In Genesis, Shem is listed first among Noah’s three sons entering the Ark.
Genesis repeatedly names Noah’s sons as Shem, Ham, and Japheth. The trio enters the Ark with Noah and their wives, and the sons later become ancestors of nations in the biblical genealogical framework. Shem is also presented as an ancestor of the line leading to Abraham in Genesis’s later genealogies.
The ordering can cause confusion because Genesis 9 discusses Ham prominently in the episode involving Noah’s vineyard, while Japheth receives a blessing in the same passage. The question asks about the listed order, not which son was oldest. Genesis 10 places Shem after the account of Japheth and Ham in a different structural sequence, so biblical lists should not automatically be treated as age rankings.