The quick answer
What is the story of Noah’s Ark?
Genesis describes a world filled with corruption and violence. Noah, however, found favor with God and is described as righteous, blameless among the people of his time, and one who walked with God. God warned Noah of a coming flood and told him to build a large wooden ark for his family and representatives of the land animals and birds.
Noah obeyed. The flood came, the ark carried its passengers safely, and the waters eventually receded. After the ark rested on the mountains of Ararat, Noah sent out a raven and then a dove to learn whether the ground had dried. When Noah and his family left the ark, God established a covenant with them and every living creature, giving the rainbow as its sign.
The full story
Noah, the Ark, and the Great Flood
Why God chose Noah
Genesis 6 portrays human wickedness as widespread and the earth as corrupt and filled with violence. Against that background, Noah found favor with God. The text calls him righteous and blameless among his contemporaries and says that he walked with God.
God told Noah that a flood would bring an end to the violence and corruption, but also promised to establish a covenant with him. Noah, his wife, their three sons, and their sons’ wives would enter the ark. Genesis 6:5–13, 6:18
“But Noah found favor in Yahweh’s eyes. This is the history of the generations of Noah: Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time. Noah walked with God.”
Noah builds the ark
God instructed Noah to build an ark from the wood called “gopher wood” in many English translations, although the precise species is uncertain. The ark was to have rooms, a covering of pitch inside and outside, three levels, an opening near the top, and a door in its side.
Its stated dimensions were 300 cubits long, 50 cubits wide, and 30 cubits high. Because the length of a cubit varied, modern measurements are estimates. Genesis closes the instructions by saying that Noah did everything God commanded him. Genesis 6:14–22
“Thus Noah did. He did all that God commanded him.”
A common question
How Long Did Noah Take to Build the Ark?
The Bible never states the number of years Noah spent building the ark. Some readers connect the 120 years mentioned in Genesis 6:3 with the construction period, but the verse itself does not say that Noah built for 120 years.
Genesis gives Noah’s age when the flood began—600 years old—but does not give his age when construction started. The most accurate answer is therefore that the building time is unknown. Genesis 6:3, 6:14–22; 7:6
Who and what entered Noah’s Ark?
Eight people entered: Noah, his wife, their sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and the three sons’ wives. Genesis 6 first describes a male and female from every kind coming into the ark. Genesis 7 then distinguishes additional clean animals and birds from each pair of unclean animals.
The text never gives a total number of animals or equates a biblical “kind” with a modern species count. Its focus is that the creatures Noah was commanded to preserve entered with his family before God shut the door. Genesis 6:19–21; 7:1–16
The flood begins
Noah was 600 years old when the floodwaters came. After Noah’s family and the animals entered, rain fell for forty days and forty nights. The waters rose, lifted the ark, and prevailed on the earth for 150 days.
Genesis later says that God remembered Noah and every living creature with him. A wind passed over the earth, the waters began to recede, and the ark rested on the mountains of Ararat. Genesis 7:6–24; 8:1–5
“Those who went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God commanded him; then Yahweh shut him in. The flood was forty days on the earth. The waters increased, and lifted up the ship, and it was lifted up above the earth.”
The flood timeline
How Long Was Noah on the Ark?
Genesis dates the start of the flood to the seventeenth day of the second month of Noah’s 600th year. The ground was declared dry, and God told Noah to leave, on the twenty-seventh day of the second month of his 601st year. From the beginning of the flood to the exit, that is one year and ten days in the narrative’s calendar.
Noah had entered the ark seven days before the rain began. The forty days of rain were therefore only one part of a much longer sequence that also included 150 days of prevailing waters and months of gradual drying. Genesis 7:4, 7:10–12, 7:24; 8:13–19
The raven, the dove, and the olive leaf
After the mountain tops became visible, Noah waited and sent out a raven. He later sent a dove, but it found nowhere to rest and returned. Seven days later, Noah sent the dove again. It returned in the evening carrying a freshly plucked olive leaf, showing that the waters had gone down from the earth.
After another seven days, the dove did not return. Noah removed the covering of the ark and saw that the ground was drying, but he waited until God told him to leave. Genesis 8:6–19
“The dove came back to him at evening and, behold, in her mouth was a freshly plucked olive leaf. So Noah knew that the waters were abated from the earth.”
Noah leaves the ark and builds an altar
When the earth was dry, God told Noah to leave the ark with his family and all the living creatures. Noah came out, built an altar, and offered burnt offerings from the clean animals and birds.
The scene marks Noah’s first recorded act after leaving the ark: worship and gratitude. Genesis then records God’s resolve concerning the earth and the regular rhythms of seedtime, harvest, seasons, day, and night. Genesis 8:15–22
God’s covenant with Noah and the rainbow
God blessed Noah and his sons and established a covenant with them, their descendants, and every living creature. The promise was that never again would all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood.
God placed the rainbow in the clouds as the sign of this covenant. In the story, the rainbow is not merely a general symbol of hope; it is tied specifically to God’s covenant with Noah, future generations, and the living creatures of the earth. Genesis 9:1–17
“I set my rainbow in the cloud, and it will be a sign of a covenant between me and the earth.”
