BEFORE the flood men lived to be nearly a thousand years old. They were much larger and stronger than they are now. Living so long they became very wise and very rich.
For many years there were those who believed in God and obeyed Him. But in time most of the people forgot Him and became very wicked.
"And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. . . . And the earth was filled with violence." Genesis 6:5, 11.
So the Lord said He would bring a flood of waters on the earth to drown all the wicked people.
But Noah and his family were faithful to God. So He told Noah to build a great boat, called the ark. It was so large that it would hold all his family, and some of all kinds of animals and birds. It also had room to hold food for them for many days.