Read online “The Embezzlers”
Valentin Petrovich Kataev
Embezzlers
Chapter first
At that very moment, as the hands of the round clock above the rotunda of the Moscow telegraph showed ten minutes to ten, an extremely decent middle-aged citizen in galoshes, in a drape coat with an astrakhan collar and an astrakhan hat with a pie, with an astrakhan ribbon, crawled out sideways from the letter “A” and fields with a duck. The citizen immediately spread a damp umbrella with pear-shaped tassels over himself and, splashing through the solid water, crossed through a very noisy intersection to the other side. Here he stopped in front of a cigarette stand that had settled on the stairs of the telegraph office. Seeing the citizen, an old man in a blue cap with a silver inscription “Stall” stuck his luxurious gray hair out of the Scottish plaid, put his hand in a knitted glove with cut off fingers under the wet tarpaulin and handed him a pack of Ira cigarettes.
– Won’t they be wet? - asked the citizen, sniffing with his rather long nose the unclean air, saturated with the smell of city rain and lamp gas.
- Be calm, from the very bottom. Weather!
After this assurance, the citizen handed the cigarette man twenty-four kopecks, sighed restrainedly, hid the pink packet in his trouser pocket and remarked:
- Weather!
Then he wrapped his coat around him and walked past the post office down Myasnitskaya to work.
As a matter of fact, for quite a long time no Myasnitskaya Street has existed in nature. There is a street called the First of May. But who can turn their tongues in mid-November, at that dull morning hour, when the fine Moscow rain tediously and actively pours on passers-by, when incredibly long rods of unknown purpose, rattling on a dray, strive to drive into your very face with their sharp ends at a turn, when your path is suddenly blocked by a milling machine or dynamo that has fallen out of a technical office across the sidewalk, when the forged shaft of a bitumen hits you in the shoulder and a steep wave of dirt from under a car wheel splashes the already spattered coat tails, when the glass boards of trusts are deafened by the ominous gold of letters, when millstones, straw cutters, saws and gears are ready to move every minute and, breaking through the gloomy glass of a shop window, throw themselves at you and turn you into mush, when on every corner there is a stink of gas from a broken pipe, when green lamps burn all day long over the desks of office workers, – who then would dare to call this street by any other name?
No, this street was Myasnitskaya, and will remain Myasnitskaya. Apparently, she was destined to be Myasnitskaya, and another name, even the most wonderfully radiant one, is unlikely to stick to her.
The citizen turned into an alley and entered the first entrance of the corner house. Here he shook off and twisted his umbrella, stamped his galoshes on the swollen mesh of the wire rug, and while he trampled, he read with disgust from board to board last year’s announcement of the sports club, scrawled in blue paint on a long strip of wallpaper paper.
Then the citizen, slowly, climbed the muddy marble stairs to the third floor, entered the open door to the left and moved along the dark corridor into the depths of the institution. He turned right, then left, along the way he poked his nose into a closet where the courier and the cleaning lady were diligently drinking tea, talking about the global flood, and finally found himself in the accounting department.
A large room with five solid windows reaching all the way to the floor, partitioned, as usual, along its entire length by a wooden counter, was filled with tables arranged in pairs.
The citizen opened the gate made in the counter, glanced casually at the statement, which was checked by clicking on the accounts by an arrogant girl in a knitted blue jacket with piping, similar to a hussar's mentik, ran his mustache over a stack of orders laid out between the fingers of a red-haired young man, spat in the blue spittoon and followed the glass partition, arranged like an aquarium in the right corner of the accounting department. There was a printed table hanging on the door:
CHIEF ACCOUNTANT F. S. PROKHOROV
While the chief accountant, resting his hand on the wall, was taking off, groaning, his galoshes with letters and unwinding his woolen scarf, a courier came in and placed a glass of tea on the red cloth of the desk.
By all indications, the courier was not averse to talking.
– Will you look through the newspaper, Philip Stepanovich? – he asked, hanging his accounting coat on a nail.
- A newspaper?
Philip Stepanovich winked meaningfully with his kidney eye, sat down at the table, laid out a pack of cigarettes and smoothed his long greenish mustache with a handkerchief, as if sitting astride his bare, heel-like chin with a tassel under his lower lip, which made it clear that he could talk.
– What could be interesting about it, Nikita? - he asked.
Nikita set his umbrella in the corner, leaned his back on the door frame and crossed his arms over his chest.
“There may be a lot of interesting things, Philip Stepanovich, don’t tell me.”
.
The chief accountant pulled out a long cigarette from his pack, tapped the cigarette holder on the table, lit a cigarette, turned sideways on the wooden chair and winked with his other kidney eye.
- For example?
– For example, Philip Stepanovich, quite interesting incidents are published. Like criticism of Soviet power.
“Eh, Nikita,” the chief accountant remarked with a feeling of deep superiority and regret, “it was in vain that illiteracy was eliminated from you, Nikita.” Well, what kind of newspaper reader are you if you yourself don’t understand what you’re reading about?
