Finally there came a day when God told Noah to take into the ark his wife, his three sons and their wives, together with “every beast after its kind and all the cattle after their kind and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth after its kind, and every bird after its kind. And they went in unto Noah into the ark, two and two, of all flesh, wherein is the breath of life.” When all were safely in the door was shut. Then the rain came and the waters rose high and higher until all the mountains were covered. Upon the waste of waters the ark floated. Days and weeks and months went by, still the waters were over everything. Then God caused a high wind to pass over the earth and the waters began to go down. One day Noah opened the window of the ark and sent a raven out and the raven did not come back. Then Noah sent out a dove, but the dove found no rest for her foot and came back to the ark, and Noah took her in. After waiting seven days more, Noah sent the dove out again and at evening time of that day she came back and in her bill she brought an olive leaf. The olive trees grow only in valleys, so Noah knew that the water must have dried off the earth. He waited seven days more and sent the dove out again, but this time she did not return. Then Noah removed the covering of the ark and looked, and behold the face of the ground was dry. And God spake to Noah saying, “Go forth from the ark, thou and thy wife, and thy sons and thy sons’ wives with thee. Bring forth with thee every living thing, both birds and cattle and every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.” So Noah and his family once more stood in God’s sunshine upon the dry land. The first thing that Noah did after leaving the ark was to build an altar to the Lord and offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving. God was pleased with Noah’s sacrifice and gave him a promise that never again should the earth be destroyed by flood, and he said: “While the earth remains, seed-time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night shall not cease.” Just then the sun shone brightly against a dark cloud, and a brilliant rainbow spanned the sky. God said, “This is the sign of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for endless generations. I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a token of a covenant between me and the earth.”