In Genesis, what wood was Noah told to use for building the Ark?

In Genesis, Noah was told to build the Ark from gopher wood.

Genesis 6:14 gives the instruction to make the ark from “gopher wood” and to build rooms inside it. The Hebrew term appears only in this passage, so its exact botanical meaning is uncertain. Many translations retain the phrase rather than identifying a modern tree species.

Because “gopher wood” is a unique biblical expression, readers sometimes assume it names a recognizable species such as cypress or cedar. Those identifications are proposals, not established translations. The text itself supplies the traditional term without explaining the wood’s appearance or origin.

The same passage also instructs Noah to coat the ark inside and outside with pitch, a waterproofing substance. Thus the narrative specifies both a construction material and a method of sealing the vessel, though it does not provide archaeological evidence for a surviving ark.