- No, Philip Stepanovich, I understand. Why then read if it is not clear? Very interesting criticism can be launched.
– What kind of criticism can there be?
- But you yourself know, Philip Stepanovich...
Nikita shifted from foot to foot and shyly remarked:
– As for running, there is criticism.
- Begov? You're just drunk! What kind of races?
“Now we know what kind of races we have,” the courier said with a sigh, “they run one after another, and that’s it.”
-Who's running?
– The embezzlers are running away. The matter is clear. They sit in a cab with government money and drive off. And where they are going is unknown. Presumably they are traveling to cities. For example, today I read such criticism that during the month of October, no less than one and a half thousand people left various institutions around Moscow in this way.
“Yes...” noted the chief accountant, examining the tip of the cigarette with a smoldering raspberry and releasing smoke from his nostrils. - N-yes...
– What will it happen, Philip Stepanovich, you tell me if everyone disperses this way. It will be a very boring service. Take, for example, our Myasnitskaya Street. Of course, it is not known exactly how many different institutions there are, but as far as we are concerned, there are only five in this corner house, and together with ours there are six. Consider, there are two first floors: the main office of “Uralquartz” and “Everything for Radio”; second…
- Why are you telling me all this?
“And for the reason,” Nikita said, quickly bending his fingers, “that the entire second floor is occupied by Elektromash, three in total; the third floor is us and Trosstrest, a total of five, and the fourth floor is Promkust, a total of six.
- Nikita! – the chief accountant said sternly.
“Now take into account, Philip Stepanovich, that Uralkvarts, Everything for Radio, Elektromash and Trosstrest were already spent last week,” Nikita said, choking in the incredible speed of speech, “and from Promkust only -We just finished taking it out at dawn today. At seven o'clock the last cart drove off.
- Nikita, what are you talking about! Why supply?
- It’s a well-known fact, you can’t take eighteen thousand in copper coins from the fourth floor to the station in a cab...
Online reading of the book Funny Bible CHAPTER FIVE. GLOBAL FLOOD.
The book of Genesis is very restrained in describing the details of the crimes and sins committed on earth by the descendants of Adam during the time of the cohabitation of angels with women.
She says simply:
“And the Lord (God) saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Genesis chapter 6, verse 5).
Let's face it: apparently, the descendants of Adam forgot to pray carefully in the mornings and evenings, for nothing angers the Lord God more than sloppiness in prayers. And any priest will tell you, if you don’t know it, that anyone who forgets to pray is ready to fall into any sin.
“And the Lord repented that he had created man on earth, and was grieved in his heart.
And the Lord said, “I will destroy from the face of the earth man whom I created, from man to beast, and the creeping thing, and the birds of the air, I will destroy, for I repented that I made them” (Genesis chapter 6, verses 6-7).
God's repentance! This is not so common. And besides, the old man’s grief was too burning, for it clouded his mind and forced him to make the decision to exterminate also all the animals that were innocent and had not sinned in any way. It would seem that the simplest thing for God - bearing in mind his omnipotence - would be to change people; but, as we shall see, he prefers to sink them. This, I must admit, is not entirely fatherly!
“But Noah found grace in the sight of the Lord (god)” (Genesis chapter 6, verse 8).
This “was a righteous man and blameless in his generation” (verse 9).
And so God the Father came to him on a visit to warn him about the impending disaster and give him the opportunity to escape.
“And God said to Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me, for the earth is filled with evildoings from them; and behold, I will destroy them from the earth. Make yourself an ark of gopher wood; make compartments in the ark and coat it with pitch inside and outside.
And make it this way: the length of the ark is three hundred cubits; its breadth is fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits. And thou shalt make a hole in the ark, and thou shalt make it a cubit at the top, and thou shalt make a door into the ark at the side thereof; arrange the lower, second and third (housing) in it.
And behold, I will bring a flood of water upon the earth, to destroy all flesh in which is the spirit of life under the heavens; everything on earth will lose life. But I will establish my covenant with you, and you and your sons and your wife and your sons’ wives will go into the ark with you. Bring also into the ark (of every livestock, and of every creeping thing, and) of every living creature, and of every flesh, in pairs, so that they may remain alive with you; let them be male and female. Of (all) birds according to their kinds, and of (all) livestock according to their kinds, and of every creeping thing that creeps on the earth according to their kind, of all of them two by two will come in to you, so that they may remain alive (with you, male and female). . Take for yourself all the food that people eat, and gather it for you; and it will be food for you and for them.
And Noah did everything: as (the Lord) God commanded him, so he did” (Genesis chapter 6, verses 13-22).
The construction of the ark lasted a hundred years. God did not tell Noah to warn other people about what was coming. Consequently, one must think that the patriarch and his family kept their preparations secret. People, of course, must have been surprised to see Noah in the middle of a field building a huge ship of 300 cubits, which is approximately 150 meters, that is, the length of a decent steamship. Some people probably thought the old man was crazy and laughed at him. But the old man accepted all the jokes without offense and worked hard.
