In Genesis, how old was Noah when the Flood began around his ark?

In the Genesis account of Noah’s Ark, Noah was 600 years old when the Flood began.

Genesis 7:6 gives Noah’s age as 600 at the start of the flood narrative. The figure belongs to the biblical chronology, in which several early patriarchs are described as living for exceptionally long periods. Genesis later says Noah lived another 350 years after the Flood and died at age 950.

Noah’s age is sometimes confused with the ages of his sons or with the total length of the Flood story. Genesis introduces Shem, Ham, and Japheth before the Flood, but it does not say they were 600. The text also distinguishes the Flood’s different time references: rain fell for 40 days and nights, while the waters remained for much longer.

The Genesis flood narrative is part of the Book of Genesis, chapters 6–9. Its chronology is a religious textual tradition rather than a modern historical dating system, so the number is best understood as the age assigned to Noah within Genesis.