In the Beginning:
The Book of Genesis

Lesson 6 The Great Flood & God’s Covenant with Noah
the book of Genesis 6:11—9:17

Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (RSVCE)*
New American Bible Revised Edition (NABRE)*
Catechism of the Catholic Church
ex libris (in our library)
Dives in Misericordia (Rich in Mercy)
Evangelium Vitae (Gospel of Life)
Lumen Fidei (Light of Faith)
glossary for the book of Genesis
cross references in the book of Genesis
next lesson: Canaan: A Slave of Slaves

This material coordinates with Lesson 6 on pages 31–37 in the study book In the Beginning: The Book of Genesis.

“And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, a sixth day. Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.  And on the seventh day God finished his work which he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had done.”—the book of Genesis 1:31—2:2

welcome to our in-depth study of the book of Genesis
We invite interested groups and individuals to check out the sample first lesson from this 28-lesson Turning to God’s Word Catholic Bible study. These online study pages link to free lesson videos, an online glossary, and a list of cross references in the biblical text. Other study aids include maps, charts, illustrations, additional commentary, and prayers based on the primary Scripture in each lesson. In the Beginning: The Book of Genesis has been granted an imprimatur and can be purchased from our website shop. If you have a Bible-related question or comment, click on one of the “ask us your question” or “what do you think” buttons on any online study page.

open with prayer
It’s always wise to begin any Bible study with prayer, whether reading the Scriptures alone or meeting with others in a discussion study group. You can pray using your own words or use one of the opening prayers on our website. We especially like the following:

Lord Jesus, you promised to send your Holy Spirit to teach us all things.
As we read and study your word today,
allow it to touch our hearts and change our lives. Amen.

let’s review—the book of Genesis 5:1—6:10
In Lesson 5 The Wickedness of Man Was Great, God is disappointed in the people he’s created, and the LORD vows to blot humanity from the face of the earth. The fifth chapter in the book of Genesis consists of a genealogical record from Adam to Noah. While it can be tempting to skim over such genealogical lists, they contain important information that can help us to understand difficult aspects of salvation history. It’s significant, for example, that Noah’s birth is accompanied by his father’s prediction that Noah would bring the people relief from their toil. God’s disappointment with the sins of the people is almost palpable, but the biblical text records that despite this, Noah was a righteous and blameless man who walked with God and found favor in God’s eyes.

what do we know about the rainbow?
Turning to God’s Word co-founder Tami Palladino illustrated the rainbow as a sign of God’s covenant with Noah—and with all flesh. God’s commitment never again to destroy humanity using waters of a flood is extremely comforting. It’s of interest that God includes all of life in this commitment. The rainbow is an especially interesting symbol, representing God’s own bow. A bow is a weapon, and by placing his bow in the clouds, God essentially is hanging up a weapon that otherwise could be used against Creation. The dove serves as a symbol of peace between God and humanity, but it also traditionally is seen as a symbol of God’s Holy Spirit. Click on the illustration (right) to enlarge it. Tami’s original illustration is on page 35 in the study book In the Beginning: The Book of Genesis. 

water, water … everywhere (01:15:31)
In this section in the book of Genesis, God’s disappointment with humanity is apparent. His plan is to unmake everyone and everything—with the exception of Noah, who has found favor with God. The way in which God has decided to undo Creation is through a Great Flood, building on the idea of waters of death as the same waters of the deep that showed up in the first Creation account at the very beginning in the book of Genesis. On this video, Turning to God’s Word author Matthew Phelps looks at the way that water is seen throughout Scripture both as a source of death as well as something that’s absolutely essential for life.  He also addresses evidence that God didn’t completely destroy everything in the world in the Great Flood, and Matthew looks at the rainbow as a sign of God’s promise never to undo his Creation.