These hundred years spent on the construction of the ark will not seem too long if we remember that the Bible passes over in silence the thousands of necessities associated with this construction. Thus, the three sons of Noah were apparently forced to make very long journeys to various countries of the world in order to bring different animals from there. Since it was necessary to protect themselves from being eaten by lions, tigers, crocodiles and other terrible animals in the ark itself, they had to learn the art of tamers and trainers. It was also necessary to prepare a fair amount of food, including meat for countless predators, hay, grain, fruits, etc.
One must think that the wood from which the ark was made was of the best varieties.
If now someone were going to spend a hundred years building a ship, there would not be such a strong tree that would not rot before the construction was completed; the stern would crumble into dust as the bow was built, and one would have to endlessly start over again. No one knows exactly what kind of tree Noah actually had. The Bible calls it a "gopher", but no one has ever seen such a tree.
When the ark was finished, God said to Noah:
“Enter you and all your family into the ark, for I have seen you righteous before me in this generation” (Genesis chapter 7, verse 1).
The continuation of the conversation proves that God has forgotten his original instructions.
As we have already quoted, he ordered the patriarch not to take with him more than one pair from each kind of animal. At the last minute the “old man” changed the program:
“And of every clean animal you shall take seven by seven, male and female, and of every unclean animal by two, male and female” (Genesis chapter 7, verse 2).
The Bible does not indicate whether God explained to Noah the signs of this division into “clean” and “unclean.” However, another book attributed to Moses, Leviticus, indicates (chapter 11) which animals the Jews considered “clean” and “unclean.” Among quadrupeds, the “clean” ones are those whose hoofs are divided and which chew the cud. A camel and a hare that chew, but whose hoof is not divided, are considered unclean animals; a pig whose hoof is split but does not chew the cud is also considered an unclean animal. Among the birds God declared unclean: the eagle, the kite, the falcon, the crow, the ostrich, the owl, the seagull, the hawk, the eagle owl, the swan, the pelican, the heron and some others.
God the Father announced to Noah that the flood would begin in seven days. The patriarch had to memorize natural history somewhat in order to know whether to take with him two or seven cranes, two or seven elephants, two or seven rhinoceroses, two or seven hippopotamuses, and so on. “After seven days the waters of the flood came to the earth. In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth (27th) day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the windows of heaven were opened” (Genesis chapter 7, verses 10-11).
From this it is clear that the “holy spirit” maintains the belief in the existence of a large reservoir on the other side of heaven, emptied through a special kind of sluice.
“And the rain fell on the earth for forty days and forty nights. On that very day Noah entered into the ark, and Shem, Ham and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noah's wife, and his three sons' wives with them. They, and every beast (of the earth) after their kind, and every livestock after its kind, and every creeping thing that creepeth on the earth, after its kind, and everything that flies after its kind, every bird, every winged thing" (Genesis chapter 7, verses 12-14).
What an ark, what an ark! If you add up all the dates indicated in this and the following chapters, it turns out that Noah, his family and all the animals he saved stayed in the ark for 393 days. Theologians do not say how eight people could feed and water this entire zoological garden for more than a year and keep the pens clean. We also had to think about the offspring! How much meat was required! What an extraordinary amount of food! What an extraordinary job for Noah, his wife, sons and daughters-in-law to clear the dung from the ark!
God personally closed the doors of the “ark”:
“And the Lord (god) shut the (ark) behind him” (Genesis chapter 7, verse 16).
When the ship sailed, the water increased “extremely, so that all the high mountains that are under the whole sky were covered; The water rose above them fifteen cubits” (Genesis chapter 7, verses 19-20).
It is difficult to form an accurate idea of this amount of water, especially if we take into account that the greatest depth known to us in the Pacific Ocean (Mariana Trench) exceeds 11 thousand meters, and the highest mountain on the globe - Chomolungma (Everest) in the Himalayas - has peak at 8880 meters above sea level.
“And all flesh that moved on the earth lost life, and birds, and cattle, and wild beasts, and every creeping thing that crawled on the earth, and all people; everything that had the breath of the spirit of life in its nostrils on the dry land died. Every creature that was on the surface of the earth was destroyed; from man to cattle, and creeping things, and birds of the air - everything was destroyed from the earth, only Noah remained and what was with him in the ark.
And the waters arose on the earth a hundred and fifty days” (Genesis chapter 7, verses 21-24).
Only happy fish swam carelessly in the raging abyss! However, everything has an end:
“And God remembered Noah, and all the beasts, and all the cattle, (and all the birds, and all the creeping things) that were with him in the ark; and God brought a wind upon the earth, and the waters stood still. And the fountains of the deep and the windows of heaven were closed, and the rain from heaven ceased. The water gradually returned from the earth, and the water began to decrease at the end of one hundred and fifty days. And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on the mountains of Ararat. The water continually decreased until the tenth month; on the first day of the tenth month the tops of the mountains appeared” (Genesis chapter 8, verses 1-5).
