Which of Noah’s sons is listed first in Genesis?

Shem is listed first among Noah’s sons in Genesis.

Genesis 5:32 and 6:10 name Noah’s sons as Shem, Ham, and Japheth. They enter the Ark with Noah and their wives, and the later genealogical material in Genesis traces peoples and nations through them.

The order of names does not always settle questions about age in biblical passages. Genesis 10:21 describes Shem as the ancestor of the sons of Eber and also refers to Japheth’s elder brother, while Genesis 9:24 discusses Ham in another context. The text’s naming order and family chronology should therefore not be treated as identical in every detail.

Shem is especially important in the biblical genealogy because later descendants are connected with the “Shemites,” a term related to the name Semitic. In the Ark narrative, however, the straightforward answer is the first name in the listed trio: Shem.