Thus, when God beheld the corruption of the earth and determined to destroy it, he gave Noah divine warning of the impending disaster and made a covenant with him, promising to save him and his family. Noah was instructed to build an ark, and in accordance with God's instructions he took into the ark male and female specimens of all the world's species of animals, from which the stocks might be replenished. Consequently, according to this narrative, the entire surviving human race descended from Noah's three sons and their wives.
The religious meaning of the Flood is conveyed after Noah's heroic survival, having safely landed on Mount Ararat. He then built an altar on which he offered burnt sacrifices to God, who then bound himself to a pact never again to curse the earth on humanity's account. God then set a rainbow in the sky as a visible guarantee of his promise in this covenant.