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Noah's wife (unnamed in the text)

The wife of Noah, who survived the flood aboard the ark with her husband and sons; Genesis does not give her a personal name.

Accounts of this vary across texts and traditions. This entry primarily follows Hebrew Bible (Genesis), with other tellings (Masoretic Text (Hebrew Bible), Septuagint (Greek translation), Jewish and Christian rabbinic and patristic tradition) noted where relevant.

Relationships

Spouse
Noah
Children
Ham · Shem · Japheth

Introduction

Noah's wife is named as one of the eight people who survived the flood aboard the ark, alongside Noah, their three sons and the sons' wives. Genesis does not give her a personal name, referring to her only in relation to Noah and her sons.

Later Jewish and other traditions have given her various names (including Naamah in some rabbinic sources, and Emzara in the Book of Jubilees), none of which appear in the Genesis text itself.

Family

In the flood narrative

Noah's wife is listed among those who entered the ark and survived the flood, and among those to whom God's post-flood covenant and blessing to "be fruitful and multiply" is addressed, but she is given no independent action, speech or event of her own in the biblical text.

Later names in tradition

Various names have been assigned to her in extra-biblical Jewish tradition and later literature, none of which have any basis in the Genesis text, which leaves her, like several other women in the early chapters of Genesis, unnamed.

Sources

  1. Genesis 6:18 (primary text) — https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis+6%3A18&version=NRSVUE
  2. Genesis 7:7, 13 (primary text) — https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis+7%3A7,+13&version=NRSVUE

This entry is independently written for myVamsam using the sources listed above. Where traditions differ, this entry identifies the relevant tradition rather than presenting one account as universally established fact.