In the Genesis account of Noah’s Ark, what did the dove return with?

In the Genesis account of Noah’s Ark, the dove returned with an olive leaf.

After Noah first sent the dove and it returned without finding a place to rest, he waited seven days and sent it out again. The dove came back in the evening with a freshly plucked olive leaf. Noah understood this as evidence that the floodwaters had receded from the earth.

The olive leaf became one of the best-known symbols of peace, hope, and renewal. In the biblical passage, however, its immediate function is practical: it tells Noah that vegetation is visible again. Noah sent the dove out once more, and it did not return, signaling that the land was becoming habitable.

The story is sometimes retold with a generic branch, but Genesis specifically says “an olive leaf.” The familiar image of a dove carrying an olive branch draws on this episode while expanding the detail artistically.