Noah

Noah was the righteous man whom God told to build an ark to save his family and the animals from the flood. After the flood God made a covenant with him never again to destroy the earth by water.

Noah and his generation

• Genesis 5:28-32
  ²⁸And Lamech lived an hundred eighty and two years, and begat a son:When Lamech was 182 years old, he had a son. ²⁹And he called his name Noah, saying, This same shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands, because of the ground which the Lord hath cursed.And he named him Noah, saying, “May this one comfort us in the labor and toil of our hands caused by the ground that the LORD has cursed.” ³⁰And Lamech lived after he begat Noah five hundred ninety and five years, and begat sons and daughters:And after he had become the father of Noah, Lamech lived 595 years and had other sons and daughters. ³¹And all the days of Lamech were seven hundred seventy and seven years: and he died.So Lamech lived a total of 777 years, and then he died. ³²And Noah was five hundred years old: and Noah begat Shem, Ham, and Japheth.After Noah was 500 years old, he became the father of Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
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• Genesis 6:5-8
  ⁵And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great upon the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was altogether evil all the time. ⁶And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.And the LORD regretted that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. ⁷And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.So the LORD said, “I will blot out man, whom I have created, from the face of the earth—every man and beast and crawling creature and bird of the air—for I am grieved that I have made them.” ⁸But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.Noah, however, found favor in the eyes of the LORD.
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• Genesis 6:9-12
  ⁹These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God.This is the account of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation; Noah walked with God. ¹⁰And Noah begat three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.And Noah had three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. ¹¹The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.Now the earth was corrupt in the sight of God, and full of violence. ¹²And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.And God looked upon the earth and saw that it was corrupt; for all living creatures on the earth had corrupted their ways.
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Building the ark

• Genesis 6:13-22
  ¹³And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.Then God said to Noah, “The end of all living creatures has come before Me, because through them the earth is full of violence. Now behold, I will destroy both them and the earth. ¹⁴Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch.Make for yourself an ark of gopher wood; make rooms in the ark and coat it with pitch inside and out. ¹⁵And this is the fashion which thou shalt make it of: The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits.And this is how you are to build it: The ark is to be 300 cubits long, 50 cubits wide, and 30 cubits high. ¹⁶A window shalt thou make to the ark, and in a cubit shalt thou finish it above; and the door of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof; with lower, second, and third stories shalt thou make it.You are to make a roof for the ark, finish its walls a cubit from the top, place a door in the side of the ark, and build lower, middle, and upper decks. ¹⁷And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and every thing that is in the earth shall die.And behold, I will bring floodwaters upon the earth to destroy every creature under the heavens that has the breath of life. Everything on the earth will perish. ¹⁸But with thee will I establish my covenant; and thou shalt come into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons’ wives with thee.But I will establish My covenant with you, and you will enter the ark—you and your sons and your wife and your sons’ wives with you. ¹⁹And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee; they shall be male and female.And you are to bring two of every living creature into the ark—male and female—to keep them alive with you. ²⁰Of fowls after their kind, and of cattle after their kind, of every creeping thing of the earth after his kind, two of every sort shall come unto thee, to keep them alive.Two of every kind of bird and animal and crawling creature will come to you to be kept alive. ²¹And take thou unto thee of all food that is eaten, and thou shalt gather it to thee; and it shall be for food for thee, and for them.You are also to take for yourself every kind of food that is eaten and gather it as food for yourselves and for the animals.” ²²Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he.So Noah did everything precisely as God had commanded him.
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• Genesis 7:1-5
  ¹And 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.Then the LORD said to Noah, “Go into the ark, you and all your family, because I have found you righteous in this generation. ²Of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee by sevens, the male and his female: and of beasts that are not clean by two, the male and his female.You are to take with you seven pairs of every kind of clean animal, a male and its mate; a pair of every kind of unclean animal, a male and its mate; ³Of fowls also of the air by sevens, the male and the female; to keep seed alive upon the face of all the earth.and seven pairs of every kind of bird of the air, male and female, to preserve their offspring on the face of all the earth. ⁴For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights; and every living substance that I have made will I destroy from off the face of the earth.For seven days from now I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights, and I will wipe from the face of the earth every living thing I have made.” ⁵And Noah did according unto all that the Lord commanded him.And Noah did all that the LORD had commanded him.
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The flood

