ^15(J) Canaan fathered Sidon his firstborn and Heth, ¹⁶and the Jebusites, the Amorites, the Girgashites, ¹⁷the Hivites, the Arkites, the Sinites, ¹⁸the Arvadites, the Zemarites, and the Hamathites. Afterward the clans of the Canaanites dispersed. ¹⁹And the territory of the Canaanites extended from Sidon in the direction of Gerar as far as Gaza, and in the direction of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, as far as Lasha. ²⁰These are the sons of Ham, by their clans, their languages, their lands, and their nations.

 ²¹To Shem also, the father of all the children of Eber, the elder brother of Japheth, children were born. ²²The^(K) sons of Shem: Elam, Asshur, Arpachshad, Lud, and Aram. ²³The sons of Aram: Uz, Hul, Gether, and Mash. ²⁴Arpachshad fathered^(L) Shelah; and Shelah fathered Eber. ^25(M) To Eber were born two sons: the name of the one was Peleg,^[c] for in his days the earth was divided, and his brother’s name was Joktan. ²⁶Joktan fathered Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah, ²⁷Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah, ²⁸Obal, Abimael, Sheba, ^29(N) Ophir, Havilah, and Jobab; all these were the sons of Joktan. ³⁰The territory in which they lived extended from Mesha in the direction of Sephar to the hill country of the east. ³¹These are the sons of Shem, by their clans, their languages, their lands, and their nations.

 ³²These are the clans of the sons of Noah, according to their genealogies, in their nations,^(O) and from these the nations spread abroad on the earth after the flood.

 ¹Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. ²And as people migrated from the east, they found a plain in^(A) the land of Shinar and settled there. ³And they said to one another, "Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly." And they had brick for stone,^(B) and bitumen for mortar. ⁴Then they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower^(C) with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth." ⁵And^(D) the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of man had built. ⁶And the LORD said, "Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. ⁷Come,^(E) let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another’s speech." ⁸So^(F) the LORD dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. ⁹Therefore its name was called^(G) Babel, because there the LORD confused^[a] the language of all the earth. And from there the LORD dispersed them over the face of all the earth.

 ^10(H) These are the generations of Shem. When Shem was 100 years old, he fathered Arpachshad two years after the flood. ¹¹And Shem lived after he fathered Arpachshad 500 years and had other sons and daughters.

 ¹²When Arpachshad had lived 35 years, he fathered Shelah. ¹³And Arpachshad lived after he fathered Shelah 403 years and had other sons and daughters.

 ¹⁴When Shelah had lived 30 years, he fathered Eber. ¹⁵And Shelah lived after he fathered Eber 403 years and had other sons and daughters.

 ¹⁶When Eber had lived 34 years, he fathered Peleg. ¹⁷And Eber lived after he fathered Peleg 430 years and had other sons and daughters.

 ¹⁸When Peleg had lived 30 years, he fathered Reu. ¹⁹And Peleg lived after he fathered Reu 209 years and had other sons and daughters.

 ²⁰When Reu had lived 32 years, he fathered Serug. ²¹And Reu lived after he fathered Serug 207 years and had other sons and daughters.

 ²²When Serug had lived 30 years, he fathered Nahor. ²³And Serug lived after he fathered Nahor 200 years and had other sons and daughters.

 ²⁴When^(I) Nahor had lived 29 years, he fathered Terah. ²⁵And Nahor lived after he fathered Terah 119 years and had other sons and daughters.

 ²⁶When^(J) Terah had lived 70 years, he fathered Abram, Nahor, and Haran.

Questions

1. Whose accounts are these?
2. Who grew to be a mighty warrior?
3. What did people build?
4. Who is superintending this process?
5. Do you see God at work in the unfolding of history and current events?

Going Deeper

Observation

• What was said about Nimrod?
• What towns are mentioned as the borders of the Canaanite clans?
• What spread out from these people over the earth after the flood?
• What did the people learn to make?
• What is God's solution to the Tower of Babel?

Interpretation

• Which King of the area of southern Mesopotamia and beyond fits the description of Nimrod?
• Why do some of the children mentioned have names associated with nations and places?
• How would a common language be helpful?
• How do new inventions, like bricks, tend to lead to pride?
• Why did the people scatter?

Application

• Is there a hero in your life that you want to be like?  What great qualities set him/her apart?
• Do you know your heritage?  Is it important to pass on information about how God has worked in your family?
• Is it wrong to have a common language?  Should a nation have one language?  Should we attempt to be a polyglot?
• How has technology led to apostacy and distance from God?
• How do churches and religions reinvent God and make him other than he is?

Genesis 9: 1-29

As I was growing up I wrestled with the death penalty.  I thought that it was barbaric and that no Chriistian could rightly support it.  I thought that there is really no redemption through killing a person who has killed another.  How can viloence be a solution to violence?  Isn't killing a person for killing making you just as bad as they are?  Couldn't you win a person who is imprisoned for life, but saving someone after you've executed them is a little hard.  I see things differently now because I have a concept of punishment that I did not have before.  Punishment need not be remedial, it must fit the crime.  What do you think?

