Who were Noah’s three sons in the Genesis Ark narrative?

Noah’s three sons in the Genesis Ark narrative were Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

Genesis names these three sons in its account of Noah and the Flood. They enter the Ark with Noah and their wives, and the post-Flood genealogy presents them as ancestors of the peoples known to the biblical authors.

The sons are not the same as Noah’s grandsons or later patriarchs, which is a common source of confusion when reading the long genealogical sections of Genesis. Shem is especially important in the text because the genealogical line from him leads toward Abram, later called Abraham.

Genesis 9 also recounts an episode involving Noah, Ham, and the other two brothers after the Flood. Later biblical lists develop their descendants in different ways, but the core trio remains consistently identified as Shem, Ham, and Japheth.