Portion 2 of 54 · Genesis
נֹחַ
Noach
The world is washed away and started again, and God promises never to do it a second time.
Start by reading it
Genesis 6:9–11:32
6 chapters. About 24 minutes at an unhurried pace.
Paired reading from the prophets: Isaiah 54:1–55:5
What happens
- 01
One family and a boat of animals survive a flood that undoes creation.
- 02
The water goes down. Noah plants a vineyard, drinks, and the new world is already not clean.
- 03
God makes a promise to every living thing and hangs a bow in the sky as the sign of it.
- 04
People build a tower to make a name for themselves; their language scatters and so do they.
The thing most people walk past
The promise is one sided
God's covenant after the flood asks nothing of the animals and almost nothing of people. It is a promise God makes to himself, in public, about how he will treat the world from now on.
One verse to carry
And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant.
The sign is not put up so people will remember. It is put up so God will. That direction is unusual, and worth sitting with.
A question to sit with
Noah is called righteous 'in his generations'. Is that praise, or is it a measured, careful compliment?
There is no answer key. This is the part you take with you.