What is…
The Great Flood
also known as: The Global Deluge, The Genesis Flood, and Noah’s Flood
Events of the worldwide Flood sent by God during the lifetime of Noah are recorded in Genesis 7 and 8.
Why did God send the Flood?
The reason for this Divine judgment was the absolution corruption and wicked violence that filled the Earth by the time of the 9th generation from Adam.
Then Yahweh saw that the evil of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. …the earth is filled with violence because of them… —Genesis 6:5, 13 excerpt LSB
God in righteous indignation and justice determined to purge the Earth of the ungodly. Amid a world filled with evil, there was one household that continued faithful and true to God—the household of Noah.
“Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his time;
Noah walked with God.” —Genesis 6:9b NASB
…I am bringing the flood of water upon the earth, to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life, from under heaven; everything that is on the earth shall breathe its last. —Genesis 6:17 excerpt
At the command of God, Noah made an ark 300 cubits long, 50 broad, and 30 high. He slowly proceeded with this work during a period of 120 years, while he preached a message of righteousness to the people (Genesis 6:3; 2 Peter 2:5). At length, the purpose of God began to be carried into effect.
How many people were alive when the Flood began?
Reasonable estimates commonly fall in the range of hundreds of millions to roughly 5–17 billion (with many calculations clustering around several billion to about 10 billion), based on the ~1,656-year timeline from Creation to the Flood (Masoretic text of Genesis 5) and the long lifespans recorded there.
The Bible does not state a population figure. Estimates come from demographic modeling that incorporates the patriarchal ages in Genesis 5, the repeated note that each had “sons and daughters,” and basic exponential growth mathematics. Average lifespan of the listed antediluvian patriarchs (excluding Enoch) is about 912 years; ages at the birth of the named sons range from roughly 65 to over 100 (with Noah as an outlier at 500).
Key Calculation Approaches and Results
Conservative/low estimates (hundreds of millions): Dr. Henry Morris (ICR) used an ultra-conservative model—average family of 6 children, ~100-year generations, and an average lifespan of 500 years—yielding about 235 million. Dr. John Morris cited figures around 350 million. Using near-modern annual growth rates (around 1.1–1.2%) over 1,656 years from two people produces roughly 240–750 million.
Mid-range estimates (1–4+ billion): Slightly higher growth rates that account for lower mortality from long lives and more favorable conditions push the figure into the low billions. Answers in Genesis notes that a 0.012 annual growth rate gives ~750 million, while a modest increase produces close to 4 billion. Dr. John C. Whitcomb and Dr. Henry Morris earlier suggested around 1 billion; Morris later referenced figures near 7 billion in his book The Genesis Record.
Higher commonly cited range (5–17 billion, average ~10 billion): Tom Pickett’s detailed modeling (varying 5–8 children per family, generation lengths of roughly 75–103 years corresponding to 16–22 generations, and ~900-year lifespans allowing many overlapping generations) produces this range. Optimal parameters in his work (6–7 children, childbearing ages ~81–92) land near 10 billion. Similar geometric-sum approaches (e.g., 6 children over successive ~117-year periods) yield figures around 15–16 billion. These assume low natural death rates due to longevity while still allowing for some mortality.
Larger family sizes or higher growth rates can produce tens of billions, but those are generally viewed as upper-bound or less probable once violence is factored in.
Important Variables and Caveats
Long lifespans are the main driver of high potential populations: people remaining alive for centuries means many generations coexist, and low baseline mortality supports faster net growth than today. Biblical language of multiple sons and daughters supports average families of at least several children. The world is also described as “filled with violence” (Genesis 6:11–13), with widespread corruption; this implies elevated death rates from conflict, murder, and related causes that would have suppressed numbers relative to pure exponential models.
Other variables include exact average family size, age at first childbearing, infant/child mortality (not directly stated), possible gaps or variations in chronologies (Septuagint timelines are longer), and environmental carrying capacity. Pre-Flood conditions are often assumed to have been more favorable for health and longevity, supporting higher growth than post-Flood or modern rates, but the text does not quantify this.
In short, under biblical assumptions of multi-century lifespans and multi-child families over ~1,656 years, populations in the low-to-mid billions are straightforward to reach mathematically; figures in the hundreds of millions are also plausible with more conservative fertility or higher mortality from the violence the Bible describes. Exact numbers remain model-dependent.
How many people survived the Flood?
Only 8 souls. Noah, his 3 sons, and each of their wives (4) (1 Peter 3:20).
How long did Noah and family live on the ark?
Total duration, approximately 370–371 days. More if they used it as a temporary shelter afterward.
What is the timeline of the Flood?
List of order of events
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Day 1, Noah and family enter the ark, beginning their stay for over a year
In the 600th year of Noah’s life Noah, God commanded him to enter the ark, taking with him his wife, and his 3 sons with their wives (Genesis 7:1-10). The ark was already loaded with the animals (sent by God), and all their needed provisions.
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Days 1–40, torrential 40 days and 40 nights of rain
The rain began on the 17th day of the 2nd month (Genesis 7:11-23).
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Simultaneously, the “fountains of the great deep” break open (Genesis 7:11).
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The waters continue to rise.
Rain was not the only source of the rising water. A greater amount came from the breaking up of the springs of the great deep.
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Maximum depth is reached. Genesis 7:18–24 says the waters covered the high mountains by 15 cubits (about 27-22 feet).
The sacred cubit, and the one used in Egypt is 21.888 inches, which would equal 27.36 feet. This likely indicates the arks’s draft—clearance between the ark’s bottom and the top of the mountains. The common cubit is 20.24 inches, which would equal 25.3 feet. The likely minimum cubit length is about 18 inches which would be 22.5 feet
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Water begins receding, sometime prior to Day 150
The waters begin to drain significantly into newly deepened sea basins as the continents and mountains are uplifted at God’s command.
The waters were standing above the mountains.
At Your rebuke they fled,
At the sound of Your thunder they hurried away in alarm.
The mountains went up; the valleys went down
To the place which You founded for them.
You set a boundary that they may not pass over,
So that they will not return to cover the earth. —Psalm 104:6-9 excerpt LSB -
Day 150 (5 months), the ark grounds on what later turns out to be one of the submerged mountains of the Ararat region (Genesis 8:1-4).
This was on the 17th day of the 7th month.
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Day 224, mountain tops become visible 74 days after the ark has rested
On the 1st day of the 10th month (Genesis 8:5)
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Day 264, raven sent out 40 days later
40 days after the mountain tops appeared Noah opens the window and sends out the raven (Genesis 8:6–7).
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Day 271, 1st dove release 7 days later
The dove later returns because it finds no resting place (Genesis 8:8–9).
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Day 278, 2nd dove launch
Noah waits “yet other 7 days” and sends the dove a 2nd time; in the evening she returns with a fresh olive leaf (Genesis 8:10–11).
This means that dry land is available and plants are rooting and growing.
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Day 285, 3rd dove launch
Noah waits another 7 days and releases the dove again; it does not return (Genesis 8:12).
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Day 314, the ground becomes dry
Noah removes the ark covering and witnesses some dry ground.
Dry on the 1st day of the 1st month of the new year (Genesis 8:13; Day 1 was the 17th day of the 2nd month in Noah’s 600th year).
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Day 370, the land is described as completely dry.
This was on the 27th day of the 2nd month of Noah’s 601st year (Genesis 8:14). God commands Noah, his family, and the animals to leave the ark (27th day of the 2nd month of the 601st year).
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Total duration of the Flood experience (start of rain until leaving the ark): approximately 370–371 days
Noah leaves the ark on the 27th day of the 2nd month (Genesis 8:14-19).
In addition to Moses, do other Biblical writers confirm the reality of the Flood?