How many unexpected miracles there are in these few lines! First, we have the pleasure of renewing our acquaintance with that pleasant “wind of God,” which has had no more work since the cessation of chaos, and which commentators identify with the “spirit of God.” “In the beginning,” as the Bible says, he simply “move over the waters.” However, now, in order to dry up the waters of the flood, “God the Father” released the above-mentioned “holy spirit” (“wind of God”), which “scripture” presents to us in the form of a “divine dove” (or, if you prefer, a divine duck) and places he was given a completely incomprehensible task - draining the world flood.
However, it was absolutely necessary for one of the members of the “holy trinity” to intervene, otherwise no ordinary wind would ever have drained such an unprecedented amount of water. Since the water level during the flood was fifteen cubits higher than the highest mountains on earth, it turns out, according to some calculations, that the total amount of water accumulated was approximately twelve world oceans, piled one on top of the other. The flood can be considered the most extraordinary of the miracles performed by God, because, having created new vast oceans (which is no small trick in itself), he then destroyed them with just his breath. What lungs this “pigeon” has!
Another miracle that also cannot go unnoticed: on the seventeenth day of the seventh month, Noah’s ark stopped on the top of Mount Ararat, whose height is 5156 meters; and mountains higher than Ararat, such as 14 peaks in the Himalayas, having heights of more than 8000 meters, and other peaks (in South America, Africa) appeared on the first day of the tenth month, that is, six weeks later.
An absolutely amazing miracle!
The biblical story about the end of the flood also contains a very naive story with a raven and a dove, but it is of no interest. Noah first sent out a “raven,” which “flew and flew until the earth was dried up from water.” Then he “sent out a dove,” which “found no resting place for its feet, but returned to him in the ark.” He released it again after seven days, and this time the dove returned holding an olive branch in its beak. Noah guessed that “the waters had departed from the earth.” The Patriarch, the Bible reports, was then 601 years old.
God told him it was time to go out. The unloading of the animals probably took place in an exemplary manner. In addition, one must think (although the Bible does not say this) that the salt water was immediately separated from the fresh water (a new miracle!) so that the rivers, lakes and seas could again return to their channels as they were before. The Pisces returned to their waters again in accordance with the needs of their Nature.
“And Noah built an altar to the Lord; and he took of every clean animal and of every clean bird, and offered them as burnt offerings on the altar. And the Lord smelled a pleasant fragrance, and the Lord (God) said in his heart: I will no longer curse the earth for man, because the thought of man’s heart is evil from his youth; and I will no longer smite every living thing, as I have done” (Genesis chapter 8, verses 20-21).
At the same time, the old man God honored Noah and his children with a first-class blessing and allowed them to henceforth eat any other food besides grains.
“And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them: Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth (and subdue it); Let all the beasts of the earth fear and tremble at you, (and all the livestock of the earth), and all the birds of the air, everything that moves on the earth, and all the fish of the sea: they have been given into your hands; everything that moves and lives will be food for you; I give you everything like green herbs; Only you shall not eat the flesh with its soul, with its blood; I will also require your blood, in which is your life, I will require it from every beast, I will also require the soul of a man from the hand of a man, from the hand of his brother; Whoever sheds the blood of man, his blood will be shed by the hand of man: for man was created in the image of God” (Genesis chapter 9. verses 1-6).
From the above it follows that animals have a soul and that this soul lives in the blood.
It’s as if the Lord God cannot stand murder. But the biblical God often conspires, and we will see how he furiously pushes Jews to murder. At the same time, it will still seem as if his chosen people do not shed human blood at all.
However, since the “old man” accepted the obligation not to drown more people, then a signature was needed under the deal. The divine signature was the rainbow, used for the first time on this significant day.
“I place my rainbow in the cloud,” said God, “so that it may be a sign of the (eternal) covenant between me and the earth. And it will come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that my rainbow will appear in the cloud; and I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh” (Genesis chapter 9, verses 13-15).
The precaution was not superfluous, for even a god should not rely too much on his memory! Let us note, by the way, that the “sacred” text says: “my rainbow,” “I posit the rainbow.” This all clearly indicates that before that time there was no rainbow. And since the rainbow is formed by the refraction and reflection of the sun's rays in drops of water, it is clear that during the centuries that passed between the time of the creation of the world and the flood, rain irrigation was not practiced at all; trees and plants grew on their own, and either the sweat rolling from the human brow was enough for them, or else that vagabond Cain, who built cities, built a network of artificial irrigation across the globe.
Being. Chapter 8
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1 And God remembered Noah, and all the beasts, and all the cattle, [and all the birds, and all the creeping things] that were with him in the ark; and God brought a wind upon the earth, and the waters stood still.[1] Ps. 111:6.
2 And the fountains of the deep and the windows of heaven were closed, and the rain from heaven ceased.[2] Life 7:11.
3 But the water gradually returned from the earth, and the water began to subside at the end of the hundred and fifty days.
4 And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on the mountains of Ararat.[4] Jer. 51:27.
5 The water continued to decrease until the tenth month; on the first day of the tenth month the tops of the mountains appeared.