• Genesis 7:11-12
  ¹¹In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, on the seventeenth day of the second month, all the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened. ¹²And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights.And the rain fell upon the earth for forty days and forty nights.
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• Genesis 7:17-24
  ¹⁷And the flood was forty days upon the earth; and the waters increased, and bare up the ark, and it was lift up above the earth.For forty days the flood kept coming on the earth, and the waters rose and lifted the ark high above the earth. ¹⁸And the waters prevailed, and were increased greatly upon the earth; and the ark went upon the face of the waters.So the waters continued to surge and rise greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the waters. ¹⁹And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth; and all the high hills, that were under the whole heaven, were covered.Finally, the waters completely inundated the earth, so that all the high mountains under all the heavens were covered. ²⁰Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail; and the mountains were covered.The waters rose and covered the mountaintops to a depth of fifteen cubits. ²¹And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of beast, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, and every man:And every living thing that moved upon the earth perished—birds, livestock, animals, every creature that swarms upon the earth, and all mankind. ²²All in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land, died.Of all that was on dry land, everything that had the breath of life in its nostrils died. ²³And every living substance was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground, both man, and cattle, and the creeping things, and the fowl of the heaven; and they were destroyed from the earth: and Noah only remained alive, and they that were with him in the ark.And every living thing on the face of the earth was destroyed—man and livestock, crawling creatures and birds of the air; they were blotted out from the earth, and only Noah and those with him in the ark remained. ²⁴And the waters prevailed upon the earth an hundred and fifty days.And the waters prevailed upon the earth for 150 days.
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• Genesis 8:1-5
  ¹And God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the cattle that was with him in the ark: and God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters asswaged;But God remembered Noah and all the animals and livestock that were with him in the ark. And God sent a wind over the earth, and the waters began to subside. ²The fountains also of the deep and the windows of heaven were stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained;The springs of the deep and the floodgates of the heavens were closed, and the rain from the sky was restrained. ³And the waters returned from off the earth continually: and after the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters were abated.The waters receded steadily from the earth, and after 150 days the waters had gone down. ⁴And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat.On the seventeenth day of the seventh month, the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat. ⁵And the waters decreased continually until the tenth month: in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, were the tops of the mountains seen.And the waters continued to recede until the tenth month, and on the first day of the tenth month the tops of the mountains became visible.
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• Genesis 8:15-19
  ¹⁵And God spake unto Noah, saying,Then God said to Noah, ¹⁶Go forth of the ark, thou, and thy wife, and thy sons, and thy sons’ wives with thee.“Come out of the ark, you and your wife, along with your sons and their wives. ¹⁷Bring forth with thee every living thing that is with thee, of all flesh, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth; that they may breed abundantly in the earth, and be fruitful, and multiply upon the earth.Bring out all the living creatures that are with you—birds, livestock, and everything that crawls upon the ground—so that they can spread out over the earth and be fruitful and multiply upon it.” ¹⁸And Noah went forth, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons’ wives with him:So Noah came out, along with his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives. ¹⁹Every beast, every creeping thing, and every fowl, and whatsoever creepeth upon the earth, after their kinds, went forth out of the ark.Every living creature, every creeping thing, and every bird—everything that moves upon the earth—came out of the ark, kind by kind.
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God's covenant with Noah

• Genesis 8:20-22
  ²⁰And Noah builded an altar unto the Lord; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar.Then Noah built an altar to the LORD. And taking from every kind of clean animal and clean bird, he offered burnt offerings on the altar. ²¹And the Lord smelled a sweet savour; and the Lord said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man’s sake; for the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done.When the LORD smelled the pleasing aroma, He said in His heart, “Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though every inclination of his heart is evil from his youth. And never again will I destroy all living creatures as I have done. ²²While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night shall never cease.”
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• Genesis 9:1-3
  ¹And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. ²And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moveth upon the earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea; into your hand are they delivered.The fear and dread of you will fall on every living creature on the earth, every bird of the air, every creature that crawls on the ground, and all the fish of the sea. They are delivered into your hand. ³Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things.Everything that lives and moves will be food for you; just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you all things.
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• Genesis 9:8-17
  ⁸And God spake unto Noah, and to his sons with him, saying,Then God said to Noah and his sons with him, ⁹And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you;“Behold, I now establish My covenant with you and your descendants after you, ¹⁰And with every living creature that is with you, of the fowl, of the cattle, and of every beast of the earth with you; from all that go out of the ark, to every beast of the earth.and with every living creature that was with you—the birds, the livestock, and every beast of the earth—every living thing that came out of the ark. ¹¹And I will establish my covenant with you; neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth.And I establish My covenant with you: Never again will all life be cut off by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.” ¹²And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations:And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between Me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: ¹³I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth.I have set My rainbow in the clouds, and it will be a sign of the covenant between Me and the earth. ¹⁴And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud:Whenever I form clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, ¹⁵And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh.I will remember My covenant between Me and you and every living creature of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. ¹⁶And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth.And whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of every kind that is on the earth.” ¹⁷And God said unto Noah, This is the token of the covenant, which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth.So God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between Me and every creature on the earth.”
  Show context · Read Genesis 9 →

Later life and death

• Genesis 9:20-27
  ²⁰And Noah began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard:Now Noah, a man of the soil, proceeded to plant a vineyard. ²¹And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent.But when he drank some of its wine, he became drunk and uncovered himself inside his tent. ²²And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without.And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father’s nakedness and told his two brothers outside. ²³And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were backward, and they saw not their father’s nakedness.Then Shem and Japheth took a garment and placed it across their shoulders, and walking backward, they covered their father’s nakedness. Their faces were turned away so that they did not see their father’s nakedness. ²⁴And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him.When Noah awoke from his drunkenness and learned what his youngest son had done to him, ²⁵And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren.he said, “Cursed be Canaan! A servant of servants shall he be to his brothers.” ²⁶And he said, Blessed be the Lord God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.He also declared: “Blessed be the LORD, the God of Shem! May Canaan be the servant of Shem. ²⁷God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.May God expand the territory of Japheth; may he dwell in the tents of Shem, and may Canaan be his servant.”
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• Genesis 9:28-29
  ²⁸And Noah lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years.After the flood, Noah lived 350 years. ²⁹And all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years: and he died.So Noah lived a total of 950 years, and then he died.
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In the New Testament

• Matthew 24:37-39
  ³⁷But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.As it was in the days of Noah, so will it be at the coming of the Son of Man. ³⁸For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark. ³⁹And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.And they were oblivious, until the flood came and swept them all away. So will it be at the coming of the Son of Man.
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• Hebrews 11:7
  By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.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.
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• 1 Peter 3:20
  Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.who disobeyed long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In the ark a few people, only eight souls, were saved through water.
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• 2 Peter 2:5
  And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly;if He did not spare the ancient world when He brought the flood on its ungodly people, but preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, among the eight;
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See also

• Covenant
• Judgment
• Faith
• Obedience

Notes

1. Verses are quoted in the translation chosen in the Translation menu at the top of the page. See Translations for sources and copyright notices.
2. Each reference links to the full chapter so the verse can be read in context.