  Year after year, more and more people were born and grew up. But as the years went by most of the people forgot about God. They forgot how God wanted them to live and began to do things that God did not want them to do. Things that would only make them unhappy if they kept on doing them. God looked down and saw how wicked that the people had become. But there was one man called Noah that had tried very hard to live God's way. And God remembered Noah. Noah had never cheated, or lied or stolen anything that didn't belong to him. And Noah pleased God.
 One day God told Noah to tell all of the people that if they didn't stop doing the wrong things that He would bring a great flood upon the earth to wash away all of the evil from off of the face of the earth. But God told Noah," Because you have obeyed my words I will save your family from the great flood." And God told Noah to build a great big ark....one that was big enough for all of Noah's family and also big enough to take many animals with him.
Noah was 480 years old when God told him to build the ark. But that wasn't really that old back then because people lived a lot longer then. By the time that Noah finished the ark he was 600 years old. During the time that Noah was building the ark, he tried to warn the people that a great flood was coming if they didn't stop doing the bad things they were doing. But no one would listen to Noah.
The ark that Noah built was higher than a four story building and ten times as long. Inside Noah and his family made stables and cages to keep all of the animals that he was going to take with him. And he built a ramp for all of the animals to walk onto the boat. Everyone laughed at Noah for building the big boat but Noah didn't care if they laughed at him. Noah believed what God had said.
One day when everything was ready something strange began to happen. All of the animals and birds began to get on the ark. Thier natural instinct told them that a big storm was coming and they wanted to seek shelter from the storm. Two by two, they entered the ark. Once all of the animals got aboard, then Noah and his family got on board. Then they waited.
The people that had watched all the animals get on the ark thought it very strange. Some got worried. But when nothing happened day after day they quit worrying and were laughing at Noah. But for seven days Noah and his family stayed in the ark. Then clouds covered the sky. The earth began to make strange noises and all of a sudden the earth broke open and water just poured out and the rain began at the same time. Lightning flashed in the sky and there was great thunder.
Day after day the water rose higher and higher until the ark was lifted up off the ground. The water rose as high as the tallest mountain. It rained for forty days and forty nights until everything was covered with water. Noah and his family cared for the animals inside the ark for another 150 days. And then one day, God sent a great wind so that the water would travel up into the air to make it disappear faster. And then the mountain tops began to appear. Then the ark came to rest on one of the mountain peaks.
Noah waited for two months and then sent a bird out to see if there was any dry land but the bird came right back because there was no place to land. So Noah waited awhile and sent out another bird. It came back with a green leaf in its mouth. When Noah sent it out again, it didn't come back. So Noah knew that it must have found dry ground to land on. The flood was gone.
Then God told Noah to come out of the ark. God said to let the animals go free and spread out over the earth and fill the earth with new life. When Noah came out of the ark, he looked up and saw a very beautiful sight. God had placed a rainbow of red, orange, yellow, green and blue in the sky. This rainbow was a promise from God that He would never again cause flood waters to cover all of the earth. And God has always kept His promise. So every time you see a rainbow you can think of the story of Noah and how God is always true to His word.
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