Noah
The name Noah means “that quavers or totters (Zelophehad's daughter)”
Summary
Profile
Noah was the son of Lamech and a descendant of Seth (Genesis 5:3–29). Lamech might have hoped that Noah, whose name means "rest" or "relief," would ease the curse of hard work on the land. Instead, God used Noah to help rid the world of evil.
God planned to destroy creation because of widespread human evil (Genesis 6:1–7; see Matthew 24:37–39; Luke 17:26–27), but he chose to save Noah (Genesis 6:8). God gave Noah, who was righteous and blameless (Genesis 6:9), detailed instructions to build the ark. Only Noah's family of eight and every kind of creature would be saved (Genesis 6:14–8:19). After the flood, Noah and his family left the ark. Noah pleased God by building an altar and offering sacrifices. God promised never to flood the entire earth again or disrupt the seasons, despite human sin (Genesis 8:20–9:17).
Noah's sons were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. All the nations of the earth came from them (Genesis 9:18–19). When Noah got drunk from wine he made, his sons and their descendants were either cursed or blessed based on their actions towards him (Genesis 9:20–27). Noah lived for 950 years, including 350 years after the flood (Genesis 9:28–29). He is as an example of righteousness, obedience, courage, and faith (see Ezekiel 14:12–20; Hebrews 11:7; 2 Peter 2:5).
Passages for Further Study
Genesis 5:28–10:1; 1 Chronicles 1:4; Isaiah 54:9; Ezekiel 14:12–20; Matthew 24:37–38; Luke 3:36; Luke 17:26–27; Hebrews 11:7; 1 Peter 3:20–21; 2 Peter 2:5
Events
- Birth of Noahc. 2948 BC
- Lifetime of Noahc. 2948 BC
- Birth of Shemc. 2446 BC
- God instructs Noah to build the arkc. 2400 BC
- The Great Flood beginsc. 2348 BC
- The Great Floodc. 2348 BC
- Water covers the earthc. 2348 BC
- The flood subsidesc. 2347 BC
- Leaving the Arkc. 2347 BC
- God makes a covenant with Noahc. 2347 BC
- Noah gets drunk and Canaan is cursedc. 2346 BC
- Death of Noahc. 1998 BC
Glossary entries
Family members
Alternative names
Mentions
Includes 31 verses that refer to Noah without naming them, as “he”, “she”, or the subject of a verb.
- 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.”
- And after he had become the father of Noah, Lamech lived 595 years and had other sons and daughters.
- After Noah was 500 years old, he became the father of Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
- Noah, however, found favor in the eyes of the LORD.
- This is the account of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation; Noah walked with God.
- And Noah had three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
- 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.
- Genesis 6:14Referred to, not namedMake for yourself an ark of gopher wood; make rooms in the ark and coat it with pitch inside and out.
- Genesis 6:15Referred to, not namedAnd this is how you are to build it: The ark is to be 300 cubits long, 50 cubits wide, and 30 cubits high.
- Genesis 6:16Referred to, not namedYou 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.
- Genesis 6:18Referred to, not namedBut 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.
- Genesis 6:19Referred to, not namedAnd you are to bring two of every living creature into the ark—male and female—to keep them alive with you.
- Genesis 6:20Referred to, not namedTwo of every kind of bird and animal and crawling creature will come to you to be kept alive.
- Genesis 6:21Referred to, not namedYou are also to take for yourself every kind of food that is eaten and gather it as food for yourselves and for the animals.”
- So Noah did everything precisely as God had commanded him.
- Then the LORD said to Noah, “Go into the ark, you and all your family, because I have found you righteous in this generation.
- Genesis 7:2Referred to, not namedYou 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;
- Genesis 7:3Referred to, not named…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.
- And Noah did all that the LORD had commanded him.
- Now Noah was 600 years old when the floodwaters came upon the earth.
- And Noah and his wife, with his sons and their wives, entered the ark to escape the waters of the flood.
- …came to Noah to enter the ark, two by two, male and female, as God had commanded Noah.
- 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.
- On that very day Noah entered the ark, along with his sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and his wife, and the three wives of his sons—
- Genesis 7:14Referred to, not named…they and every kind of wild animal, livestock, crawling creature, bird, and winged creature.