- Isaiah 54:9 — Isaiah explicitly mentions “the waters of Noah” and God’s promise that they would never again cover the earth. It swept away all men living except Noah and his family, who were preserved in the ark; and the present human race is descended from those who were thus preserved.
- Ezekiel 14:14, 20 — Noah is named alongside 2 other real men, Daniel and Job, all righteous.
- Psalm 104:6–9 — Mentions the waters covering the mountains, then fleeing as the mountains rise and valleys sink, with a boundary set so they never again cover the earth
- 1 Chronicles 1:4 — Noah appears in the genealogy.
- Matthew 24:37–39 — The historical truth of the Genesis Flood record is established by references made to it by our Jesus Christ Himself. Jesus compares His future 2nd coming to the days of Noah.
- Luke 17:26–27 — Parallel record of Jesus speaking about the days of Noah and the Flood.
- Luke 3:36 — Noah appears in Jesus’ genealogy.
- Hebrews 11:7 — Discusses Noah’s faith in building the ark
- 1 Peter 3:20 — Reiterates the fact of the days of Noah, the ark, and the 8 souls saved through water.
- 2 Peter 2:5 — Again states that God judged the pre-Flood world of the ungodly with the Deluge, and preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness.
- 2 Peter 3:5–6 — States the amazing fact that many people of Peter’s day ignored the reality both Creation and of God’s Flood judgment of the world that perished—“destroyed, being deluged with water.”
Is the Bible the only place which remembers this global Flood?
Traditions of the Deluge are found among all the great divisions of the human family; and these traditions, taken as a whole, wonderfully agree with the Biblical narrative, and agree with it in such a way as to lead to the conclusion that the Biblical is the authentic narrative, of which all these traditions are corrupted versions. The most remarkable of these traditions is that recorded on tablets prepared by order of Assur-bani-pal, the king of Assyria. These were, however, copies of older records which belonged to somewhere about 2000 BC, and which formed part of the priestly library at Erech, “the ineradicable remembrance of a real and terrible event.”
“The World That Perished” film
The Genesis flood is no fairytale! It truly happened. This award-winning documentary reveals the world’s most awesome catastrophe, revealing scientific and historic evidence that God’s judgment in the days of Noah was real and global. Discover fascinating facts and the planet-changing nature of the Flood.
Learn more about the WORLDWIDE FLOOD in our Creation SuperLibrary section — questions answered by science experts
Answers to more Flood questions
- Where did the Flood water come from? Answer
- Where did the Flood water go afterward? Answer
- Does the Bible claim that the Flood of Noah covered the entire Earth? Answer
- Could Noah’s Ark really hold ALL THE ANIMALS that needed to be preserved? Answer
- How did various animals get from the Ark to isolated places, such as Australia? Answer
- How did all the HUMAN ETHNIC PEOPLE GROUPS come from Noah, his 3 sons and their wives? Answer
How did FISH survive the Flood? Answer- How did LAND PLANTS survive the Flood? Answer
- Was there a thick water vapor canopy in the pre-Flood world? Answer
- Did Noah need oxygen above the mountains? Answer
- Is the BLACK SEA FLOOD the same as the flood of Genesis? Answer
- a short narrative summary of key events in the biblical record of NOAH AND THE FLOOD
- Can you explain the relationship between the Genesis record and ancient Near Eastern stories about Creation and the Flood Answer (an introduction)
- What does the fossil record teach us? Answer
- Has the Garden of Eden ever been found? Answer
- Where are all the human fossils? Answer
- What is “Gopher Wood?” Answer
- Who is NOAH? Answer
Who is MRS. NOAH? Answer- Who are the SONS OF NOAH? Learn about Shem, Ham, and Japheth—the source of our modern human population
- What are PATRIARCHS? Answer
- What is the ARK OF NOAH? Answer
- What are JUDGMENTS OF GOD? Answer