\"Finally, a Key to Understanding \" The Biblical chronicle of the Great Flood, the epic of Noah and the Ark, endures through the ages, yet questions remain: What of its meaning has been lost from the original? Was there more, which those of the ancient world could readily understand? Once part of a long verbal tradition, it was structured for recitation, in four formulated segments. The first two sections were of the waters rising, the final two were of the waters retreating, with a well-defined break, or \'intermission\' in between. Here, the entire episode is explained, and adjoined with it is a full, easily flowing modern translation, one returning to the age-old scriptural wording, and, now clarified, the full meaning: Of destruction and then preservation, of catastrophe and rebuilding, of loss and then renewal, again is fully realized.