he waters had gone from the
surface of the earth. But the dove found no rest for her foot, and so
returned to him to the ark, for the waters covered the whole earth.
Therefore, Noah reached out his hand and took her and brought her back
into the ark.

Then he waited seven days longer and again sent out the dove from the
ark. And the dove came in to him at dusk; and in her mouth was a freshly
plucked olive-leaf. So Noah knew that the waters had gone from the
earth. And he waited seven days more and again sent out the dove, but it
did not return to him.

So Noah took off the covering of the ark and looked and saw that the
surface of the ground was dry. Then he, with his sons, his wife, and his
sons' wives, went out of the ark.

And Noah built an altar to Jehovah and took one of every beast and bird
that was fit for sacrifice and offered burnt-offerings on the altar. And
Jehovah said to himself, "I will never again condemn the ground because
of man, nor will I again destroy every living creature, as I have done.
While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and
winter, day and night, shall not cease."

And God said, "This is the sign of the solemn agreement that I make for
all time between me and you and every living creature that is with you:
I have placed my rainbow in the cloud and it shall be the sign of the
solemn agreement between me and the people who live on the earth.
Whenever I bring a cloud over the earth and the rainbow is seen in the
cloud, I will remember the agreement which is between me and you and
every living creature; and the waters shall never again become a flood
to destroy them."

THE STORY OF THE TOWER OF BABEL

All the people of the earth spoke one language; and as they travelled
westward, they found a broad valley in the land of Babylonia, and made
their home there.

Then they said one to another, "Come, let us make bricks and thoroughly
bake them." So they had bricks for stone and asphalt for mortar. And
they said, "Come, let us build us a city, and a tower whose top will
touch the heavens, and thus make a landmark, that we may not be
scattered over all the earth."

But when Jehovah came down to see the city and the tower men had built,
he said, "See, they are one people and all have one language. This is
but the beginning, and now nothing which they plan to do will seem too
difficult for them. Come, let us go down and confuse their language,
that they may