The Flood

The Flood

(Genesis 6: 5-8,19)

And God said to Noah: “I have determined to make an end of all flesh; for the earth is filled with violence through them; behold, I will destroy them with the earth. Make yourself an ark of gopher wood" (Genesis 6: 13-14)... For in seven days I will send rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights; and every living thing that I have made I will blot out from the face of the ground” (Genesis 7: 4)... And after seven days the waters of the flood came upon the earth... (Genesis 7: 10)

Michelangelo shows the episode of the Flood in all its drama In the foreground there is a hill towards which a great multitude of persons, buried under the weight of their personal effects or their relatives, are heading, so hoping to avoid the wrath of God. On the other side they are crowding onto a small island, stretching out their hands to lend aid to those still in danger. In the centre is a boat, about to sink, while in the background is the ark on which, through the will of God, Noah, his family and pairs of animals will be saved.