The story of the flood, the ark, and the rainbow — broken down into clear steps, from Genesis 6–9.
Genesis describes the world as having become deeply corrupt and violent. God decides to send a flood to wipe out life on earth — but Noah “found grace in the eyes of the LORD” (Genesis 6:8) and is chosen to survive, along with his family.
God gives Noah detailed instructions: a wooden ark about 300 cubits long, 50 wide, and 30 high — roughly 450 by 75 by 45 feet by common estimates — with three decks, a door in the side, and a covering. Noah is told to bring pairs of every kind of animal, plus extra of some, and enough food for everyone aboard.
Genesis sums up his response in one line: “Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he.”
Noah, his wife, his three sons, and their wives — eight people in total — enter the ark with the animals. Rain falls for 40 days and 40 nights, and the waters rise until even the highest mountains are covered. Every land-dwelling creature outside the ark dies.
After the rain stops, the water takes months to recede. Noah sends out a raven, then a dove three times — the dove's return with an olive leaf (Genesis 8:11) becomes one of the story's most famous images, a sign that plant life had survived and land was reappearing.
After leaving the ark, God makes a covenant with Noah, his descendants, and “every living creature” — promising never again to destroy the earth with a flood. The rainbow is given as the sign of that promise: “I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth” (Genesis 9:13).
Noah's Ark appears in children's Bibles, art, and popular culture more than almost any other Old Testament story, largely thanks to its vivid imagery.
The story doesn't end with survival — it ends with a promise. The rainbow covenant is the part most casual retellings leave out.
Ancient Mesopotamia has its own flood accounts, like the Epic of Gilgamesh. Scholars note the parallels, while the biblical account frames the flood specifically as God's moral response to human violence.