The Scripture ranges for the videos that accompany this Catholic Bible study from Turning to God’s Word match the Scripture ranges for the sets of questions in In the Beginning: The Book of Genesis. You can follow along with the video overview as Turning to God’s Word author Matthew Phelps discusses Lesson 6, “The Great Flood & God’s Covenant with Noah,” on pages 31–37 in the study book.

baptism—you could look it up in our archives
The account of the Great Flood is a well-known type of the sacrament of Baptism. It sheds light on an aspect of Christianity that confuses many people—Jesus’ own baptism. To learn more, read Lost in Translation, an online column in which Turning to God’s Word author Matthew Phelps helps readers connect with ideas expressed in the original languages of the Scriptures. New Lost in Translation entries are posted on Mondays, and past entries are archived on our website. Contact us if you’d like to receive Lost in Translation by email every week.

the popes inspire us—the flood & the sacrament of Baptism
In a general audience In 1997, Pope St. John Paul II discussed Jesus’ relationship to the flood as described in the First Letter of Peter 3:18–20. Peter’s writing refers to the covenant with Noah, which represents a model (or a symbol or figure) of the New Covenant that God made with all humanity in Jesus Christ, through Jesus’ death on the cross and his Resurrection. If the Old Covenant primarily concerned Creation, the New Covenant, based on Christ’s Paschal mystery, is the covenant of redemption. Peter refers to the sacrament of Baptism. The destructive waters of the Great Flood give way to the sanctifying waters of Baptism. Baptism is the fundamental sacrament in which the covenant of man’s redemption is realized. Additional material from Pope St. John Paul II’s audience can be found in “All Creation Is an Image of the Covenant” on page 37 in the study book In the Beginning: The Book of Genesis.

one way to distinguish destructive waters from life-giving waters
That water plays two very different roles in Scripture can be confusing to people attempting to understand the Bible. In the first chapter in the book of Genesis, Creation doesn’t occur until God’s Spirit moves over the destructive waters of the deep. After the Great Flood, while Noah and his family still are on the ark, the world is covered by water, making life on earth an impossibility. The book of Genesis 8:1 records that the destructive waters only begin to subside after God causes wind to blow over the earth. The world then becomes a new Creation. God’s Spirit often is described as God’s breath or as wind, and throughout Scripture water and the Spirit bring about life. It’s no coincidence that water and the Spirit are the two essential elements of sacramental Baptism. In the Gospels, John the Baptist performs baptism with water only, but he explains that Jesus will baptize with the Spirit.

a meditation on the mystery of the sacrament of Baptism
The sixth through ninth chapters in the book of Genesis provide an account of the Great Flood, an Old Testament foreshadowing of the sacrament of Baptism. The following thought-provoking description of the sacrament is from a homily by Basil of Seleucia, a bishop who lived in the 4th century:

“Consider what Baptism is and proclaim its grace. All blessings are contained in it. It purifies the world; it restores nature. It’s a speedy redemption, a simple remedy, a liquid fire that burns away sin, a sponge that purifies conscience, a garment that never wears out. It’s a womb that conceives without passion, a tomb in which those who are buried are born again. It’s the ocean in which sins are drowned, the element that witnesses to the devil’s defeat. It’s the seal of him who takes possession of the fortress, the unfailing advocate before the Judge. It’s the stream that extinguishes the fires of hell, the grace that gives admission to the supper of the Lord. It’s a mystery, both old and new, foreshadowed even in the time of Moses. To Christ our God be glory forever, through endless ages.”

WHAT DO YOU THINK about the restriction against consuming blood?
In the covenant with Noah, God changes the rules that he’s issued for humanity, and he allows for the consumption of meat. There remains one restriction, however. Men and women aren’t permitted to consume an animal’s blood.

