Bible Questions Answered: Ark And It's Animals

Bible Questions Answered:
How many animals did Noah have in his ship?
Pepik/ Moscow, Russia

Bible Answer:
(Read the story Genesis 6-9.)

First of all, it was not a ship.
A ship has an engine, or a mast and a sail with a rudder, this was not the case in Noah's ark.

Noah's ark, was a three story box larger than a football field, 75' by 450' by 45 in height.
It had one door, which God shut, and one window for air.

Genesis 6:13-16 NLT
11 Now God saw that the earth had become corrupt and was filled with violence.
12 God observed all this corruption in the world, for everyone on earth was corrupt.
13 So God said to Noah, “I have decided to destroy all living creatures, for they have filled the earth with violence. Yes, I will wipe them all out along with the earth!
14 “Build a large boat from cypress wood and waterproof it with tar, inside and out. Then construct decks and stalls throughout its interior.
15 Make the boat 450 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet high. 16 Leave an 18-inch opening below the roof all the way around the boat. Put the door on the side, and build three decks inside the boat—lower, middle, and upper.

How many animals could it hold? The total square feet of the ark was, 101,250 sq. ft.
Now did the Ark, have to hold all living animals? No. Fish, shell fish, sponges, amphibians, insects, etc. did not need to be on board.

It has been estimated by scholars, that the Ark could very easily have held some 50,000 animals.
Along with Noah, his wife and his three sons and their wives.

The Lord, brought the animals into the Ark, two by two and some times in groups of seven.

Genesis 6:17-21 NLT
17 “Look! I am about to cover the earth with a flood that will destroy every living thing that breathes. Everything on earth will die.
18 But I will confirm My covenant with you. So enter the boat—you and your wife and your sons and their wives.
19 Bring a pair of every kind of animal—a male and a female—into the boat with you to keep them alive during the flood.
20 Pairs of every kind of bird, and every kind of animal, and every kind of small animal that scurries along the ground, will come to you to be kept alive.
21 And be sure to take on board enough food for your family and for all the animals.”

One year two months and seventeen days later, the flood was over. (Genesis 8:13,14)

Genesis 8:15-22 NLT
15 Then God said to Noah,
16 “Leave the boat, all of you—you and your wife, and your sons and their wives.
17 Release all the animals—the birds, the livestock, and the small animals that scurry along the ground—so they can be fruitful and multiply throughout the earth.”
18 So Noah, his wife, and his sons and their wives left the boat.
19 And all of the large and small animals and birds came out of the boat, pair by pair.
20 Then Noah built an altar to the Lord, and there he sacrificed as burnt offerings the animals and birds that had been approved for that purpose.
21 And the Lord was pleased with the aroma of the sacrifice and said to Himself, “I will never again curse the ground because of the human race, even though everything they think or imagine is bent toward evil from childhood. I will never again destroy all living things.
22 As long as the earth remains, there will be planting and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night.”

The Sign of God's Covenant;

Genesis 9:12-17 NLT
12 Then God said, “I am giving you a sign of My covenant with you and with all living creatures, for all generations to come.
13 I have placed My rainbow in the clouds. It is the sign of My covenant with you and with all the earth.
14 When I send clouds over the earth, the rainbow will appear in the clouds,
15 and I will remember My covenant with you and with all living creatures. Never again will the flood waters destroy all life.
16 When I see the rainbow in the clouds, I will remember the eternal covenant between God and every living creature on earth.”
17 Then God said to Noah, “Yes, this rainbow is the sign of the covenant I am confirming with all the creatures on earth.”