6 When forty days had passed, Noah opened the window of the ark that he had made, 7 and sent out a raven, [to see if the water had subsided from the earth], which flew out and flew back and forth until the earth was dried up from the water.
8 Then he sent out a dove from him to see if the water had disappeared from the face of the earth, 9 but the dove found no rest for its feet and returned to him in the ark, for the water was still on the surface of all the earth; and he stretched out his hand, and took him, and took him into the ark.
10 And he delayed another seven days, and again he sent the dove out of the ark.
11 The dove returned to him in the evening, and, behold, a fresh olive leaf was in his mouth, and Noah knew that the water had fallen from the earth.
12 He delayed another seven days and [again] sent out a dove; and he never returned to him.
13 In the six hundred and first year [of Noah’s life], on the first [day] of the first month the water was dried up on the earth; and Noah opened the roof of the ark and looked, and behold, the surface of the earth was dry.
14 And in the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dry.
15 And [the Lord] God said to Noah: 16 Come out of the ark, you and your wife, and your sons, and your sons' wives with you; 17 Bring out with you all the living creatures that are with you, of all flesh, birds, and cattle, and every creeping thing that moves on the earth: let them scatter throughout the earth, and let them be fruitful and multiply in the earth.[17] Life 1:28; 9:1.
18 And Noah went out, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives with him; 19 Every beast, and every creeping thing, and every bird, everything that moves on the earth, according to their kinds, came out of the ark.
20 And Noah built an altar to the Lord; and he took of every clean animal and of every clean bird, and offered them as burnt offerings on the altar.
21 And the Lord smelt a sweet aroma, and the Lord [God] said in His heart, I will no longer curse the earth for man's sake, for the intent of man's heart is evil from his youth; and I will no longer smite every living thing, as I have done: [21] Gen. 6:5. Mf. 15:19. Mk. 7:21. 22 Henceforth, all the days of the earth, sowing and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, will not cease.
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Bible for children
Noah builds the ark
Time passed, and there were many people on earth.
But they all greatly upset God: they deceived, robbed, and killed each other in endless wars.
God, of course, tried to reason with them; he still hoped that people would become kinder and more prudent. But it was all in vain.
Then God decided this: people will live for another 120 years, and if they still do not correct themselves, then he will destroy all life on earth.
And what? Do you think people got scared, asked God for forgiveness and tried to be better?
Nothing like this! They did not even pay attention to his warning and continued to bandit and idle.
Then God was completely disappointed in people and even regretted that he had created them.
However, there lived a man on earth who always acted as God taught. His name was Noah. He was kind and honest, did not deceive anyone and did not envy anyone. He lived by his own labor and taught his sons to live the same way.
This is why God loved Noah. He called him one day and said:
“People continue to do evil, and for this I will punish everyone.” Soon there will be a great flood, and after this there will be nothing alive on earth. But you and your sons will continue to live a good and fair life. So do what I tell you.
And God taught Noah how to build an ark.
The next morning, Noah and his sons set to work. They cut down tall trees, made logs out of them and carried them to the shore.
When a lot of boards, logs and beams had accumulated, they began to build a ship.
All the neighbors came running, even passers-by stopped in bewilderment as to what these people were doing. And, of course, they didn’t miss the opportunity to make fun of them:
- This Noah and his sons were always abnormal; Everyone is walking, but all they know is that they are working and praying to God. And now they’ve gone completely crazy, look what they came up with.
Noah, of course, did not listen to the slackers. Let them mock. He knew better what to do and how to live.
After some time, a huge ark began to rock on the water. It was made of durable gopher wood, its walls inside and outside and all the cracks were carefully sealed with resin. Inside, the ark consisted of three tiers, which were connected by ladders.
It was made to last, durable; everything was adapted so that one could live in this ark as long as needed.
And God also said to Noah:
- When everything is ready, enter the ark with your sons and their wives, and also take with you all the animals, birds and reptiles in pairs, and the seeds of everything that grows on the earth.
Noah, as always, did everything exactly.
People made fun of him.
- Just look! As if he has no place on earth. He was also planning to swim.
But you know what they say: “He who laughs last laughs best.” This is what happened this time too.
Flood
And then the flood began. It began to rain heavily, as hard as it can rain. Water just poured from the sky. A day and a night passed, but the rain did not stop the next day. A little time passed, and already a lot of water appeared. The seas and lakes overflowed their banks, and the rivers became wider and wider. The next day, water entered the houses. People became scared; they didn’t know where to go from the water. When the water rose higher, people began to climb onto the roofs. But the rain did not stop pouring, and the water rose higher and higher. Many evil people have already drowned. Others, who knew how to climb well, climbed tall trees and hid there. But the water reached there too, and soon covered the tallest trees. You have never seen such big water. The people who were still alive were very scared. Some of them climbed the highest mountains. But the water rose higher and higher and - just think! – rose above the highest mountains! Now, apart from water and sky, nothing is visible: no houses, no trees, no mountains. Only water and water. And the evil people all drowned.