?  In the book of Genesis 9:4, God prohibits the consumption of blood. What do you think this prohibition is intended to establish about the authority of God?
?  How might the prohibition against consuming blood be related to God’s previous denial to men and women of access to the tree of life?
?  Refer to the sixth chapter in the Gospel According to John to learn the specific instance in which Jesus overturns the prohibition against consuming blood. How is Jesus’ teaching related to God’s covenant with Noah? You can learn more about the Bread of Life discourse in Lesson 7 A Lad with Five Barley Loaves and Lesson 8 I Am the Living Bread, both in the Turning to God’s Word Catholic Bible study The Gospel According to John: An Encounter with Grace & Truth.
?  Consider ways that you might have experienced an increase in life as a result of partaking of the Blood of Christ when celebrating the sacrament of the Eucharist.

a biblical joke
It’s no secret that only a few women are named in Scripture. Even some women we might consider to be relatively important are nameless. The book of Genesis 7:7 and other verses in this lesson make mention of Noah’s unnamed wife. Since the flood results in the re-population of the world occurring through Noah’s family, it seems that his wife should be at least close to on par with Adam’s wife, Eve. That Noah’s wife is not identified by name in Scripture, however, leads some irreverent wags to speculate that her given name may have been Joan—making her Joan of Ark.

the best Catholic commentary about Scripture
To find out more about how Church teaching is supported by Scripture passages in In the Beginning: The Book of Genesis, check out the Index of Citations in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Links to the primary Scripture passages in the lesson (Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition [RSVCE*]) and relevant paragraphs in the Catechism are provided here. Not every passage in the biblical text for this Catholic study is referenced in a Catechism paragraph, however.

the book of Genesis 6:12—paragraph 401
the book of Genesis 8:8–12—paragraph 701
the book of Genesis 8:17—paragraph 2569
the book of Genesis 8:20—paragraph 2569
the book of Genesis 9:1–4—paragraph 2417
the book of Genesis 9:5–6—paragraph 2260
the book of Genesis 9:8–16—paragraph 2569
the book of Genesis 9:9—paragraph 56
the book of Genesis 9:16—paragraph 71

ways our glossary might prove helpful
In addition to providing extra information about geographical locations, our glossary also points out persons or places mentioned in the biblical text under more than one name or more than one spelling. If you can remember a name but aren’t sure in which lesson it shows up, you can find it in the glossary, which lists every proper noun that appears in the biblical text for every lesson in In the Beginning: The Book of Genesis.

to learn more, read more Scripture
If you’re having difficulty with a particular passage of Scripture, it can be helpful to read the relevant cross references—but looking these up can take time. To make that easier, we’ve compiled the cross references from the Revised Standard Version Second Catholic Edition (RSV2CE)—the translation that we reprint in our study books. A link to that list can be found at the top of every online study page; the list features links to cross references in the primary biblical text in the study book In the Beginning: The Book of Genesis.

don’t forget about our indexes & extra online material
If you’re trying to locate information about a specific Scripture passage, you can look it up in the index at the back of the study book or sample lesson. If you want to find a particular commentary, you can look up its title in the topics index. To learn more about another book of the Bible for which there’s a Turning to God’s Word study, visit the online study directories to read the commentaries and watch any accompanying videos. Finally, if you have a question or would like to make a comment about any of our studies, you can use one of the “ask us your question” or “what do you think” buttons to email our authors.

ex libris—Church documents & books about religious topics
Link to magisterial documents referred to in our Bible studies at ex libris—magisterial documents. This listing includes significant recent encyclicals as well as a number of historical Church documents. Recommended books related to Scripture study can be found at ex libris—main bookshelf.

wondering how to pronounce some of these words?
The following link is to a reading from the New International Version (NIV) Bible. To listen, open the link and click on the audio icon above the printed text. Although not taken from the translations used in our study materials, the NIV reading provides an audio guide to pronunciation of words in this lesson’s primary biblical text. A close online version of the translation of the Bible used in Catholic liturgy in the United States as well as an audio guide for daily Mass readings for the current month can be found on the website of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB).

the book of Genesis 6:11—9:17 (NIV)

round black doveclose with Bible-based prayer related to this lesson
Many of our Catholic study groups like to conclude their discussions with a prayer based on the scriptural focus of their lesson, and some participants include Scripture-specific prayer in their individual study. If you’re uncomfortable composing your own Bible-based prayers, you can follow our four easy steps. If you prefer, you can use the following prayer based on this lesson’s text from the book of Genesis.

