The Flood

A flood is a rising and overflowing of water to cover the land. "The flood" typically refers to the flood associated with Noah in Genesis 6–9.

The story of Noah’s flood in Genesis 6–9 is mentioned many times elsewhere in the Bible. In every case, it is treated as a real historical event (Genesis 10:1, 32; 11:10; Matthew 24:38–39; Luke 17:27; 2 Peter 2:5).

According to the biblical account, God sent the flood because human wickedness had become widespread. It reached the point where “the wickedness of man was great upon the earth” (Genesis 6:5). God decided to destroy humanity and begin again with a people who would obey him (compare Genesis 1:26–28). Among all the people on earth, only Noah, his sons, and their wives remained faithful to the Lord. God used them to repopulate the earth after the flood.

God gave 120 years of warning before the flood came. During that time, Noah built a large ship and preached about God’s coming judgment (Genesis 6:3; compare Hebrews 11:7; 1 Peter 3:20; 2 Peter 2:5). Then heavy rain fell, and water also came up from beneath the earth (Genesis 7:11).

Only Noah's family and any land animals he brought onto the ship were saved from the water. The floodwaters covered the earth for more than a year. Eventually, the waters went down, and the earth became dry and suitable for life again (Genesis 7:6–12, 24; 8:3–6, 10–14).

When Noah and his family left the ark, they offered sacrifices to thank God. God then promised that he would never again destroy the earth with a flood.

Scholars who believe the flood account describes a real historical event disagree about how much of the earth was covered by the flood. The story seems to suggest that the whole earth was flooded as high as the top of the highest mountains (Genesis 7:17–20; 8:4). Some scholars have argued that waters that were high enough to cover “all the high mountains under all the heavens” (Genesis 7:19) would cover the entire earth.

Others support the idea of a local flood. They argue that the story describes events from Noah’s point of view. In other words, it may have appeared to Noah that the whole earth was flooded, even if the flood did not cover the entire world. They also note that God's purpose was to destroy the human race, which may have been living only in Mesopotamia at that time. If so, a worldwide flood would not have been necessary.

Some scholars also point to difficulties in translating the word "earth." In Genesis 1:1, it appears in an ancient expression that refers to everything that exists (“heaven and earth” means "the universe"). In other places, the word can refer to a specific country (Genesis 47:13), the ground or soil (23:15), or other related meanings. For this reason, some scholars believe that the use of the word "earth" in the flood story does not necessarily mean that the entire world was covered with water.

Some people who support the idea of a worldwide flood point to marine fossils found on the tops of high mountains. They argue that these fossils provide evidence for a global flood. Others disagree. They note that mountains originally rose from areas that were once under the sea. Because of this, they would expect to find marine fossils on mountain peaks even without a worldwide flood.

In the end, a person's view of this question depends not only on scientific evidence but also on theological beliefs and how the biblical text is interpreted. See “Scientific Evidence for the Flood?”.

See also Gilgamesh Epic; Noah #1.