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Noah

Portrait of Noah

Noah was a righteous man living in an era of widespread human wickedness and corruption, prompting God to decide on a global flood as an act of judgment while preserving a remnant. In obedience to divine instructions, Noah constructed a large ark to safeguard his family and pairs of every animal species from the deluge, an endeavor that demonstrated remarkable faith amid skepticism. Following the flood's recession, God established a covenant with Noah, symbolized by the rainbow, promising never again to destroy the earth by water. This account in Genesis underscores key scriptural themes of obedience, salvation through faith, and God's balance of justice and mercy, influencing later biblical narratives on redemption and divine promises.

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Biography

Born
c. 2970 BC
Died
c. 2020 BC
Age
950 years
Occupation
Shipbuilder, Farmer
Father
Lamech
Spouse
Unnamed wife
Children
Shem, Ham, Japheth
Era
Pre-Flood / Post-Flood

Family

Parents
โ†“
Noah โšญ Unnamed wife
โ†“
Children
Shem, Ham, Japheth
Old Testament Patriarchs Other Genesis

Did You Know?

1

Noah lived 950 years total, spending the final 350 years after the flood as a farmer who became Scripture's first recorded vintner by planting a vineyard.

2

The ark's 300-by-50-by-30 cubit dimensions (roughly 450 x 75 x 45 feet) match the length-to-beam ratio of stable modern cargo vessels, yet were built by Noah's family alone over a century.

3

Ezekiel 14:14 groups Noah with Daniel and Job as one of only three men whose individual righteousness could have averted national judgment, highlighting his pre-flood exemplar status.

4

Post-flood, Noah's nakedness and resulting curse on Canaan (Genesis 9:20-27) forms the biblical etiology for later Canaanite-Israelite conflicts rather than a blanket curse on all Ham's descendants.

5

The Noahic covenant's rainbow sign (Genesis 9:12-17) is the first explicit divine covenant in Scripture, extending beyond humanity to every living creature and the earth itself.

Key Passages

God's Command to Build the Ark

Genesis 6:9-22

In a world consumed by violence and corruption, God finds one righteous man and entrusts him with preserving life through judgment - a pattern repeated throughout Scripture.

T9hese are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God.

10 And Noah begat three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. 11 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. 12 And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth. 13 And 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. 14 Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch. 15 And 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. 16 A 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. 17 And, 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. 18 But with thee will I establish my covenant; and thou shalt come into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sonsโ€™ wives with thee. 19 And 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. 20 Of 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. 21 And 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. 22 Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he.

Read full chapter: Genesis 6 โ†’

The Flood

Genesis 7:1-24

The flood demonstrates both God's holy judgment against sin and His faithful preservation of those who trust Him. Noah's ark becomes a type of salvation through Christ.

A1nd 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.

2 Of 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. 3 Of fowls also of the air by sevens, the male and the female; to keep seed alive upon the face of all the earth. 4 For 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. 5 And Noah did according unto all that the LORD commanded him. 6 And Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters was upon the earth. 7 And Noah went in, and his sons, and his wife, and his sonsโ€™ wives with him, into the ark, because of the waters of the flood. 8 Of clean beasts, and of beasts that are not clean, and of fowls, and of every thing that creepeth upon the earth, 9 There went in two and two unto Noah into the ark, the male and the female, as God had commanded Noah. 10 And it came to pass after seven days, that the waters of the flood were upon the earth. 11 In the six hundredth year of Noahโ€™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. 12 And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights. 13 In the selfsame day entered Noah, and Shem, and Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noahโ€™s wife, and the three wives of his sons with them, into the ark; 14 They, and every beast after his kind, and all the cattle after their kind, and every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind, and every fowl after his kind, every bird of every sort. 15 And they went in unto Noah into the ark, two and two of all flesh, wherein is the breath of life. 16 And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God had commanded him: and the LORD shut him in. 17 And 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. 18 And the waters prevailed, and were increased greatly upon the earth; and the ark went upon the face of the waters. 19 And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth; and all the high hills, that were under the whole heaven, were covered. 20 Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail; and the mountains were covered. 21 And 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: 22 All in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land, died. 23 And 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. 24 And the waters prevailed upon the earth an hundred and fifty days.

Read full chapter: Genesis 7 โ†’

God's Covenant with Noah

Genesis 9:1-17

God's first explicit covenant establishes His commitment to sustain creation and introduces the rainbow as a sign - revealing a God who binds Himself by promise.

A1nd God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.

2 And 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. 3 Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things. 4 But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat. 5 And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every manโ€™s brother will I require the life of man. 6 Whoso sheddeth manโ€™s blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man. 7 And you, be ye fruitful, and multiply; bring forth abundantly in the earth, and multiply therein. 8 And God spake unto Noah, and to his sons with him, saying, 9 And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you; 10 And 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. 11 And 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. 12 And 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: 13 I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth. 14 And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud: 15 And 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. 16 And 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. 17 And 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.

Read full chapter: Genesis 9 โ†’