In Genesis, God instructs Noah to build an ark.
Genesis 6:14 uses the Hebrew word tebah for the vessel Noah must construct. In this context, the word is commonly translated as “ark,” a large container or chest-like vessel intended to preserve Noah, his family, and representatives of living creatures during the Flood. The same Hebrew noun is used elsewhere in the Bible for the basket in which the infant Moses is placed.
The biblical Ark is not described as a normal sailing ship with a keel, sails, or a rudder. Genesis emphasizes its watertight construction, internal compartments, dimensions, and survival purpose. Noah is told to coat it with pitch and to make it with lower, middle, and upper levels.
The familiar phrase “Noah’s Ark” comes from this translation tradition. “Ark” here should not be confused with the Ark of the Covenant, a different sacred object described elsewhere in the Hebrew Bible.