But wait! Something like that is visible! This is Noah's Ark floating quietly and calmly on the water, floating on the water as quietly as a leaf floating on a stream. Not a single drop of water entered the ark, and the people and animals there were completely safe.
It rained for forty days and forty nights, without stopping for a minute. The rain stopped, but water kept coming from the seas for one hundred and fifty days. The ark floated for a long time. Finally, God sent the wind, the water began to subside, and the ark stopped on a mountain.
The Ark stopped on one of the Ararat mountains. These mountains are in Armenia, a land near the Caucasus, about which you children may have heard something.
The tops of the mountains have already appeared. Noah waited forty days, opened a window in the roof of the ark, and released a raven (a large black bird). The raven flew, flew in, sat on the roof of the ark, but did not want to return to the ark. (Apparently, the raven could find food for itself on the ground, like our rooks in the spring in thawed areas).
A week later, Noah released the dove, but the dove returned back because it did not find the dry ground on which doves like to walk. Noah reached out and took the cute bird. “The water,” he thought, “means it’s still quite high.” A week later he opened the window again and released the dove.
After flying a little, she returned back and brought in her beak a twig of a tree, which is called olive, because wooden oil is prepared from it, which burns in our lamps in front of the images. Noah rejoiced and thought: “The water must have decreased greatly. The trees must have already come out of the water, otherwise where would the dove get the olive branch? This means that soon it will be possible to leave the ark.”
Noah waited another week and released the dove for the third time. She fluttered merrily and flew far away. But she never came back.
When the earth was completely dry, God said to Noah: “Come out of the ark with your wife, your sons and their wives; bring out the animals too, let them spread throughout the earth and multiply.”
Then Noah opened the doors of the ark and went out with his wife and children, then released all the animals that he had taken with him. You should have seen how joyfully the animals jumped out and the birds flew out. Oh, how glad they were to be in the fresh air and free! After all, they were in the ark for a whole year.
Coming out of the ark, Noah prayed to God and thanked Him for saving him. He built an altar of stones like a high, wide and long table and on it he sacrificed several clean animals and birds to the Merciful God with living faith in the then future (now come) Savior of the whole world, our Lord Jesus Christ.
He knelt down and thanked God for keeping him, his wife and children alive. Noah's faith and prayer were pleasing to God, and He promised Noah not to punish people with such a flood in the future. "No! - said God. - As long as the earth stands, sowing and harvest, frost and heat, summer and winter, day and night will, without ceasing, go on as usual. And so that you can believe that I will keep My word, look at the sky.” Noah looked. And what did he see? A wonderful, beautiful rainbow. “Whenever you see this rainbow, you should remember that I promised not to send such a flood across the whole earth,” God said.
And the Merciful God kept His word. Until now, there has never been such a large amount of water on earth and, of course, there never will be.
But, children, if we do not obey God, if we are angry, lazy, disobedient to our elders, if we scold, offend each other, God will punish us; Besides the flood, He has many punishments for sinners who do not want to repent and reform.
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Chapter 9 → Shem, Ham, Japheth
Violet M. Cummings, A. Powel Davis
Noah's Ark and the Dead Sea Scrolls
Violet M. Cummings
NOAH'S ARK
Fact and fiction
This book is dedicated to the memory of Noah, whose faith and fidelity to principle in a time of prevailing licentiousness made him one of the most eminent historical figures of all times, and to the supposition that his great ship, the Ark, still exists in some distant stronghold in the "mountains of Ararat" in the eastern border of Turkey.
INTRODUCTION
Does Noah's Ark Still Exist? Can modern people still believe in the biblical story of the Flood? Is there evidence for the claims of Scripture? Should we believe the rumors that Noah's great ship has been seen, photographed, and even entered over the last century? Is it possible that the much publicized and frequently displayed pieces of processed wood that were discovered by Fernand Navarra in a crevice high on Mount Ararat were once part of the ark?...
These and many other questions concerning this controversial topic have aroused the imagination and curiosity of many modern thinkers. The purpose of this book is precisely to find answers to as many of the questions as possible. This work is the fruit of twenty-seven years of persistent and painstaking research and contains reliable accounts of a number of recorded modern sightings of the ark since 1840.
The author has made every effort to accurately present the facts that have emerged from many years of research into a subject about which so little was generally known.
No attempt has been made to impose any model or pattern of belief on the reader, but nevertheless we believe that the facts will speak for themselves. The author is convinced that clarification of this issue will affect the eternal fate of many puzzled souls in our turbulent and destructive days for faith.
Years ago, Lillian Eichler Watson wrote:
“Never have the tried and tested philosophies of the past been so desperately needed to give perspective and understanding, to give people something to cling to, something on which to build a lasting structure for their lives. If this statement was true two decades ago, how much more true is it today! During the New Testament, the Apostle Peter recognized faith in the Flood as a means of preventing crime, warning: “God... did not spare the first world, but... preserved the family of Noah, the preacher of righteousness, when he brought the flood on the world of the wicked” (2 Pet. 2:5 ), and then assured his readers: “In the last days there will appear arrogant scoffers, walking after their own lusts, saying, Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers began to die, from the beginning of creation, everything remains the same. Those who think this way do not know that in the beginning, by the word of God, the heavens and the earth were made of water and by water: therefore the world that was then destroyed was drowned by water” (2 Pet. 3:3-6; see also 1 Pet. 3:20).
