In Genesis, what material was the Ark made from?

In Genesis, the Ark was made from gopher wood.

Genesis 6:14 instructs Noah to make the Ark from “gopher wood” and to construct rooms inside it. The same passage tells him to coat the vessel inside and out with pitch, an important detail that describes how the wooden structure was made watertight.

The identity of gopher wood is uncertain. The Hebrew term occurs only in this passage, so translators generally preserve it as a transliteration rather than identifying a definite modern tree species. Suggestions such as cypress or cedar have been proposed, but none is established as the certain meaning of the original word.

This uncertainty is why “gopher wood” is the safest canonical answer, rather than a specific species of timber. The Ark is also described with several decks, side openings, and a door. These construction details belong to the biblical text and should not be confused with later artistic reconstructions or proposed archaeological models.