Noah's Ark: Required reading for first grade public school students in Texas
The first Bible story is from a children's Bible story book illustrated by by Peter Spier. I haven't yet found a copy of this book, but here's a YouTube video that reads it to us.
And here is the same story in context from the Bible in Fewer Words podcast.
Episode 2b: The sons of God, the daughters of men, and the flood of Noah (Genesis 6-8)
The sons of God and the daughters of men
61 As men multiplied on earth, they had some daughters. 2 The sons of God found them attractive and took them as wives.
3 God shortened the human lifespan to 120 years because humans are flesh, and he was tired of fighting with them.
4 When the sons of God had sex with the daughters of men, they produced a race of giants, which were the mighty men of old.
The sons of God and the daughters of men
God Plans the Flood
5-6 God saw that humans were wicked, and he regretted making them.
7 He said, "I'm going to kill every human and animal that I have created, for I regret that I made them." 8-9 Except for Noah, that is. Because Noah was a just and perfect man, who walked with God.
I'm going to destroy the earth because the earth is filled with violence.
14-15 Make an ark of gopher wood: three hundred cubits long, fifty cubits wide, and thirty cubits tall.
16 It will have three decks, with a square cubit-wide window, and a door in the side.
17 I'm going to kill everything that breathes in a flood. Everything on earth will die.
18 Except for you, your wife, and your sons and your sons' wives, who will be in the ark. 19 And two of every living thing, which you will bring into the ark, one male and one female. 20 Bring birds, cattle, and creeping things onto the ark, two of each kind. 21 And take enough food to feed your family and all the animals.
22 Noah followed all of God's instructions about the ark.
It's time for you and your family to get on the ark. You are the only righteous person in this generation. 2-3 Take seven of each clean beast and fowl, and two of each unclean, male and female. 4 I'll make it rain for forty days and nights and destroy every living thing on earth.
5 Noah did what God told him to do. 6 He was 600 years old when the flood began. 8-9 He took two of every beast, fowl, and creeping thing onto the ark. 10 And after seven days, the flood began.
The animals enter the ark
The Great Flood
11-12 The foundations of the great deep broke up, the windows of heaven opened, and it rained for forty days and forty nights. 13 Noah and his wife, Noah's sons (Shem, Ham, and Japheth) and their wives, and all the beasts, fowls, and creeping things of every kind entered the ark on the same day. 15 All the animals went in by twos, a male and female of each species. 16 Then God shut the ark's door. 20 The flood covered the highest mountain tops with fifteen cubits to spare. 21-22 Every living thing died on the earth.
81-2 God remembered Noah and ended the flood by closing the fountains of the deep and the windows of heaven. 3 The flood lasted 150 days. 4 The ark landed on the mountains of Ararat.
A raven and a dove
6-7 At the end of forty days, Noah opened the window of the ark and sent out a raven to search for dry land. 8 Then Noah sent out a dove to do the same. 8 But the dove returned without finding any land. 10 Seven days later, Noah released the dove again. 11 It returned in the evening with an olive leaf in its mouth, so Noah knew dry land had appeared. 12 Then, after seven days, he sent the dove out again. This time it didn't return.
16-18 And Noah, his family, and the animals left the ark.
Noah's Sacrifice
20 Noah sacrificed all the clean beasts for God. 21 God smelled a sweet savor from Noah's sacrifice, and said, I won't curse the ground anymore because of things humans do. Because human imaginations are evil from their youth. And I won't kill every living thing like I just did. 22 As long as the earth exists, planting and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, and day and night will also exist.
The story continues in the next episode, where the "just and perfect" Noah plants a vineyard, makes wine, gets drunk, and passes out naked in his tent. When his son, Ham, happens see him in this condition, he curses Ham's son, Canaan, with slavery - along with all of his descendants. Here's the "Fewer Words" episode about that.
The Bible says that God was angry with people for being wicked, so he decided to drown them all. Did that include all the children and babies? Were they wicked too?
God drowned every human because they were wicked (or because some of the women had sex with some of God's sons). But why did he drown all the animals?
How did the animals from North America, Australia, Hawaii, etc. get to the ark, and how did they get back after the flood?
There are more than 300,000 species of beetles that scientist's have discovered so far. Did all of them get onto the ark?
The Bible says that the top of the highest mountains were covered with water in the flood. Where did all of the water come from? Where did it go after the flood?
Over 1000 species of dinosaurs have been discovered. Were they all saved in the ark? How could that be since they all went extinct about 66 million years ago?