9:1 And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. 2 The fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth and upon every bird of the heavens, upon everything that creeps on the ground and all the fish of the sea. Into your hand they are delivered. 3 Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. And as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything. 4 But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. 5 And for your lifeblood I will require a reckoning: from every beast I will require it and from man. From his fellow man I will require a reckoning for the life of man.

7 And you, [1] be fruitful and multiply, teem on the earth and multiply in it.”

8 Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him, 9 “Behold, I establish my covenant with you and your offspring after you, 10 and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the livestock, and every beast of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark; it is for every beast of the earth. 11 I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.” 12 And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: 13 I have set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. 14 When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, 15 I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh. And the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. 16 When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” 17 God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth.”

18 The sons of Noah who went forth from the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. (Ham was the father of Canaan.) 19 These three were the sons of Noah, and from these the people of the whole earth were dispersed. [2]

20 Noah began to be a man of the soil, and he planted a vineyard. [3] 21 He drank of the wine and became drunk and lay uncovered in his tent. 22 And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father and told his two brothers outside. 23 Then Shem and Japheth took a garment, laid it on both their shoulders, and walked backward and covered the nakedness of their father. Their faces were turned backward, and they did not see their father's nakedness. 24 When Noah awoke from his wine and knew what his youngest son had done to him, 25 he said,

26 He also said,

28 After the flood Noah lived 350 years. 29 All the days of Noah were 950 years, and he died.

Questions

1. What did God say when he blessed Noah?
2. What will God demand an accounting for?
3. What did God set in the clouds?
4. How much of Noah's covenant do you think is applicable today?
5. When should punishment fit the crime?  When should grace prevail?

Going Deeper

Observation

• What will the relationship between man and animals look like?
• What can mankind eat?
• How must meat be prepared?
• What will never happen again?
• What did Ham see?

Interpretation

• Is it sinful to be a meat eater?
• How does draining the blood effect the meat?
• If there are to be no God-given global disasters, can there be a man-made one?
• Can God send local disasters?
• What exactly was Ham's crime that warranted such a response?

Application

• How might a vegetarian argue that God's design for mankind is vegetarianism?  How might that be countered?
• If the death penalty is mandated by God, how do we deal with people who are innocently killed by the judicial system?
• How are we to be fruitful, increase in number, and fill the earth?  Isn't it full already?
• Can a person curse another and have it come true?  Under what circumstances?
• Are certain people groups living a cursed existence?  How would you counter those who say the descendants of Ham are racially inferior?

The story of Noah is one of the most abused stories in Toyland.  We have reinvented it so that it is a story of a floating zoo.  If you read the account it is no children's story.  The wickedness that fills the earth leads to God issuing a decree to 'balance the ledger'.  The pursuit of sin has its consequences.  How is one man saved?  What sets Noah apart?  Compared with those around him he is righteous.  God then chooses to show Noah and his family mercy.  He leads them into a new life of grace.  Are you inside the boat?  Do you have compassion for those outside?  You might do better than to send them a raven when it's too late.

^{Genesis 5}

³² After Noah was 500 years old, he became the father of Shem, Ham and Japheth.

Genesis 6

The Flood

 ¹ When men began to increase in number on the earth and daughters were born to them, ² the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose. ³ Then the LORD said, "My Spirit will not contend with ^[a] man forever, for he is mortal ^[b] ; his days will be a hundred and twenty years."

 ⁴ The Nephilim were on the earth in those days—and also afterward—when the sons of God went to the daughters of men and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown.

 ⁵ 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. ⁶ The LORD was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain. ⁷ 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." ⁸ But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD.

 ⁹ This is the account of Noah.
      Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked with God. ¹⁰ Noah had three sons: Shem, Ham and Japheth.

 ¹¹ Now the earth was corrupt in God's sight and was full of violence. ¹² God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways. ¹³ So God said to Noah, "I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth. ¹⁴ So make yourself an ark of cypress ^[c] wood; make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out. ¹⁵ This is how you are to build it: The ark is to be 450 feet long, 75 feet wide and 45 feet high. ^{[d] 16} Make a roof for it and finish ^[e] the ark to within 18 inches ^[f] of the top. Put a door in the side of the ark and make lower, middle and upper decks. ¹⁷ I am going to bring floodwaters 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. ¹⁸ But I will establish my covenant with you, and you will enter the ark—you and your sons and your wife and your sons' wives with you. ¹⁹ You are to bring into the ark two of all living creatures, male and female, to keep them alive with you. ²⁰ Two of every kind of bird, of every kind of animal and of every kind of creature that moves along the ground will come to you to be kept alive. ²¹ You are to take every kind of food that is to be eaten and store it away as food for you and for them."

 ²² Noah did everything just as God commanded him.

Genesis 7

 ¹ The LORD then said to Noah, "Go into the ark, you and your whole family, because I have found you righteous in this generation. ² Take with you seven ^[g] of every kind of clean animal, a male and its mate, and two of every kind of unclean animal, a male and its mate, ³ and also seven of every kind of bird, male and female, to keep their various kinds alive throughout the earth. ⁴ Seven days from now I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights, and I will wipe from the face of the earth every living creature I have made."

