According to Genesis, God commanded Noah to build the Ark. In the biblical account, God tells Noah that a Flood will destroy the earth because of widespread violence and corruption, then gives him instructions for constructing the vessel and preserving life.
Genesis presents Noah as a righteous man who receives this warning before the Flood. He is instructed to bring aboard his wife, his sons, and his sons’ wives, along with animals and provisions. The command is therefore both a building order and a survival plan for Noah’s household and the animal world.
This detail is sometimes confused with other flood traditions. In the Epic of Gilgamesh, the survivor is Utnapishtim, and the god Ea warns him to build a boat. In the Qur’an, Noah is also warned and builds an ark, but the wording and surrounding details differ from Genesis. Within Genesis itself, the commanding speaker is God, not an angel or another human patriarch.