God makes a covenant with Noah

God saw that the people of earth had become very wicked, and he was very sorry he had created them. So he decided to wipe out all the living creatures on earth, mankind and animals alike, by creating a great flood. But there was one man who found favor with God. His name was Noah.

So God told Noah to build an ark for his family so they would survive the flood. He also decided that he would save some of the animals, too, and told Noah to take seven pairs of all the clean animals and one pair of all the unclean animals in the ark with him and his family.

Then it rained for 40 days and 40 nights. The water became so high that the highest mountains were covered. Everything that had been on the dry land died, but the ark floated safely on top of the water. After 150 days, God created a wind to dry up the water.

The ark came to rest on top of a high mountain. After a time, Noah opened a hatch in the ark and released a raven, which flew back and forth until the water had dried up. Then Noah released a dove to see if the waters had lessened. It could not find a place to land, so it flew back to the ark.

A week later, Noah released another dove, and it came back with an olive leaf in its mouth, so he knew the water was getting lower. A week later, Noah released another dove, and this time it did not return. Noah then removed the ark’s covering and saw that the land was dry.

God told Noah, his family and the animals to leave the ark. Noah built an altar and made sacrifices to the Lord. “Never again will I curse the ground because of human beings, since the desires of the human heart are evil from youth; nor will I ever again strike down every living being, as I have done,” God said to himself. God blessed Noah and his sons, and told them to be fertile and multiply to fill the earth.

God also made a covenant with Noah, his descendants and all the animals that were on the ark. He made a rainbow in the sky as a sign of that covenant. “Never again shall all creatures be destroyed by the waters of a flood; there shall not be another flood to devastate the earth,” God said.

Bible Accent: Covenants

A “covenant” is an agreement. After the flood, God made a covenant with Noah, promising that he would never again destroy all life on earth.

God also made covenants with several other people in the Old Testament.

In Genesis 12, God promised that he would make of Abraham a great nation. In Exodus, God made a covenant with Moses and the people of Israel, giving them the Ten Commandments and the Mosaic Law. In 2 Samuel, God made a covenant with King David, telling him his descendants would be Israel’s rulers.

In the New Testament, Hebrews 9 explains that Jesus is “mediator of a new covenant: since a death has taken place for deliverance from transgressions under the first covenant, those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance.”

Saint for Today: St. Casimir

St. Casimir was born in 1458, and was a son of the St. CasimirKing of Poland. His mother was Elizabeth of Austria, the daughter of Emperor Albert II.

St. Casimir was very devout from a young age and prayed and meditated often. He wore plain clothes, slept on the floor, and was very happy and friendly to all he met. He was known to give his possessions to the poor.

He reluctantly agreed when his father asked him to take an army to war, but then he changed his mind. His father was angry and would not let him come home, and Casimir vowed to never again take part in war.

He eventually returned to his studies. Some wanted Casimir to get married, but the saint said that he wanted to live a life of celibacy.

He suffered from lung trouble, and he died in 1484 at age 25. Miracles were reported to take place at his tomb. We honor him on March 4.