 ⁵ And Noah did all that the LORD commanded him.

 ⁶ Noah was six hundred years old when the floodwaters came on the earth. ⁷ And Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons' wives entered the ark to escape the waters of the flood. ⁸ Pairs of clean and unclean animals, of birds and of all creatures that move along the ground, ⁹ male and female, came to Noah and entered the ark, as God had commanded Noah. ¹⁰ And after the seven days the floodwaters came on the earth.

 ¹¹ 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 floodgates of the heavens were opened. ¹² And rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights.

 ¹³ On that very day Noah and his sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth, together with his wife and the wives of his three sons, entered the ark. ¹⁴ They had with them every wild animal according to its kind, all livestock according to their kinds, every creature that moves along the ground according to its kind and every bird according to its kind, everything with wings. ¹⁵ Pairs of all creatures that have the breath of life in them came to Noah and entered the ark. ¹⁶ The animals going in were male and female of every living thing, as God had commanded Noah. Then the LORD shut him in.

 ¹⁷ For forty days the flood kept coming on the earth, and as the waters increased they lifted the ark high above the earth. ¹⁸ The waters rose and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the water. ¹⁹ They rose greatly on the earth, and all the high mountains under the entire heavens were covered. ²⁰ The waters rose and covered the mountains to a depth of more than twenty feet. ^[h] , ^{[i] 21} Every living thing that moved on the earth perished—birds, livestock, wild animals, all the creatures that swarm over the earth, and all mankind. ²² Everything on dry land that had the breath of life in its nostrils died. ²³ Every living thing on the face of the earth was wiped out; men and animals and the creatures that move along the ground and the birds of the air were wiped from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those with him in the ark.

 ²⁴ The waters flooded the earth for a hundred and fifty days.

Genesis 8

 ¹ But God remembered Noah and all the wild animals and the livestock that were with him in the ark, and he sent a wind over the earth, and the waters receded. ² Now the springs of the deep and the floodgates of the heavens had been closed, and the rain had stopped falling from the sky. ³ The water receded steadily from the earth. At the end of the hundred and fifty days the water had gone down, ⁴ and on the seventeenth day of the seventh month the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat. ⁵ The waters continued to recede until the tenth month, and on the first day of the tenth month the tops of the mountains became visible.

 ⁶ After forty days Noah opened the window he had made in the ark ⁷ and sent out a raven, and it kept flying back and forth until the water had dried up from the earth. ⁸ Then he sent out a dove to see if the water had receded from the surface of the ground. ⁹ But the dove could find no place to set its feet because there was water over all the surface of the earth; so it returned to Noah in the ark. He reached out his hand and took the dove and brought it back to himself in the ark. ¹⁰ He waited seven more days and again sent out the dove from the ark. ¹¹ When the dove returned to him in the evening, there in its beak was a freshly plucked olive leaf! Then Noah knew that the water had receded from the earth. ¹² He waited seven more days and sent the dove out again, but this time it did not return to him.

 ¹³ By the first day of the first month of Noah's six hundred and first year, the water had dried up from the earth. Noah then removed the covering from the ark and saw that the surface of the ground was dry. ¹⁴ By the twenty-seventh day of the second month the earth was completely dry.

 ¹⁵ Then God said to Noah, ¹⁶ "Come out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons and their wives. ¹⁷ Bring out every kind of living creature that is with you—the birds, the animals, and all the creatures that move along the ground—so they can multiply on the earth and be fruitful and increase in number upon it."

 ¹⁸ So Noah came out, together with his sons and his wife and his sons' wives. ¹⁹ All the animals and all the creatures that move along the ground and all the birds—everything that moves on the earth—came out of the ark, one kind after another.

 ²⁰ Then Noah built an altar to the LORD and, taking some of all the clean animals and clean birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings on it. ²¹ The LORD smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: "Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though ^[j] every inclination of his heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done.

 ²² "As long as the earth endures,
       seedtime and harvest,
       cold and heat,
       summer and winter,
       day and night
       will never cease."

Questions

1. What did the Lord see?
2. What did the LORD decide to do?
3. How many days did the water flood the earth?
4. What did God say to Noah after the earth was dry?
5. How does God deal with the wickedness that is on the earth today?

Going Deeper

Observation

• Whose account is this?
• What are the dimensions of the ark?
• What will God establish with Noah?
• How many of each clean animal did Noah bring?
• What does the LORD say after he smells the pleasing aroma?

Interpretation

• What is this story about?
• Why is Noah such a flat character in the story?
• How are there clean animals without any system of sacrifice?
• Was this flood, local, regional, all the known world, or global?  What does the text demand?
• How is God's grace evident?

Application

• How does today's world compare in wickedness to Noah's world?
• How is God acting with judgement and mercy today?
• Are floods and droughts acts of God?
• Who does God save today and why?
• How does God maintain time, agriculture, and weather in our time?