What was Noah’s Ark primarily made from, according to Genesis?

According to Genesis, Noah’s Ark was made from gopher wood. The Hebrew Bible uses the unusual expression “wood of gopher,” but it does not identify the tree species with certainty.

The same passage instructs Noah to make rooms in the Ark and cover it inside and outside with pitch, a waterproofing substance. This detail explains how the enormous wooden vessel was intended to resist water during the flood.

“Gopher wood” is therefore the standard English answer, even though its precise botanical meaning remains unknown. Proposed identifications have included cypress and other durable woods, but none is universally accepted. A common mistake is to answer cedar because cedar was important in other ancient Near Eastern building traditions; Genesis itself does not name cedar for the Ark.