What does the Bible say about Noah’s Ark?
Even non-Christians have heard of Noah’s Ark, often told as a child’s classic story when in fact, it’s an actual event that happened a few thousand years ago. Not all Christians know all the details about the event, such as the name of Noah’s wife. Before the media or Hollywood tries to tell you incorrect information about the purpose of Noah’s Ark, learn the truth here.
Christian quotes about Noah’s Ark
“It is said that if Noah’s ark had to be built by a company; they would not have laid the keel yet; and it may be so. What is many men’s business is nobody’s business. The greatest things are accomplished by individual men.” — Charles H. Spurgeon
“Clean and unclean birds, the dove and the raven, are yet in the ark.” Augustine
“By perseverance the snail reached the ark.” Charles Spurgeon
“Use thy duties, as Noah’s dove did her wings, to carry thee to the ark of the Lord Jesus Christ, where only there is rest.” Isaac Ambrose
What Is Noah’s Ark?
God saw how vile the world had turned with humans acting without love or honor towards each other and decided to make a fresh start. Genesis 6:5-7 says, “Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of mankind was great on the earth and that every intent of the thoughts of their hearts was only evil continually. So the Lord was sorry that He had made mankind on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. Then the Lord said, “I will wipe out mankind whom I have created from the face of the land; mankind, and animals as well, and crawling things, and the birds of the sky. For I am sorry that I have made them.”
But God looked favorably on Noah since he was the only righteous man alive at the time. Then God promised Noah, saying, “I will establish My covenant with you; you and your wife and your sons and their wives will enter the ark.” (Genesis 6:8–10,18). The Lord instructed Noah on how to build the boat that would keep him and his family safe while the entire earth flooded. Noah’s Ark is the vessel Noah and his family lived on for around a year during the flood and until dry land appeared.
1. Genesis 6:8-10 (NIV) “But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord. Noah and the Flood 9 This is the account of Noah and his family. Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked faithfully with God. 10 Noah had three sons: Shem, Ham and Japheth.” – (Faithfulness Bible verses)
2. Genesis 6:18 (NASB) “But I will establish My covenant with you; and you shall enter the ark—you, your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives with you.”
3. Genesis 6:19-22 (NKJV) “And of every living thing of all flesh you shall bring two of every sort into the ark, to keep them alive with you; they shall be male and female. 20 Of the birds after their kind, of animals after their kind, and of every creeping thing of the earth after its kind, two of every kind will come to you to keep them alive. 21 And you shall take for yourself of all food that is eaten, and you shall gather it to yourself; and it shall be food for you and for them.” 22 Thus Noah did; according to all that God commanded him, so he did.”
What is the meaning of Noah’s Ark?
Ultimately, the purpose of Noah’s Ark is the same principle repeated throughout scripture: Humans are sinners, and sin leads to death, but God will make a way for all to be saved. For “the wages of sin is death,” God in His holiness must judge and punish sin (Romans 6:23). In the same way that God is holy, He is also merciful. But the Lord looked favorably upon Noah (Genesis 6:8) and made a route of deliverance available to him as God provides to us now through Jesus Christ.
4. Genesis 6:5-8 “The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time. 6 The Lord regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled. 7 So the Lord said, “I will wipe from the face of the earth the human race I have created—and with them the animals, the birds and the creatures that move along the ground—for I regret that I have made them.” 8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.”
5. Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.- (Bible verses on Jesus Christ)
6. 1 Peter 3:18-22 “For Christ also suffered for sins once for all time, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit; 19 in which He also went and made proclamation to the spirits in prison, 20 who once were disobedient when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah, during the construction of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through the water. 21 Corresponding to that, baptism now saves you—not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience—through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 22 who is at the right hand of God, having gone into heaven, after angels and authorities and powers had been subjected to Him.”
7. Romans 5:12-15 “Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned— 13 for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. 14 Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come. 15 But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many.” – (Grace in the Bible)
Who was Noah in the Bible?
Noah was a member of the tenth generation of Seth’s offspring from Adam and Eve and was chosen for salvation in a wicked world. The majority of what we know about Noah and his life comes from Genesis 5–9. Shem, Ham, and Japheth were Noah and his wife’s three sons, and each had a wife.
Noah’s grandfather Methuselah and his father, Lamech, were still alive when he built the Ark. Scripture tells us that Noah behaved humbly with God and was accepted in His sight (Genesis 6:8–9, Ezekiel 14:14).
However, what Noah did before building the Ark is unknown to us as the Bible, nor other documents list his previous occupation.
8. Genesis 6:9 “This is the account of Noah and his family. Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked faithfully with God.”