In his magnificent treatise on the great heroes of the faith, Paul put it similarly: “By faith Noah, having received a revelation of things not yet seen, fearfully prepared an ark for the salvation of his house” (Heb. ii. 7).
This is not the time or place to bore the reader with the long, long series of explorations and adventures that began many years ago when a little boy listened in breathless fascination as his teacher told the thrilling story of Noah and the Flood.
“And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on the mountains of Ararat” (Gen. 8:4).
The teacher finished the story and closed the book. The usually restless little red-headed boy sat motionless, looking dreamy. “Someday,” he said to himself, “someday I’ll want to help find this ship!”
It was only at the beginning of the winter of 1945 that a middle-aged man, although youthful-looking, put down the magazine that had captured his attention. The story of the discovery of Noah's Ark! “Hmm,” he muttered out loud, not addressing anyone. — I’m curious, is this message reliable, does Noah’s Ark still exist? Is it possible to get to the origins of this article?
This is how the fulfillment of Eril Cummigs’ long-time childhood dream began.
Although the amateur researcher could not even imagine this, the path that he so carelessly stepped on with his inexperienced feet naturally led him far into unknown areas. Establishing the authenticity of the journal article that launched his research became his main occupation, and for some time he ordered himself: “Full speed ahead!” - and burned all the bridges behind him.
It turned out to be a painful path to an unattainable goal - a path that was never measured in miles, but took a quarter of a century. It was an exotic winding path, at every turn of which he hoped for future success.
Even the most inattentive observer recognizes the circumstances in which the struggle between Truth and Error often makes the path difficult, failures sometimes stop the intense search for a particularly important fact, when research reaches the dead end of an imaginary defeat.
As the search for the truth about the existence of Noah's Ark opened up ever wider horizons, causing the pulse to quicken, it sometimes almost frighteningly resembled a giant crossword puzzle laid out on the table of the world!
As one by one the multi-colored pieces of the puzzle fell into place, the conviction grew that one day enough facts would accumulate on this most interesting, if controversial, issue to leave not the slightest doubt that the Flood described by Moses was genuine. historical event.
While researching the story of the ark, other amazing facts came to light, and we tried to honestly share them with our readers. For those of them, in whose memory the story of Noah and the Flood has faded, we reproduce the biblical version of this catastrophic event:
“And the Lord God said to Noah, The end of all flesh is come before Me, for the earth is filled with evildoings from them; and behold, I will destroy them from the earth. Make yourself an ark of gopher wood; make compartments in the ark and coat it with pitch inside and outside.
And make it this way: the length of the ark is three hundred cubits; its breadth is fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits.
And thou shalt make a hole in the ark, and thou shalt make it a cubit at the top, and thou shalt make a door into the ark at the side thereof; arrange the lower, second and third / housing / in it. And behold, I will bring a flood of water upon the earth, to destroy all flesh in which is the spirit of life under the heavens; everything on earth will lose life. But I will establish My covenant with you, and you and your sons and your wife and your sons’ wives will come into the ark with you.
Bring into the ark also two of every livestock, and of every creeping thing, and of every living creature, and of every flesh, so that they may remain alive with you; let them be male and female. Of every bird according to its kind, and of every livestock according to its kind, and of every creeping thing on the earth according to its kind, two of every one will come to you, so that you may live.
Take for yourself all the food that people eat, and gather it for you; and it will be food for you and for them. And Noah did everything: as God commanded him, so he did.” Gen., 6, 13–22.
Now join us on a journey through a fairyland. Experience the thrill of touching the holy legends, traditions and beliefs of the local peoples, whose forefathers passed on to their descendants as an eternal heritage their worship of “Noah’s Mountain” and their belief in the existence of the ark.
Put yourself in Noah's shoes. Hammer the last wooden nail. Check the drawing to see if the thankless job has been done well. Wearily climb the gangplank under a cloudless sky. Patiently endure the weeks and months of forced confinement after the first drops fall. Start life again in an empty, echoing world. Then we will sit together, think and appreciate the endless stories about the large wooden ship, which can sometimes still be seen as a reminder of those distant times.
We promise that you will not be bored along the way. We invite you to share with us our delight in discovering every new fact, tracking down every unclear trace. We hope you will share with us our sorrows and disappointments that are inevitable in this kind of search. And most importantly, we hope that by the end of your armchair journey to those “far off places with sometimes strange-sounding names” we will have provided you with enough convincing evidence for you to share our confidence that Noah’s Ark is indeed still exists somewhere on Ararat, a beautiful, mysterious and rugged mountain on Turkey's remote eastern border.
