The Genesis flood narrative (chapters 6–9 in the Book of Genesis) is the Hebrew version of the universal flood myth. The story tells of God's decision to return the Earth to its pre-creation state of watery chaos and then remake it in a reversal of creation.

The flood is part of what scholars call the Primeval history, the first 11 chapters of Genesis. These chapters, fable-like and legendary, form a preface to the patriarchal narratives which follow but show little relationship to them. For example, the names of its characters and its geography - Adam ("Man") and Eve ("Life"), the Land of Nod ("Wandering"), and so on - are symbolic rather than real, and much of the narratives consist of lists of "firsts" - the first murder, the first wine, the first empire-builder. Most notably, almost none of the persons, places and stories in it are ever mentioned anywhere else in the Bible. This has led scholars to suppose that the History forms a late composition attached to Genesis to serve as an introduction.

"Intertextuality" means the way episodes in the biblical books refer to and echo each other. The most significant such echo is with the Genesis creation narrative: the division between the "waters above" and the "waters below" the earth is removed, the flood covers the dry land, all life is destroyed, and only Noah and those with him survive to obey the divine command to "be fruitful and multiply."

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