Tablet III of the Old Babylonian poem of Atrahasis carries the flood, the climax of a story that has been building since the first tablet. The gods, having created humankind to bear the labour they refused, find that the noise of a multiplying humanity disturbs their rest; plague, drought and famine are sent in turn and each is undone by the counsel of Enki (Ea), until Enlil resolves on a deluge and binds the gods by oath to say nothing. Enki keeps the letter of his oath and breaks its spirit: he does not address the man directly but speaks to the reed wall of the hut in which Atrahasis sleeps, and the man behind the wall hears.
Told to tear down his house and build a boat, Atrahasis obeys, seals it with pitch, loads his kin, his craftsmen and living creatures, and shuts the door. The storm comes, and the text turns to the gods themselves, who cower like dogs at the wall of heaven, and to the mother goddess who cries out against the destruction of her own creation. When the waters go down Atrahasis offers sacrifice, and the starving gods gather over it. The tablet is broken in many places, and much of what is read here rests on the joining of several manuscripts.