Shem is listed first among Noah’s three sons in the Ark narrative.
Genesis names Noah’s sons as Shem, Ham, and Japheth. The Flood story repeatedly refers to Noah, his wife, his sons, and his sons’ wives as the human survivors who entered the Ark. Shem therefore appears first in the standard biblical ordering of Noah’s sons.
The ordering is not the same as a simple statement that Shem was the oldest. Genesis 10:21 contains wording that has generated translation and interpretation questions about the relationship between Shem and Japheth. Readers should therefore avoid treating list order alone as an unambiguous birth-order statement.
Shem becomes especially prominent in the genealogical material that follows the Flood. Genesis 11 traces a line from Shem to later ancestors in the biblical narrative, which is why his name is also connected with the term “Semitic” in later scholarly usage. The question asks for the textual list order: Shem, then Ham, then Japheth.