Explore Noah’s life, family, ark, flood timeline, and covenant through ten concise facts with exact Scripture references.
Read beyond the children’s version
Noah’s story includes precise dimensions, dates, and distinctions.
10 biblical facts
Exact Genesis references
Flood timeline
No unsupported ark claims
Noah and the Ark in the Bible
What does Genesis actually say about Noah?
Noah’s story is often reduced to a boat, paired animals, forty days of rain, and a rainbow. Genesis 5–9 contains more detail: Noah’s age, three-deck dimensions, different animal instructions, a dated sequence, repeated bird flights, and a covenant extending to living creatures.
The quick answer
10 interesting facts about Noah and Noah’s ark
These details come from the biblical text itself. Each one includes its passage and separates what Genesis states from popular retellings or modern claims about the ark.
Name#1
Noah’s father connected his name with comfort from painful labor.
Read the context
Lamech named his son Noah and expressed hope that he would bring comfort from the work and toil associated with the cursed ground.
Genesis names Noah’s three sons—but not Noah’s wife or his sons’ wives.
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Shem, Ham, and Japheth are named. Noah’s wife and the three daughters-in-law enter and leave the ark with them, but their names are not supplied in Genesis.
The ark was specified as 300 cubits long, 50 wide, and 30 high.
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Genesis also describes rooms, pitch inside and outside, an opening, a side door, and lower, second, and third levels. It does not provide an exact modern cubit conversion.
Noah released a raven before sending out a dove three times.
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The first dove returned, the second returned with a fresh olive leaf, and the third did not return. Noah waited seven days between the dove’s later flights.
The rainbow sign was connected to Noah, his descendants, and every living creature.
Read the context
After Noah left the ark and built an altar, Genesis describes a covenant never again to destroy all flesh by flood and identifies the rainbow as its sign.
The page uses the wording and limits of Genesis. A familiar picture may be helpful, but it should not quietly become a detail the passage never supplies.
ConstructionGenesis specifies wood, pitch, rooms, an opening, a door, and three levels.
AnimalsThe clean, unclean, and bird instructions are not all expressed with one number.
Landing placeThe wording is “mountains of Ararat,” not the name of one identified peak.
Family namesNoah’s sons are named; the four women aboard the ark are not.
The flood timeline is longer than forty days
Forty days describes the rain, not the whole dated sequence. Genesis tracks the rising water, the ark’s resting, the bird flights, the drying ground, and the family’s exit.
1
Seven-day notice
Noah received a final seven-day notice before the waters came. Genesis 7:4, 10
2
Forty days of rain
Rain fell for forty days and forty nights. Genesis 7:12, 17
3
One hundred fifty days
The waters prevailed on the earth for 150 days. Genesis 7:24
4
The ark rested
It rested in the seventh month on the mountains of Ararat. Genesis 8:4
5
Birds tested the ground
Noah sent a raven and then a dove on three flights. Genesis 8:6–12
6
The family left the ark
They exited in Noah’s 601st year, second month, twenty-seventh day. Genesis 8:13–19
Noah’s ark dimensions, without a false exact conversion
Genesis measures the ark in cubits. Because proposed cubit lengths vary, the biblical numbers are more certain than one modern feet-or-meters conversion.
300 cubitsLength
50 cubitsWidth
30 cubitsHeight
3 levelsLower, second, and third
Beyond Genesis
How later biblical writers use Noah’s story
Warning and readiness
Matthew 24 and Luke 17
Jesus refers to the days of Noah when teaching about ordinary life continuing until sudden judgment and the need to be ready. The Jesus facts guide follows more details from his ministry through exact Gospel passages.
Faith and deliverance
Hebrews 11 and 1 Peter 3
Hebrews presents Noah’s construction of the ark as obedient faith. First Peter notes that eight people were brought safely through water.
Ezekiel 14 names Noah alongside Daniel and Job in a passage about righteousness, while 2 Peter 2 calls him a preacher of righteousness.
References and editorial method
The fact list follows Genesis 5:28–9:29. Measurements remain in cubits, the chronology keeps Genesis’s own dates, and the page does not present proposed ark locations or flood geology as settled evidence. The overview was checked against Bible Gateway’s Noah and Ark of Noah reference entries.
Facts About Noah FAQ
Who was Noah in the Bible?
Noah was the son of Lamech and the central human figure in the Genesis flood narrative. Genesis describes him as righteous and says he built the ark, entered it with his family, and received a covenant after the flood.
Where is the story of Noah found in the Bible?
Noah is introduced in Genesis 5:28–32. The ark, flood, covenant, and later family episode run through Genesis 6–9, followed by the descendants of his sons in Genesis 10.
How big was Noah’s ark?
Genesis 6:15 gives the ark as 300 cubits long, 50 cubits wide, and 30 cubits high. An exact conversion into feet or meters depends on which historical cubit length is assumed.
How many people were on Noah’s ark?
Eight people are identified: Noah, his wife, his three sons, and their wives. Genesis 7:13 lists the family group, and 1 Peter 3:20 explicitly gives the number as eight.
Did Noah take only two of every animal?
Genesis 6 gives the familiar male-and-female instruction. Genesis 7 adds more detail by distinguishing clean animals and birds from animals that were not clean and assigning different numbers.
How long was Noah in the ark?
Genesis dates the flood’s beginning to Noah’s 600th year, second month, seventeenth day, and the family’s exit to his 601st year, second month, twenty-seventh day. The narrative therefore spans more than the forty days of rain.
Where did Noah’s ark land?
Genesis 8:4 says the ark rested on the mountains of Ararat. The text names a region in the plural rather than identifying one modern mountain peak.
How old was Noah when he died?
Genesis 9:28–29 says Noah lived 350 years after the flood and died at the age of 950.
Ten facts, every one traceable
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