In Genesis, what did Noah’s dove bring back to the Ark?

In Genesis, Noah’s dove brought an olive leaf back to the Ark.

Genesis 8:11 says that the dove returned in the evening with a freshly plucked olive leaf. Noah understood this as evidence that the flood waters had receded from the earth’s surface.

The olive leaf became a widely recognized symbol of peace, hope, and renewal. The biblical account itself uses it as a practical sign that vegetation had reappeared, rather than presenting it only as a later symbol.

Noah sent the dove out after first releasing a raven. He sent the dove again, but it did not return, showing that the ground had become habitable. The olive leaf is therefore distinct from the rainbow, which appears later as the sign of the covenant.