And the Lord saw that the wickedness of men was great on earth, and that every thought of the thoughts of their hearts was evil continually;
and the Lord repented that he had created man on earth, and was grieved in His heart.
And the Lord said: I will destroy from the face of the earth man whom I have created, from man to beast, and the creeping thing and the bird of the air I will destroy, for I have repented that I created them.
Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.
Here is the life of Noah: Noah was a righteous man and blameless in his generation; Noah walked with God.
Noah gave birth to three sons: Shem, Ham and Japheth.
But the earth was corrupted before the face of God, and the earth was filled with atrocities.
And God looked upon the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had perverted its way on earth.
And God said to Noah: The end of all flesh is come before Me, for the earth is filled with evildoings from them; and behold, I will destroy them from the earth.
Make yourself an ark of gopher wood; make compartments in the ark and coat it with pitch inside and outside.
And make it this way: the length of the ark is three hundred cubits; its breadth is fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits.
And thou shalt make a hole in the ark, and thou shalt make it a cubit at the top, and thou shalt make a door into the ark at the side thereof; arrange lower, second and third housing in it.
And behold, I will bring a flood of water upon the earth, to destroy all flesh in which is the spirit of life under the heavens; everything on earth will lose life.
But I will establish My covenant with you, and you and your sons and your wife and your sons’ wives will come into the ark with you.
Bring also into the ark two of every living creature, and of every flesh, so that they may remain alive with you; Let them be male and female.
Of birds according to their kinds, and of cattle according to their kinds, and of every thing that creeps on the earth according to their kind, two of every kind will come to you, so that you may live.
Take for yourself all the food that people eat, and gather it for you; and it will be food for you and for them.
And Noah did everything: as God commanded him, so he did.
(Genesis 6:5-22)

And the Lord said to Noah, Enter you and all your family into the ark, for I have seen you righteous before Me in this generation;
And of every clean cattle take seven by seven, male and female, and of every unclean cattle by two, male and female;
also from the birds of the air in sevens, male and female, to preserve a tribe for the whole earth,
For after seven days I will cause rain to fall on the earth for forty days and forty nights; and I will destroy everything that exists that I have created from the face of the earth.
Noah did everything the Lord commanded him.
Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of water came to the earth.
And Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons' wives with him went into the ark from the waters of the flood.
And from clean animals and from unclean animals, and from birds, and from everything that creeps on the earth
in pairs, male and female, they entered Noah’s ark, as God commanded Noah.
After seven days the waters of the flood came to the earth.
In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on this day all the sources of the great deep burst open, and the windows of heaven were opened;
and rain fell on the earth for forty days and forty nights.
On that very day Noah entered into the ark, and Shem, Ham and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noah's wife, and his three sons' wives with them.
They, and every beast after its kind, and every livestock after its kind, and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, after its kind, and everything that flies after its kind, every bird, everything that has wings,
and they went into Noah's ark, two by two, of all flesh in which is the spirit of life;
and those who entered, male and female of all flesh, entered in as God commanded him. And the Lord shut it behind him.
And the flood continued on the earth for forty days, and the waters increased, and lifted up the ark, and it was lifted up above the earth;
But the waters increased and greatly increased on the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the waters.
And the water on the earth increased exceedingly, so that all the high mountains that were under the whole sky were covered;
The water rose above them fifteen cubits, and the mountains were covered.
And all flesh that moved on the earth lost its life, and birds, and cattle, and wild beasts, and every creeping thing that crawled on the earth, and all people;
everything that had the breath of the spirit of life in its nostrils on the dry land died.
Every creature that was on the surface of the earth was destroyed; from man to cattle, and creeping things, and birds of the air - everything was destroyed from the earth, only Noah remained and what was with him in the ark.
The water increased on the earth for one hundred and fifty days.
(Genesis 7:1-24)

