User:Til Eulenspiegel/NA
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Noah's Ark (Hebrew: תיבת נח, Tevat Noach; Arabic: سفينة نوح, Safina Nuh) — as related in the Hebrew Bible (Book of Genesis chapters 6 through 9), the Qur'an (Suras 11 and 71), and in other texts of various Abrahamic religions — was a massive vessel built to save Noah, his family, and a stock of the world’s animals from the impending Deluge.
According to the basic narrative found in Genesis, God, grieved at the wickedness of mankind[1], decides to destroy the corrupted world, but instructs Noah, a man "righteous in his generation", to build an Ark which will save him, his family, and representatives of all the land animals and birds. The flood then destroys the earth, but at the height of the deluge "God remembered Noah", and the waters abate and the dry land reappears, with the Ark resting "upon the mountains of Ararat". The story ends with God entering into a covenant with Noah and his descendants.
The story has been subject to many extensive elaborations in Abrahamic religions, ranging from theological interpretations, to hypothetical solutions for more practical problems. By the 19th century, many geologists, archaeologists and biblical scholars had abandoned a literal interpretation of the narrative; however, Biblical literalists continue to accept the Ark as a crucial element in their understanding of the historicity of the Bible, and searches for the Ark's speculated resting spot continue to this day.