In the Genesis flood story, how old was Noah when the floodwaters came?

In the Genesis flood story, Noah was 600 years old when the floodwaters came.

Genesis 7:6 states that Noah was 600 years old when the flood of waters came upon the earth. This age fits the surrounding genealogy: Genesis 5:32 says Noah fathered Shem, Ham, and Japheth after reaching 500, and Genesis 9:28 says he lived 350 years after the flood.

The figure is easy to confuse with Noah’s total lifespan. Genesis 9:29 gives his age at death as 950, so 600 refers to his age at the flood, not at the end of his life. The account also uses a dated framework, saying the flood began in Noah’s 600th year, in the second month and on the seventeenth day of the month.

Biblical ages in Genesis are part of its genealogical and narrative chronology. They should not be silently converted into modern historical dates, because the text does not provide a universally agreed calendar or external date for the flood.