And God remembered Noah, and all the beasts, and all the cattle that were with him in the ark; and God brought a wind upon the earth, and the waters stood still.
And the fountains of the deep and the windows of heaven were closed, and the rain from heaven ceased.
The water gradually returned from the earth, and the water began to decrease at the end of one hundred and fifty days.
And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on the mountains of Ararat.
The water continually decreased until the tenth month; on the first day of the tenth month the tops of the mountains appeared.
After forty days, Noah opened the window of the ark that he had made.
and he released a raven, which, having flown out, flew away and flew back until the earth was dried up from the water.
Then he released a dove from himself to see if the water had disappeared from the face of the earth,
but the dove found no rest for its feet and returned to him in the ark, for the water was still on the surface of all the earth; and he stretched out his hand, and took him, and took him into the ark.
And he delayed another seven days and again sent the dove out of the ark.
The dove returned to him in the evening, and, behold, a fresh olive leaf was in his mouth, and Noah knew that the waters had receded from the earth.
He delayed another seven days and sent out a dove; and he never returned to him.
In the year six hundred and one, by the first day of the first month, the water on the earth dried up; and Noah opened the roof of the ark and looked, and behold, the surface of the earth was dry.
And in the second month, by the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth dried up.
And God said to Noah:
Come out of the ark, you and your wife, and your sons, and your sons' wives with you;
Bring out with you all the animals that are with you, of all flesh, birds, and cattle, and every creeping thing that moves on the earth: let them disperse throughout the earth, and let them be fruitful and multiply on the earth.
And Noah went out, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives with him;
Every beast, and every creeping thing, and every bird, everything that moved on the earth, according to their kinds, came out of the ark.
And Noah built an altar to the Lord; and he took of every clean animal and of every clean bird, and offered them as burnt offerings on the altar.
And the Lord smelled a pleasant aroma, and the Lord said in His heart: I will no longer curse the earth for man, because the thought of man’s heart is evil from his youth; and I will no longer smite every living thing, as I have done:
henceforth, all the days of the earth, sowing and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will not cease.
(Genesis 8:1-22)

Archpriest Nikolai Popov

From Cain came a tribe of wicked people who were called the sons of men. They cared only about the safety, comfort and pleasures of earthly life.

One of Cain's descendants, Lamech, was the first to marry two wives. From him were born: Jabal, who was the first to live with the flocks in tents; Jubal, inventor of musical instruments; Tubalcain (Fovel), inventor of blacksmithing, and Noema.

Mixing of tribes. Corruption of people. Noah. The Flood (2262 from the creation of the world, 3247 before the birth of Christ). Rescue of Noah and his family. Sacrifice it. God's blessing to Noah and God's covenant with him

When people multiplied on earth, the sons of God (descendants of Seth) began to be seduced by the beauty of the daughters of men (daughters of the descendants of Cain) and took them as wives. Because of this, all people were corrupted. Then God said: “People will not despise My Spirit forever; they have gone astray and become carnal. I will give them a period of repentance of 120 years.”

At that time there were giants (giants, attackers) on earth, which especially began to be born from the time the sons of God began to marry the daughters of men. They further increased wickedness, corruption and wickedness on earth. When God saw that the corruption of people was great and that the earth was filled with atrocities from them, he was grieved and decided to destroy people, and with them livestock, creeping things, and birds.

At that time there was a righteous and blameless man, Noah. He had three sons: Shem, Ham and Japheth. God told Noah: “The earth is filled with evil deeds from people. I will destroy them from the earth. Make yourself an ark, with a hole at the top and a door on the side. Arrange lower, second and third housing in it. Resin it with resin inside and outside. Behold, I will bring a flood of water on the earth to destroy every living creature on the earth. But I will establish my covenant with you: and you and your sons and your wife and your sons’ wives will come into the ark with you. Also bring into the ark animals of all kinds, the clean in sevens, male and female, and the unclean in twos, male and female. Stock up on all kinds of food." And Noah did everything that he commanded him.

At the end of the six hundredth year of his life, Noah, with his family and animals, entered the ark. God shut the ark behind them. On the same day, heavy rain fell on the ground and rained for forty days and forty nights; and the waters of the deep sea rushed onto the land. The water covered all the mountains and rose 15 cubits above the highest mountains. Everything living on earth died. Only Noah and those with him remained in the ark, which floated on the waters. The waters rose above the earth for 150 days. Then God brought a wind to the earth, and the water began to subside. The Ark stopped on the Ararat Mountains. The tops of the mountains appeared. 40 days after this, Noah opened the window of the ark and released a raven. The raven flew off and flew to the roof of the ark. Seven days later, Noah released a dove. The dove did not find a dry place and returned to the ark. After another seven days, Noah released the dove again. The dove returned with a fresh olive leaf in its mouth, and Noah knew that the water had receded from the earth. After waiting another seven days, Noah released the dove for the third time, and it never returned to him. When the earth dried up, God commanded Noah to leave the ark with all those who were there with him.

