How many people were aboard Noah’s ark, according to 1 Peter?
Answer
Eight people
According to 1 Peter, eight people were aboard Noah’s ark.
First Peter 3:20 refers to “eight souls” being brought safely through the Flood. These are generally understood as Noah, his wife, his three sons, and the three wives of his sons. Genesis names Noah’s sons as Shem, Ham, and Japheth, but does not provide names for the four women in the ark.
This answer comes from the New Testament’s interpretation of the Genesis narrative, rather than from a verse in Genesis that simply lists the total as eight. The figure is therefore distinct from questions about the number of animals, species, or pairs carried aboard.
A frequent mistake is to count only Noah’s immediate household as four people, or to assume twelve because that number is prominent in other biblical contexts. The specific biblical total connected with the ark’s human passengers is eight.