In the Genesis account of Noah’s Ark, how old was Noah when the floodwaters came?

In Genesis, Noah was 600 years old when the floodwaters came upon the earth.

This age appears in Genesis 7:6, after Noah is described as having completed the Ark and entered it with his family. The biblical genealogy also places Noah’s birth at age 500 and records that he lived for 950 years. Thus, the flood begins roughly a century after Noah becomes the father of his three sons.

The figure belongs to the literary and theological chronology of Genesis, not to a modern historical dating system. Different biblical passages use long lifespans for early human figures, including Adam, Methuselah, and Shem. A common mix-up is to confuse Noah’s age at the flood with his total lifespan: 600 is the flood-age, while 950 is the age given at his death. Genesis presents the number as part of the story’s precise sequence of warnings, construction, entry, and judgment.