Upon leaving the ark, Noah built an altar, took from all clean livestock and from all clean birds and offered a burnt offering to God. God was pleased with this sacrifice, and He said in his heart: “I will no longer curse the earth for the sins of man, and I will no longer smite all living things. Henceforth, as long as the earth stands, sowing and harvest, summer and winter, days and nights will not cease on it.” And God blessed Noah and his sons and said: “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth. Let all the animals fear and tremble at you, and let them be in your hands. Let everything that moves and lives be for you to eat, like green herbs; just don't eat blood. I will require your blood too. Whoever sheds human blood, his own blood will be shed, for man was created in the image of God.” And God made a covenant with Noah and his descendants that there would be no more flood, and as a sign of this covenant he placed a rainbow in the cloud. (.)

Noah was a type of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world, and the ark was a type of the Church of Christ, in which alone people are saved.

Ham's disrespect for his father. Noah's prophecy about the fate of his children

Upon leaving the ark, Noah began to cultivate the land and planted a vineyard. One day he drank grape wine, not knowing its strength, became drunk and lay naked in his tent. Ham his son saw him and told his two brothers. Shem and Japheth took the clothes, put them on their shoulders, walked backwards into the tent and covered their father without seeing him. When Noah woke up and found out what Ham had done to him, then he prophetically said: “Cursed is Canaan (the son of Ham), the servant of slaves will be among his brothers.” Then he continued: “Blessed be the Lord God of Shem; Canaan will be his slave. May God spread Japheth, and may he dwell in the tents of Shem; Canaan will be his slave." With these words, Noah predicted that the descendants of Ham would be slaves of the descendants of Shem and Japheth; in the descendants of Shem will be blessed, true worship of God will be preserved, and from this tribe God will be incarnate; the descendants of Japheth will occupy the largest area of ​​the earth, subjugate Shem’s descendants under their rule and enter into the true world.

From the sons of Noah, people very soon multiplied and began to spread throughout the earth. (v.)

Pandemonium of Babylon, confusion of languages, dispersion of people (2793 from the creation of the world, 2716 BC) and the emergence of idolatry

At first, all people spoke the same language and one dialect. Spreading across the land, people settled on the plain in the land of Shinar. Here the descendants of Ham became especially strong. Remembering that Noah had predicted slavery for them, and not wanting this prophecy to be fulfilled, they said; “Let us build ourselves a city and a tower up to the heavens, and let us make ourselves a name (be glorified) before we are scattered throughout the whole earth,” and they began to build. Instead of stones, which are not found in the land of Shinar, they began to use bricks, and instead of lime, earthen resin. Many from other tribes were involved in this enterprise. But God said: “Let us go down and confuse their language so that one does not understand the speech of the other.” And the Lord confused their language and scattered them throughout all the earth. The city was given the name Babylon (confusion). This is how different peoples emerged, speaking different languages.

Scattered across the earth, people little by little began to forget the true God and began to honor instead of God: the sun, the month, stars, people, animals, plants, demons, inventions of their imagination and idols (images of false gods). Faith in the true God was preserved only in the offspring of Simov's son, Arphaxad.

From Arphaxad descended successively the patriarchs who preserved and spread the veneration of the true God: Cainan, Shelah, Eber, Peleg, Ragab, Serukh, Nahor and Terah. They lived less than the antediluvian patriarchs. Noah lived 950 years, Shem 600 years, Arphaxad 465 years, Terah 206 years. (v.)

When God looked at the world He created, He was happy - everything was beautiful!

But time passed... Adam and Eve left the Garden of Eden because of their disobedience. God saw that evil, disease and death were spreading everywhere.

Many centuries passed, and many people appeared on earth - the descendants of Adam and Eve. At first, many of them feared God and served Him, but gradually everyone began to act against the will of God. People became very angry and proud.

Only one man, named Noah, remained faithful to his Creator and did His will. The Apostle Peter called him “a preacher of righteousness” (2 Peter 2:5). The Spirit of God dwelt in Noah's heart. He loved God very much.

The Lord saw that the wickedness of people was great on earth, and that the thoughts and thoughts of their hearts were evil at all times; everyone has perverted their path on earth. Then God said: “I will destroy from the face of the earth all the people whom I have created... for I have repented that I created them.”

Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. God spoke to him and said: “The end of all flesh has come before Me, for the earth is filled with evildoings from them. And behold, I will destroy them from the earth. Make yourself an ark of gopher wood; make compartments in it and coat it with pitch within and without... And behold, I will bring a flood of water on the earth to destroy all flesh under the heavens in which is the spirit of life; everything on earth will lose life. But I will establish My covenant with you, and you shall enter into the ark, and your sons, and your wife, and your sons’ wives with you.”

Hearing this command of God, Noah began to build an ark. He often told the people around him that a flood would soon begin that would destroy the whole world, and called on them to repent from evil deeds and turn to God. But no one wanted to listen to him, they just laughed.

But one day, something extraordinary happened. The ark was already built, all preparations for the big voyage were completed. The people who stood around the ark and laughed at Noah had to leave with fear. They saw animals approaching the entrance of the ark in pairs.

Peacefully and calmly, large elephants and formidable lions, slow turtles and timid bunnies entered the ark. Nobody touched anyone, no one bothered anyone. All the animals entered the ark, and Noah and his family helped them into the ark. The people around stopped laughing, they watched in amazement at the miracle that was happening.

When the animals entered, Noah looked around the crowd of people with a questioning glance for the last time. "Now you. God wants to save you from a terrible flood. There is a place for everyone..."

But the crowd was silent, no one moved. Noah and his family disappeared into the ark with sadness in their eyes. The angels firmly closed the door behind them, so that no one could open it themselves.

A great disaster was approaching, but all who trusted God and took a place on the ark were safe.

The merciful Lord knew how to protect Noah’s faithful family and the animals that entered. He knows how to save each of us!

Material used in the story:

• Bible, Genesis 6:5-22;
• Text of the children's illustrated Bible (section “The Flood. Noah builds the Ark”),
• Bible study guide “Springhead” for children 4-6 years old, from “Dzherelo Zhittya”, K. - 2006, p. 24-31.

To better assimilate the biblical story, we offer you several ideas that you can implement with your children:

1. Craft “Animals in the Ark”

Necessary materials

• a sheet of blue or light blue paper for the background;
• strips of brown cardboard or self-adhesive paper (you can use flat ice cream sticks - about 7-8 pieces);
• stickers with images of various animals (preferably a pair of animals);
• cotton wool or plasticine to depict clouds and waves.

2. Let's set the ark afloat

Necessary materials

• a basin, or a bath of water, or an open pond;
• a paper or toy boat (can also be made from walnut shells);
• figurines or images of animals that can be placed inside the ship.

3. We build an ark from a construction set

1. Give your child the opportunity to imagine himself in the role of Noah, who built his ark over a long period of time.

2. If the child is over 4-5 years old, try to follow the approximate proportions of the ship. To do this, you can measure approximately the following dimensions with a ruler: 27*5*3 cm, or 41*7*4 cm (you can vary the results by multiplying each value by 2 or 3).

3. Place animal figures in the ark (can be drawn on cardboard or made from natural material or the same construction set)

4. You can also go out into open space and measure the actual dimensions of the ark: length - about 137 m, width - about 23 m, height - about 14 m (this is approximately the height of a 6-story building!).

5. Introduce your child to real construction tools (hammer, nails, screws, nuts, screwdrivers, etc.), explain the role of each, and try to make or repair something together.

6. Visit the construction site and watch the construction process. Discuss the difference between modern construction and Noachian construction.

7. Visit a zoo or watch a documentary about animals. Discuss which animals were in the ark in pairs, and which animals were in it in groups of 7? How does the Bible distinguish between clean (kosher) animals and unclean animals (Leviticus 11:3)?

8. Make an ark for your family by placing a long blanket over the table. Gather soft animal toys around you. As you sit under the table, think about how Noah's family felt on the ark. Would you like to be in their place? Thank God that He has a plan to save and care for each of us!

9. Learn the song about Noah and the flood:

1. God told Noah to build an ark
Prepare to sail, every man,
So that the terrible waves of the great court
You are never taken by surprise.

Chorus:

We saw, we saw, we nailed the tree / 3 r.
So Noah built very quickly.
Woof-woof, quack-quack, sh-sh, moo / 3 rub.
The animals walked in pairs towards the ship

2. But then the water came, flooding everything around
People on earth began to drown,
But wise Noah was saved by God
With animals and with my family.

Translation of the song into Ukrainian:

1. God is seen to have gone wild before Noah
And having said to wake up my ship,
I want to cleanse the earth with water
The Ark slaughters creatures and people.

Prispiv:
Saws and hammers work: knock-knock / 3 rub.
There will be Noah's Ark, there will be a little sound.

Woof-woof, quack-quack, sh-sh-sh, mu / 3 rub.
The creatures are already heading to the ark in pairs.

2. Then the water came, everyone began to drown
Whoever is not in the ark will be with it.
Everyone called Noah, but the stinks only laughed
Noah's family and animals were spinning around.

3. Thus God declared all faithful people:
Noya, the squad and their children
For everyone's sake: God gave them some fun
And I lay down my commandment from them.

We hope these ideas will help your children fall in love with history.about Noah and God's plan of salvation for his family!

Introduce your children to the Bible from an early ageafter all, it is in it that there is a storehouse of wisdom and God’s love for us!