spake unto Noah, saying, Go forth out of the ark, thou and thy wife, and thy sons, and thy sons' wives with thee. Bring forth with thee every living thing that is with thee. And Noah went forth with all his family and all that were in the ark. And Noah builded an altar unto the Lord, and took of every clean beast and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. And the Lord smelled a sweet savour, and said, I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake; for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth neither will I again smite any more everything living, as I have done. While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night, shall not cease.

And I will establish my covenant with you; neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth. And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations. I do set my bow in the cloud, and I will look upon it that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth.

We have all seen, since the days of our childhood, this beautiful rainbow, which God placed in the sky for Noah to look at.

CHAPTER V.

THE TOWER OF BABEL.

NOAH's descendants increased rapidly. And they spread over a large part of the earth, and all of them spoke one language. That is, they used the same kind of speech, or words, so that what one said all the rest could understand.

In those days people lived in tents, and moved about from place to place, so that their flocks and herds might have fresh grass to feed upon. And as they went from the east to the

1

west they came to a large plain in the land of Shinar, and there they lived for some time. And they grew proud, and did not serve God as they ought to have done.

And they said among themselves, Let us build a city, and a

tower whose top will reach unto heaven; and let us make a name for ourselves.

And they made bricks and burned them in the fire, and used these instead of stone in building the tower.

God saw their work and was not pleased with it, and he knew that if they were let alone there would be no end to the

strange things they would plan to do. So he put a stop to their work in this way: As long as they were of one mind and of one speech, they could get along very well. But when they all began to talk in their own way, and spoke strange tongues that none of the rest could understand, everything went wrong, and there was a great noise-a confusion of sound. This, of course, brought on quarrels, and a war of words if

not of blows, and those who were once the best of friends

were now strangers and foes. And as they could not live together in peace, they gave up building the city, and all went off-some east, some west, some north, and some south, and made homes for themselves all over the face of the earth.

And the name of the tower is called Babel, for there God mixed up the speech of the people so that they could not talk with or understand each other.

CHAPTER VI.

ABRAM AND LOT-HAGAR AND ISHMAEL.

ABRAM was the son of Terah; his wife's name was Sarai; and they lived in Ur of the Chaldees. And the Lord told Abram to leave the land where he was born, and to go out from his father's house to a land that he would show him.

And he

ABRAM SEES THE LAND OF PROMISE.

told Abram that he would take care of him, and bless him, and make him rich and great.

Abram believed in God, and did just as he told him, without stopping to ask questions. And Abram took Sarai, his wife, and Lot, his brother's son, and all the goods that they owned, and set out for the land of Canaan.

Both Abram and Lot were rich in flocks and herds, and the land did not yield enough grass to feed them. So Abram's and Lot's herdsmen fought for the best places for their cattle. And Abram said to Lot, Let us not quarrel. The world is wide enough for us both. If thou wilt take the left hand, then I will go to the right; and if thou goest to the right hand, then I will go to the left.

Lot looked around and saw that the plain of Jordan was like a well-watered garden, that there the grass grew rich and rank, and there would be no lack of food for his flocks and herds. But in the midst of the plain were two wicked citiesSodom and Gomorrah-near which no one who loved God would want to live.

But Lot was on the lookout for gain, and thought a great