O God, out of love for your Creation, you established a covenant with Noah.
Help us also to love and respect Creation,
and teach us to honor your authority over all life and death.
We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ,
who died to bring the possibility of eternal life to all men and women. Amen.

Lesson 7 Canaan: A Slave of Slaves—the book of Genesis 9:18—11:32
Lesson 5 The Wickedness of Man Was Great—the book of Genesis 5:1—6:10

you also may like our study of the Gospel According to John
The Gospel According to John: An Encounter with Grace & Truth, a 25-lesson Catholic Bible study with an imprimatur, examines the Fourth Gospel’s view of Jesus Christ as the Son of God, with special emphasis on the institution of the sacraments of the Church as the means by which Christians are purified and made holy. This recently revised study includes maps and additional commentary, and takes a closer look at the way in which Jesus relates to individual men and women. Click on the book’s cover to view a sample lesson.

start a Turning to God’s Word Bible study
Thank you for your interest in our study In the Beginning: The Book of Genesis. Information about beginning a Turning to God’s Word Catholic Bible study can be found at start a Bible study. Tami, Matthew, and I are available to answer questions and offer support. Contact us if you’d like to start a Turning to God’s Word study or have your schedule listed with other TtGW study groups on our website. —Jennifer

*There are seven deuterocanonical books in the Old Testament—the Books of Tobit, Judith, Wisdom, Sirach, Baruch, and First and Second Maccabees, as well as some passages in the Books of Esther and Daniel. Protestants usually refer to these works as “apocryphal,” a word that means “outside the (Protestant) canon” because they’re excluded from most Protestant Bibles. The word “deuterocanonical” means “second canon”; Catholics use that word to refer to any section of the Catholic Old Testament for which there are no extant, or existing, Hebrew manuscripts. All of the deuterocanonical books appear in the Septuagint, the earliest remaining versions of which date to the 1st century B.C. This Greek translation of the Old Testament was in common use by Jews at the time of Jesus. Learn more by reading How Do Catholic & Protestant Bibles Differ?

Turning to God’s Word printed Bible studies use the 2006 Revised Standard Version Second Catholic Edition (RSV2CE) translation for all Scripture references except those to the Psalms, which are taken from The Abbey Psalms and Canticles, prepared by the Benedictine monks of Conception Abbey and published in 2020 by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). All Scripture links for the online study pages for In the Beginning: The Book of Genesis are to the 1966 Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (RSVCE) translation. The New International Version (NIV) audio recordings follow the same chapter and verse numbering as the RSV Catholic translations, but the NIV translation doesn’t include the deuterocanonical books and passages.

The 1966 RSVCE uses archaic pronouns and verb forms such as “thee,” “thou,” “didst” in the Psalms and in direct quotations attributed to God. The 2006 RSV2CE replaces these with more accessible English. The few significant translation changes in the RSV2CE include rendering almah as “virgin” in the Book of Isaiah 7:14 and restoring the term “begotten” in the Gospel According to John 3:16.

Numbering varies for some passages in this Bible study. Turning to God’s Word studies (print and digital) follow the numbering in the Revised Standard Version Catholic translations (RSV2CE and RSVCE). Discrepancies in the New American Bible Revised Edition (NABRE) are noted in the Index of Scripture Citations in the study book and the online sample.

You can learn more about the Psalms by viewing a sample lesson from the Turning to God’s Word Catholic Bible study Sing a New Psalm: Communicating with God Through the Prayers of the Church—Volume I: Lauds & Vespers. The second part of that study, Sing a New Psalm: Communicating with God Through the Prayers of the Church—Volume II: Vigils, Day Prayer & Compline, is scheduled for publication in 2025. Some verse numbers may vary in different translations of the Psalms.