Eryl and Violet Cummings Farmington, New Mexico
Chapter 1
DISASTER, CHALLENGE AND ARK
For many centuries, Mount Ararat (or Agrydag) - the great “monarch of the Ararat plain” - remains alone, immersed in thought, while the world gradually consigns to oblivion the story of Noah and the flood. With an increasingly skeptical attitude towards the reliability of the Old Testament, the story of the ark floating on the waters of the Flood no longer seems relevant to modern times.
Throughout the past time, in the outer world distant from these places, there seemed to be not the slightest hint that this great legendary ship could still survive on a distant mountain in an ancient land. True, Bryce, Lynch and other religiously minded researchers openly declared their conviction that the ark actually landed there thousands of years ago.
And so, on June 20, 1840, a catastrophic event occurred that was intended to mark the beginning of a new era in the controversy surrounding the biblical account of Noah, the flood and the ark. Oddly enough, it was after this event that reports began to arrive about the discovery of a great ship on Agrydag.
On that memorable day, without any warning, the already disfigured northeastern slope of the mountain began to move and split apart from a terrible earthquake and avalanches, exposing its granite interior.
According to Major Robert Stewart's 1856 diary, the eruption came from a "vast natural fissure" that already existed on the slope in question. It was about a narrow gorge up to 9 thousand feet deep, surrounded by “monstrous cliffs” so severe and terrible that they caused consternation in the observer. In 1701, the recklessly daring French botanist Tournefort was in awe when he “looked into the abyss” and saw that “one of the highest mountains in the world had opened its chest with a vertical crack... From the surrounding heights, a mass of stones was constantly falling into the abyss with a noise that inspired fear.”
Sir Robert Kerr Porter (1831) pointed out that the two peaks of Ararat “are separated by a wide gap or valley in the body of the mountain. The rocky north-eastern slope of the higher peak rises almost vertically, and the uneven and steep north-western slope is cut approximately from the middle by a colossally deep rocky and unusually black chasm.” German geologist Hermann Abich pointed out that "the chasm itself... dates back to prehistoric times."
It is curious that Abikh’s opinion is fully confirmed by the Greek version of the story of the “great flood”. Sir James Fraser sets it out in his book Folklore in the Old Testament, published in 1923. According to Greek legends, the hero of the flood was Deucalion, who was revered by the Greeks who worshiped the Syrian goddess Astarte at Hieropolis on the Euphrates River, near Ararat.
It is also interesting that those of the many different legends about the flood that arose in the immediate vicinity of Mount Ararat are closest to the biblical description. A notable illustration of this statement is the following passage from Frazer, quoting Lucian:
“Current humanity... is not the first human race; there was another race that died completely. We are from the second race, which multiplied after the time of Deucalion. It is said about the people who lived before the flood that they were excessively wicked and unbridled, for they did not keep their promises, did not show hospitality to foreigners and did not respect petitioners, and therefore a great disaster befell them. And the fountains of the deep opened, and the rain fell in torrents, and the rivers swelled, and the sea spread over the land, until there was nothing left but water, just water everywhere, and all the people perished. And Deucalion was the only person who, due to his intelligence and piety, survived and became a link between the first and second human races. And that's how he was saved. He had a large ship, which he entered with his wives and children. When he entered the ship, pigs and horses and lions and snakes and all the other land animals came to him, and all in pairs. He accepted them all and they did him no harm. No, with God's help, great friendship reigned between them, and they all sailed in the same ark while the flood reigned on Earth. This, says Lucian, is the Greek story of the flood of Deucalion. The inhabitants of dice Hieropolis, he continues, tell a wonderful thing. They say that a huge chasm opened in their land and all the water of the flood went into it. And when this happened, Deucalion erected altars and founded the sacred temple of Hera (as the Greeks called Astarte) next to the chasm.”
Another Greek legend is tied to the location of the temple of the god Olympus Zeus, to the very place where guides showed “back in the 2nd century AD” a certain “gap” in the ground into which, they assured inquisitive travelers, “the waters of the flood flowed.”
We are not prepared to say whether this remarkable story is in any way connected with Mount Ararat and with the statement in the Book of Genesis (8, 3) that “the water gradually returned from the earth” (recall that in the account of Moses with the beginning of the flood “ all the fountains of the great deep burst open” - Gen. 7:11). What can be said with certainty is that a deep crevice disfigured the northern slope of the mountain long before 1840, but it is impossible to say with certainty how many centuries this happened before the indicated date.
On the slope of Ararat, at the mouth of a monstrous gap and directly in the path of the impending disaster, was located the ancient Armenian village of Arghuri (Akhora).
James Bryce reports that (according to Armenian traditions) it was in Arghuri that Noah built an altar and made sacrifices after leaving the ark and safely descending from the mountain with his family and all kinds of animals. And it was in Arghuri that the patriarch planted his vineyard and drank wine. The villagers, says Bryce, treasure the ancient willow tree, bent by age and exposure to the elements during the long winter months, surviving alone above the village - "a rare tree on a mountain almost devoid of vegetation." According to their legends, the tree grew from a thick plank of the ark that took root, and they perceive the tree as a sacred object that should be protected, and do not even allow even one branch to be broken off from it. Pages:
