In this way, God wiped the earth clean—God destroyed every living thing on the earth—every man, every animal, everything that crawls, and every bird. All these things were destroyed from the earth. The only life that was left was Noah and those people and animals that were with him in the boat.
God says,\par “Remember, in Noah’s time\par I punished the world with the flood.\par But I made a promise to Noah\par that I would never again\par destroy the world with a flood.\par \{In the same way,\} I promise you\par that I will never again get angry at you\par and say bad things to you.”\par
\{I would punish that country\} even if Noah, Danel, and Job {\cf2\super [114]} lived there. Those men could save their own lives by their goodness, \{but they could not save the whole country\}.” The Lord my Master said these things.
If Noah, Danel, and Job lived there, \{then I would save those three men\} because they are good men. Those three men could save their own lives. But by my life I promise, they could not save the lives of other people—not even their own sons and daughters!” The Lord my Master said these things.
Noah was warned by God about things that Noah could not yet see. But Noah had faith and respect for God. So Noah built a large boat to save his family. With his faith, Noah showed that the world was wrong. And Noah became one of those people who are made right with God through faith.
Those were the spirits who refused to obey God long ago in the time of Noah. God was waiting patiently for them while Noah was building the big boat. Only a few people—eight in all—were saved in that boat. Those people were saved by water.
And God punished the \{evil\} people who lived long ago. God brought a flood to the world that was full of people who were against God. But God saved Noah and seven other people with Noah. Noah was a man who told people about living right.