Noah

Noah (/ˈnoʊə/; Hebrew: נֹחַ, romanized: Nōaḥ, lit. 'rest' or 'consolation', also Noach) appears as the last of the Antediluvian patriarchs in the traditions of Abrahamic religions. His story appears in the Hebrew Bible (Book of Genesis, chapters 5–9), the Quran and Baha'i writings, and extracanonically.

The Genesis flood narrative is among the best-known stories of the Bible. In this account, God "regrets" making mankind because they filled the world with evil. Noah then labors faithfully to build the Ark at God's command, ultimately saving not only his own family, but mankind itself and all land animals, from extinction during the Flood. Afterwards, God makes a covenant with Noah and promises never again to destroy the earth with a flood. Noah is also portrayed as a "tiller of the soil" who is the first to cultivate the vine. After the flood, God commands Noah and his sons to "be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth."

The story of Noah in the Pentateuch is similar to the flood narrative in the Mesopotamian Epic of Gilgamesh, composed around 1800 BC, where a hero builds an ark to survive a divinely sent flood. Scholars suggest that the biblical account was influenced by earlier Mesopotamian traditions, with notable parallels in plot elements and structure. Comparisons are also drawn between Noah and the Greek hero Deucalion, who, like Noah, is warned of a flood, builds an ark, and sends a bird to check on the flood's aftermath.

Tenth and final of the pre-Flood (antediluvian) Patriarchs, son to Lamech and a mother whose name is unmentioned, Noah is 500 years old before his sons Shem, Ham and Japheth are born.

The Genesis flood narrative is encompassed within chapters 6–9 in the Book of Genesis, in the Bible. The narrative indicates that God intended to return the Earth to its pre-Creation state of watery chaos by flooding the Earth because of humanity's misdeeds and then remake it using the microcosm of Noah's Ark. Thus, the flood was no ordinary overflow but a reversal of Creation. The narrative discusses the evil of mankind that moved God to destroy the world by way of the flood, the preparation of the ark for certain animals, Noah, and his family, and God's guarantee (the Noahic Covenant) for the continued existence of life under the promise that he would never send another flood.

After the flood, Noah offered burnt offerings to God. God accepted the sacrifice, and made a covenant with Noah, and through him with all mankind, that he would not waste the earth or destroy man by another deluge.

"And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth". As a pledge of this gracious covenant with man and beast the rainbow was set in the clouds (ib. viii. 15–22, ix. 8–17). Injunctions were laid upon Noah: eating of animal food was permitted but not of living animals and the shedding of the blood of man by man was made a crime punishable by death at the hands of man (ib. ix. 3–6).

Furthermore we have: The Seven Laws of Noah (citations to sources are there) as traditionally enumerated in the Babylonian Talmud (Sanhedrin 56a-b) and Tosefta (Avodah Zarah 9:4), are the following: