In Genesis, how many people were saved from the Flood aboard Noah’s Ark?
Answer
Eight people
In Genesis, eight people were saved from the Flood aboard Noah’s Ark.
The surviving household consists of Noah, his wife, his three sons—Shem, Ham, and Japheth—and the three wives of those sons. Genesis 7:13 describes this group entering the ark before the waters rose, and later biblical references also use the number eight for those preserved through the Flood.
The count refers to human beings, not to the animals carried aboard. The animals are described separately as creatures brought into the ark to preserve their kinds. Confusing the human total with the number of animals is one reason this answer can be overlooked.
Genesis does not give names for Noah’s wife or the wives of his sons. It does, however, clearly provide the family structure needed to calculate eight: one couple plus three sons and their three wives.