Signs and Wonders Read Online Free Page B

to us,” said Noah. “Perhaps you should be building boats, too.” But he kept working even as he said this. And the neighbors laughed and jeered and paid no heed to his warning.
    Finally, the ark was finished. And it was built exactly as God had instructed—an enormous three-story houseboat, 450 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet high. A door big enough to admit the largest animal was cut into its side, and there were windows to see through. And the seams were caulked with pitch inside and outside.
    When the ark was finished, Noah and his sons and their wives worked harder than ever, loading the cargo space with sacks of flour and dried meat and dried fish and great cheeses, with sacks of apples and oranges and figs, and with jars of honey.
    Then God appeared to Noah and said: “You are a good man. Carefully have you prepared the ark of your salvation. It will keep you afloat when I drown the wicked. Now you have just seven days before I break the fountains of the deep and hurl the tides of my vengeance upon this earth. Herd together the animals, as I have commanded you, and gather the birds of air. Bring them into your ark two by two, then get aboard with all your family. In seven days the rains shall fall.”
    Seven days and seven nights Noah and the sons of Noah and their wives worked, eating as they worked, and sleeping not at all. But by the end of the seven days they had herded together the beasts of earth and gathered all the fowl of air, and marched them two by two—male and female of each kind—up the gangway and through the great door of the ark. God had given the animals a special wit for the occasion, so they did not flee their herders and did not attack them, but allowed themselves to be led tamely into the ark. Even the wildest beasts—even lion and tiger, gigantic elephant, and deadly grinning crocodile.
    Then, at the end of seven days, when all the animals were aboard, Shem, Ham, and Japheth boarded the ark with their mother and their wives. When all were aboard, Noah took one last look at his home and his garden and his orchard, then walked slowly up the gangway and slid shut the great door.
    His neighbors, who had watched the parade of animals with amazement, now fell into a terrible rage as they watched Noah climb into the ark.
    “That’s right, madman,” they screamed. “Lock yourself into your stinking zoo. But don’t try to come out, or we’ll kill you!”
    The sight of what they did not understand made their wickedness more wicked. But they did not have much time to think about Noah, for on that day the rain began to fall.
    It was no ordinary rain. It did not fall in drops, but in thick foaming ropes like a waterfall—as if a mighty hand had lifted an ocean out of its bed and flung it down toward earth. And that is what was happening, for God had kept his promise and broken up the fountains of the deep and was hurling their great waters through the windows of heaven.
    The water rose so swiftly that most people did not have time to climb to the roof of their house but were drowned inside. And those who were able to climb to the roof lived only a short time longer, for in an hour the water had climbed past the highest roof. Some people clung to wooden beds and planks of wood and floated awhile, but the water was whipped by the wind into a savage boiling torrent, and all who had managed to keep afloat were pulled under.
    Noah looked out through the porthole in great wonder. He saw the houses being washed away, and the barns. He saw the fields disappear under sheets of water. He saw the water climb higher than the trees and cover the forests. But not a drop of water leaked into the ark. And he felt the great vessel rise comfortably as the water rose and float easily upon the surface. Nor did it pitch and toss when the gusts of wind hit it, but rocked gently and floated away north by west.
    And Noah’s heart was torn. He rejoiced in God’s mercy, which had plucked him from the raging