In Genesis, eight human beings were inside Noah’s Ark during the Flood.
The eight are Noah, his wife, Noah’s three sons, and the three wives of those sons. Genesis 7:13 names the group as Noah, Shem, Ham, Japheth, Noah’s wife, and the wives of his three sons. Together, they form the complete human household preserved in the narrative.
This number is sometimes confused with later traditions or with the total number of animals on the Ark. The biblical text gives no single total for all animals, because it describes categories and varying numbers rather than a complete species inventory. The human count, by contrast, is clear from the named family members.
The names Shem, Ham, and Japheth are especially important in Genesis because later genealogies trace peoples and nations through them. The story’s post-Flood population narrative begins with this family, not with a larger group of survivors.