Noah

Noah (meaning rest or comfort) is a man in the Abrahamic religions. He was the son of Lamech, and the father of sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Noah and his ark are in the Book of Genesis, which also describes Noah as the 'first man to plant a vineyard' (chapter 9). Several other parts of the Bible mention him, as does the Quran.

12th-century Venetian mosaic of Noah sending the dove

The Ark

See the main article: Noah's Ark

As described in the Book of Genesis, Noah and his family kept believing in God in a time when most people did not. Knowing this was true, God told Noah he was going to flood the world, so he could drown out evil. He told Noah to build a boat called an ark. Noah was to put himself, his family and two (a male and a female) of every kind of animal that wasn’t clean on it but seven of every kind of animal that was clean on it. People laughed at Noah, but they were killed by the flood. Noah and his family stayed on the ark until they reached land. To find land Noah sent out a dove, which returned with an olive branch. After the flood, God made a rainbow as a promise to say that he would never destroy the Earth by flood again. When they were able to walk on dry land, the animals were released and they were able to repopulate the earth.