- They came to Noah to enter the ark, two by two of every creature with the breath of life.
- Genesis 7:16Referred to, not namedAnd they entered, the male and female of every living thing, as God had commanded Noah. Then the LORD shut him in.
- 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.
- 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.
- After forty days Noah opened the window he had made in the ark
- Genesis 8:7Referred to, not named…and sent out a raven. It kept flying back and forth until the waters had dried up from the earth.
- Genesis 8:8Referred to, not namedThen Noah sent out a dove to see if the waters had receded from the surface of the ground.
- Genesis 8:9Referred to, not namedBut the dove found no place to rest her foot, and she returned to him in the ark, because the waters were still covering the surface of all the earth. So he reached out his hand and brought her back inside the ark.
- Genesis 8:10Referred to, not namedNoah waited seven more days and again sent out the dove from the ark.
- And behold, the dove returned to him in the evening with a freshly plucked olive leaf in her beak. So Noah knew that the waters had receded from the earth.
- Genesis 8:12Referred to, not namedAnd Noah waited seven more days and sent out the dove again, but this time she did not return to him.
- In Noah’s six hundred and first year, on the first day of the first month, the waters had dried up from the earth. So Noah removed the covering from the ark and saw that the surface of the ground was dry.
- Then God said to Noah,
- Genesis 8:16Referred to, not named“Come out of the ark, you and your wife, along with your sons and their wives.
- Genesis 8:17Referred to, not namedBring 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.”
- So Noah came out, along with his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives.
- 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.
- And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.
- Genesis 9:2Referred to, not namedThe 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.
- Genesis 9:3Referred to, not namedEverything that lives and moves will be food for you; just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you all things.
- Genesis 9:4Referred to, not namedBut you must not eat meat with its lifeblood still in it.
- Genesis 9:5Referred to, not namedAnd surely I will require the life of any man or beast by whose hand your lifeblood is shed. I will demand an accounting from anyone who takes the life of his fellow man:
- Genesis 9:7Referred to, not namedBut as for you, be fruitful and multiply; spread out across the earth and multiply upon it.”
- Then God said to Noah and his sons with him,
- Genesis 9:9Referred to, not named“Behold, I now establish My covenant with you and your descendants after you,
- Genesis 9:10Referred to, not named…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.
- Genesis 9:11Referred to, not namedAnd 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.”
- Genesis 9:12Referred to, not namedAnd 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:
- Genesis 9:15Referred to, not namedI 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.
- So God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between Me and every creature on the earth.”
- The sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. And Ham was the father of Canaan.
- These three were the sons of Noah, and from them the whole earth was populated.
- Now Noah, a man of the soil, proceeded to plant a vineyard.
- Genesis 9:21Referred to, not namedBut when he drank some of its wine, he became drunk and uncovered himself inside his tent.
- When Noah awoke from his drunkenness and learned what his youngest son had done to him,
- Genesis 9:25Referred to, not named…he said, “Cursed be Canaan! A servant of servants shall he be to his brothers.”
- Genesis 9:26Referred to, not namedHe also declared: “Blessed be the LORD, the God of Shem! May Canaan be the servant of Shem.
- After the flood, Noah lived 350 years.
- So Noah lived a total of 950 years, and then he died.
- This is the account of Noah’s sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth, who also had sons after the flood.
- All these are the clans of Noah’s sons, according to their generations and nations. From these the nations of the earth spread out after the flood.
- The sons of Noah: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
- “For to Me this is like the days of Noah, when I swore that the waters of Noah would never again cover the earth. So I have sworn that I will not be angry with you or rebuke you.
- …then even if these three men—Noah, Daniel, and Job—were in it, their righteousness could deliver only themselves, declares the Lord GOD.
- …then as surely as I live, declares the Lord GOD, even if Noah, Daniel, and Job were in it, they could not deliver their own sons or daughters. Their righteousness could deliver only themselves.
- As it was in the days of Noah, so will it be at the coming of the Son of Man.
- 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.
- …the son of Cainan, the son of Arphaxad, the son of Shem, the son of Noah, the son of Lamech,
- Just as it was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man:
- People were eating and drinking, marrying and being given in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all.
- 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.
- …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.
- …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;