The flood

  A rampant explosion of wickedness throughout the earth both broke the heart of the Lord and made him angry. He was extremely disappointed in the people he had made but made the painful decision to destroy everything he had created. 

In contrast to his contemporaries, Noah was a man of integrity and had a special relationship with God. His sons were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. The rest of humanity was totally corrupt. There was complete anarchy. Because of Noah and God’s close relationship, God did not want to destroy Noah with a flood, and ordered him to build an ark out of gopher wood (probably cypress) and cover it entirely with pitch. He instructed Noah to build it so that it would not capsize during the flood. God said to build it with three decks but no windows, only an opening for ventilation eighteen inches from the top deck. Though there had never been a flood, Noah believed God and built the ark exactly as instructed. 

After Noah finished building the ark, the Lord told him to take seven pairs of every clean animal, two pairs of every unclean animal, and seven pairs of every species of birds into the ark. (The distinction between clean and unclean animals is based on differences as defined in the Law of Moses.) The Lord then warned Noah the rain would begin in seven days and would continue for forty days and nights. 

At age six hundred, Noah brought his wife, his sons and their wives, and all the animals on board. As soon as he finished loading, the rain began. In addition to the rain, gigantic tidal waves from the oceans swept across the earth, covering it for 150 days. Everything was destroyed, only Noah and those on the ark survived.