9. Genesis 7:1 (KJV) “And the LORD said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation.”
10. Genesis 6:22 (NLT) “So Noah did everything exactly as God had commanded him.”
11. Hebrews 11:7 “By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in godly fear built an ark to save his family. By faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.”- (Faith in the Bible)
12. Ezekiel 14:14 “even if these three men—Noah, Daniel and Job—were in it, they could save only themselves by their righteousness, declares the Sovereign Lord.”
Who was Noah’s wife?
The Bible does not share information about the women in Noah’s life such as their names or family lineage. However, the name of Noah’s wife brings contention between two main theories about her life. Nowhere in the Bible are we given any details about Noah’s wife, including her name or life story. However, she was chosen as one of the women to repopulate the earth after the flood owing her awe and respect.
One theory holds she was Naamah, the daughter of Lamech and the sister of Tubal-Cain, according to the midrash known as Genesis Rabbah (c. 300-500 C.E. ), a compilation of ancient rabbinic interpretations of Genesis. A second theory suggests Noah’s wife was Emzara (“mother of a princess”), as stated in the Apocryphal Book of Jubilees in 4:33. We also learn that she is the daughter of Noah’s paternal uncle Rake’el, making her Noah’s first cousin once removed.
The Apocrypha book also includes the names of Noah’s daughter-in-law, Sedeqetelbab (Shem’s wife), Na’eltam’uk (Ham’s wife), and Adataneses (Jepheth’s wife). Other Second Temple writings from the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Genesis Apocryphon, also attest to the use of the name Emzara for Noah’s wife.
However, in subsequent rabbinic literature, Noah’s wife is referred to by a different name (Naamah), suggesting that the name Emzara was not universally recognized.
13. Genesis 5:32 “Noah was 500 years old, and he fathered Shem, Ham, and Japheth.”
14. Genesis 7:7 “And Noah went in, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons’ wives with him, into the ark, because of the waters of the flood.”
15. Genesis 4:22 (ESV) “Zillah also bore Tubal-cain; he was the forger of all instruments of bronze and iron. The sister of Tubal-cain was Naamah.”
How old was Noah when he died?
Genesis 5–10 provides a family tree that helps us to calculate Noah’s age at birth and death. He was 500 when he became a father, and Genesis 7:6 states that Noah was 600 years old when the flood occurred. However, the Bible is hazy on how old Noah was when God gave him the assignment to construct the Ark. After the flood, Noah lived for another 350 years before his death at the age of 950. (Genesis 9:28-29).
16. Genesis 9:28-29 “After the flood Noah lived 350 years. 29 Noah lived a total of 950 years, and then he died.”
17. Genesis 7:6 “Noah was six hundred years old when the floodwaters came on the earth.”
How long did it take Noah to build the Ark?
From time to time, you will hear that it took 120 years for Noah to construct the Ark. The number mentioned in Genesis 6:3 seems to be the source of the confusion referring to a shorter lifetime and not the Ark. However, it seems like a plausible maximum period to construct the Ark would be somewhere between 55 and 75 years.
How long it took Noah to construct the Ark is another question that is not answered in the Bible. In Genesis 5:32, when we first hear about Noah, he had already lived for 500 years. Therefore, it is estimated that Noah is 600 years old when he boards the Ark. Noah was given specific instructions to construct the Ark in Genesis 6:14. God told him to enter it in Genesis 7:1. According to some interpretations of Genesis 6:3, it took Noah 120 years to construct the Ark. Based on Noah’s age in Genesis 5:32 and his age in Genesis 7:6, some argue that it took 100 years.
18. Genesis 5:32 (ESV) “After Noah was 500 years old, Noah fathered Shem, Ham, and Japheth.”
19. Genesis 6:3 “And the Lord said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.”
20. Genesis 6:14 (NKJV) “Make yourself an ark of gopherwood; make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and outside with pitch.”
21. Genesis 7:6 “Noah was 600 years old when the flood covered the earth.”
22. Genesis 7:1 “Then the Lord said to Noah, “Enter the ark, you and all your household, for you alone I have seen to be righteous before Me in this generation.”
How big was Noah’s Ark?
God offers Noah specific instructions on how to construct the Ark, including its dimensions, design, and the kinds of materials he should use (Genesis 6:13–16). Information like these makes it clear that the Ark was more akin to a modern cargo ship than a child’s bath toy. The dimensions of the Ark were recorded in cubits, but in layman’s terms, it may have been as long as 550 feet, as wide as 91.7 feet, and as high as 55 feet, about a third the size of the Titanic.
