Parallel Myths (20 page)

The animals marched in two by two
Hurrah! Hurrah!
The animals marched in two by two
Hurrah! Hurrah!
The animals marched in two by two,
the cat, the dog, and the kangaroo
and they all marched into the ark
just to get out of the rain!

—Old Sunday school song, sung
to the tune of “When Johnny
Comes Marching Home Again”

Y
ahweh saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that the thoughts in his heart fashioned nothing but wickedness all day long. Yahweh regretted having made man on the earth, and his heart grieved. “I will rid the earth’s face of Man, my own creation,” Yahweh said, “and of animals also, reptiles too, and the birds of heaven; for I regret having made them.” But Noah had found favor with Yahweh. This is the story of Noah:

Noah was a good man, a man of integrity among his contemporaries, and he walked with God. Noah became the father of three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. The earth grew corrupt in God’s sight, and filled with violence. God contemplated the
earth; it was corrupt, for corrupt were the ways of all flesh upon the earth.

God said to Noah, “The end has come for all things of flesh; I have decided this, because the earth is full of violence of man’s making, and I will efface them from the earth. Make yourself an ark out of resinous wood. Make it with reeds and line it with pitch inside and out. This is how to make it: the length of the ark is to be three hundred cubits; its breadth, fifty cubits; and its height, thirty cubits. Make a roof for the ark … put the door of the ark high in the side, and make a first, second, and third deck.

“For my part I mean to bring a flood, and send the waters over the earth, to destroy all flesh on it, every living creature under heaven; everything on the earth shall perish. But I will establish my Covenant with you, and you must go on board the ark, yourself, your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives along with you. From all living creatures, from all flesh, you must take two of each kind aboard the ark, to save their lives with yours; they must be a male and a female. Of every kind of bird, of every kind of animal, and of every kind of reptile on the ground, two must go with you so that their lives may be saved. For your part provide yourself with eatables of all kinds, and lay in a store of them, to serve as food for yourselves and them.” Noah did this; he did all that God had ordered him.

Yahweh said to Noah, “Go aboard the ark, you and all your household, for you alone among this generation do I see as a good man in my judgment. Of all the clean animals you must take seven of each kind, both male and female; of the unclean animals you must take two, a male and a female (and of the birds of heaven also, seven of each kind, both male and female), to propagate their kind over the whole earth. For in seven days’ time I will mean to make it rain on the earth for forty days and nights, and I will rid the earth of every living thing that I made.” Noah did all that Yahweh ordered.

Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters appeared on the earth.

Noah and his sons, his wife, and his sons’ wives boarded the ark to escape the waters of the flood. (Of the clean animals and the animals that are not clean, of the birds and all that crawls on the ground, two of each kind boarded the ark with Noah, a
male and a female, according to the order God gave Noah.) Seven days later the waters of the flood appeared on earth.

In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month and on the seventeenth day of that month, that very day all the springs of the great deep broke through, and the sluices of heaven opened. It rained on the earth for forty days and forty nights.

That very day Noah and his sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth boarded the ark, with Noah’s wife and the three wives of his sons, and with them wild beasts of every kind, cattle of every kind, reptiles of every kind that crawls on the earth, birds of every kind, all that flies, everything with wings. One pair of all that is flesh and has the breath of life boarded the ark with Noah; and so there went in a male and a female of every creature that is flesh, just as God had ordered him.

And Yahweh closed the door behind Noah.

The flood lasted forty days on the earth. The waters swelled greatly on the earth, and the ark sailed on the waters. The waters rose more and more on the earth so that all the highest mountains under the whole of heaven were submerged. The waters rose fifteen cubits higher, submerging the mountains. And so all things of flesh perished that moved on the earth, birds, cattle, wild beasts, everything that swarms on the earth, and every man. Everything with the breath of life in its nostrils died, everything on dry land. Yahweh destroyed every living thing on the face of the earth, man and animals, reptiles, and the birds of heaven. He rid the earth of them, so that only Noah was left and those with him in the ark. The waters rose on the earth for a hundred and fifty days.

But God had Noah in mind, and all the wild beasts and all the cattle that were with him in the ark. God sent a wind across the earth and the waters subsided. The springs of the deep and the sluices of heaven were stopped. Rain ceased to fall from heaven; the waters gradually ebbed from the earth. After a hundred and fifty days, the waters fell, and in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of that month, the ark came to rest on the mountain of Ararat. The waters gradually fell until the tenth month, when on the first day of the tenth month, the mountain peaks appeared.

At the end of forty days Noah opened the porthole he had
made in the ark and he sent out the raven. This went off, and flew back and forth until the waters dried up from the earth. Then he sent out the dove, to see whether the waters were receding from the surface of the earth. The dove, finding nowhere to perch, returned to him in the ark, for there was water over the whole surface of the earth; putting out his hand he took hold of it and brought it back into the ark with him. After waiting seven more days, again he sent out the dove from the ark. In the evening, the dove came back to him and there it was with a new olive branch in its beak. So Noah realized that the waters were receding from the earth. After waiting seven more days he sent out the dove, and now it returned to him no more.

It was in the six hundred and first year of Noah’s life, in the first month and on the first of the month, that the water dried up from the earth. Noah lifted back the hatch of the ark and looked out. The surface of the ground was dry!

In the second month and on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dry.

Then God said to Noah, “Come out of the ark, you, yourself, your wife, your sons, and your sons’ wives with you. As for all the animals with you, all things of flesh, whether birds or animals or reptiles that crawl on the earth; let them be fruitful and multiply on the earth.” So Noah went out with his sons, his wife, and his sons’ wives. And all the wild beasts, all the cattle, all the birds and all the reptiles that crawl on the earth went out from the ark, one kind after another.

Noah built an altar for Yahweh, and choosing from all the clean animals and all the clean birds he offered burnt offerings on the altar. Yahweh smelled the pleasing fragrance and said to himself, “Never again will I strike down every living thing as I have done.”
*

As long as earth lasts
sowing and reaping
cold and heat
summer and winter
day and night
shall cease no more.