Part 178 (2/2)

By Moritz Oppenheim, born at Hanan 1801-died 1882.

”And the dove came in to him at eventide; and, lo, in her mouth an olive leaf plucked off; so Noah knew that the waters were abated from off the earth.”

[End ill.u.s.tration]

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And the flood was forty days upon the earth; and the waters increased, and bore up the ark, and it was lifted up above the earth. And the waters prevailed, and increased greatly upon the earth; and the ark went upon the face of the waters. And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth; and all the high mountains that were under the whole heaven were covered. Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail; and the mountains were covered. And all life died that moved upon the earth, both bird, and cattle, and beast, and every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, and every man: all in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land, died. And every living thing was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground, both man, and cattle, and creeping thing, and bird of the heaven; and they were destroyed from the earth: and Noah only was left, and they that were with him in the ark. And the waters prevailed upon the earth an hundred and fifty days.

THE DOVE AND THE OLIVE LEAF.

And G.o.d remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the cattle that were with him in the ark: and G.o.d made a wind to pa.s.s over the earth, and the waters a.s.suaged; the fountains also of the deep and the windows of heaven were stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained; and the waters returned from off the earth continually: and after the end of an hundred and fifty {30} days the waters decreased. And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat. And the waters decreased continually until the tenth month: in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, were the tops of the mountains seen.

And it came to pa.s.s at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made: and he sent forth a raven, and it went forth to and fro, until the waters were dried up from off the earth. And he sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters were abated from off the face of the ground; but the dove found no rest for the sole of her foot, and she returned unto him to the ark, for the waters were on the face of the whole earth: and he put forth his hand, and took her, and brought her in unto him into the ark. And he stayed yet other seven days; and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark; and the dove came in to him at eventide; and, lo, in her mouth an olive leaf plucked off: so Noah knew that the waters were abated from off the earth. And he stayed yet other seven days; and sent forth the dove; and she returned not again unto him any more. And it came to pa.s.s in the six hundred and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried up from off the earth: and Noah removed the covering of the ark, and looked, and, behold, the face of the ground was dried. And in the second month, on the seven and twentieth day of the month, was the earth dry.

And Noah went forth, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives with him: every beast, every creeping {31} thing, and every bird, whatsoever moveth upon the earth, after their families, went forth out of the ark.

THE RAINBOW IN THE SKY.

And G.o.d said, ”I will establish my covenant with you; neither shall all life be cut off any more by the waters of the flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth. This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth. And it shall come to pa.s.s, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud, and I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all life. And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between G.o.d and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth. This is the token of the covenant which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth.”

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THE STORY OF THE TOWER OF BABEL.

_A Foolish Plan and Its Failure_.

And the whole earth was of one language and of one speech. And it came to pa.s.s, as they journeyed east, that they found a plain in the land of s.h.i.+nar; and they dwelt there. And they said one to another, ”Come, let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly.”

And they had brick for stone, and pitch had they for mortar. And they said, ”Come, let us build us a city, and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven, and let us make us a name; lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.”

And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded. And the Lord said, ”Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language; and this is what they begin to do: and now nothing will be withholden from them, which they purpose to do. Come, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech.”

So the Lord scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off building the city. Therefore was the name of it called Babel (that is, confusion); because the Lord did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the Lord scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.

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TALES OF BRAVE WOMEN

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RUTH

PERSONS OF THE STORY.

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