23. Genesis 6:14-16 “So make yourself an ark of cypress wood; make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out. 15 This is how you are to build it: The ark is to be three hundred cubits long, fifty cubits wide and thirty cubits high. 16 Make a roof for it, leaving below the roof an opening one cubit high all around. Put a door in the side of the ark and make lower, middle and upper decks.”
How many animals were on Noah’s Ark?
God instructed Noah to take two of every kind of animal (male and female) onto the Ark of the unclean animals (Genesis 6:19-21). Noah was also told to bring seven of each clean animal with him for the flood, as some would be used as a sacrifice (Genesis 8:20). However, the exact number of animals is still debatable.
Though skeptics insist that Noah could not have fit two of each species of animal on board the Ark, the numbers do not back them up. Some have estimated that between 20,000 and 40,000 animals roughly the size of sheep could fit within an ark of the proportions described in the Bible. Also, the Bible says kinds of animals instead of species leaving the ranking of animals up to debate. Essentially, God wanted two dogs on the Ark, not two of each kind of dog, and the same for other animals as well.
24. Genesis 6:19-21 “You are to bring into the ark two of all living creatures, male and female, to keep them alive with you. 20 Two of every kind of bird, of every kind of animal and of every kind of creature that moves along the ground will come to you to be kept alive. 21 You are to take every kind of food that is to be eaten and store it away as food for you and for them.”
25. Genesis 8:20 “Then Noah built an altar to the Lord and, taking some of all the clean animals and clean birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings on it.”
When was Noah’s flood?
The question of when these events occurred remains open. Biblical genealogies let us place the deluge at around 1,650 years after creation, putting it close to 4,400 years ago. By the time the Flood hit, Noah was 600 years old (Genesis 7:6). We know they remained aboard the Ark for a little over a year because the Bible specifies both the date the Flood began (Genesis 7:11), and the day they left (Genesis 8:14–15).
We can gain information about how long ago the flood took place based on the genealogies listed in the Old Testament. This technique estimates that 1,056 years passed between Adam and Noah.
26. Genesis 7:11 (ESV) “In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the windows of the heavens were opened.”
27. Genesis 8:14-15 “By the twenty-seventh day of the second month the earth was completely dry. 15 Then God said to Noah.”
Lessons learned from the Story of Noah’s Ark
The Bible keeps a consistent theme of judgment and salvation along with obedience and disobedience. Both of these themes show up in the narrative of Noah and the Flood. Noah distinguished himself by being virtuous in a time when evil was rampant, and God created a means for salvation. The people of the earth were disobedient, but Noah was obedient.
Likewise, the account of the Flood illustrates the severity of God’s justice and the assurance of His salvation. God is offended by our sins, and His righteousness requires that we be punished for them. God saved Noah and his family from the effects of His judgment on the world, and He saves every one of His believers today through Christ. Our Creator always makes way for everyone to spend eternity with Him, but only if we choose to follow Him.
28. Genesis 6:6 “And the LORD regretted that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.”
29. Ephesians 4:30 “And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.” – (The Holy Spirit of God Bible Verses)
30. Isaiah 55:8-9 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord. 9 “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts.”
31. Proverbs 13:16 “Every prudent man acts with knowledge, but a fool flaunts his folly.”
32. Philippians 4:19 “And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.”
33. Luke 14:28-29 “For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? 29 Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him.”
34. Psalm 18:2 “The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.” – (Jesus is my rock verses)
What happened to Noah’s Ark?
Genesis 8:4 says the Ark landed on the mountains of Ararat in Turkey. Both Mount Ararat and adjacent mountains in Iran have been the subject of many expeditions looking for the Ark. Since ancient times, people from many walks of life and professions have participated in expeditions to locate Noah’s Ark. However, the more plausible explanation is that Noah and his family reused the materials to start their lives.
Since the flood wiped out all other structures and Noah’s family continued to grow, the Ark might have been a source of construction materials. Also, because of the flooding, all the wood on land would have been water-logged and taken years to dry out. Additionally, the giant boat could have rotted away, been cut up for firewood, or been destroyed by some other means. Finally, in the unlikely event that the Ark has survived (there is little evidence to suggest it has), the wood would have to be petrified to keep it in one piece.
35. Genesis 8:4 “and on the seventeenth day of the seventh month the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat.”
Conclusion
According to the Book of Genesis, Noah, and his family, together with two of each species of land animal, were saved from the worldwide flood that occurred around 4,350 years ago. The Ark hallmarks God’s saving grace by showing how man sinned, and God saved them anyways, those who chose to follow His instructions. While many believe the flood to be a story made up, it remains an invaluable part of history and portrays God’s love for His people.
