Selected story
Noah and the Flood
Read the cited context and compare 11 documented textual points.
Comparison 10 of 34
Noah and the Flood
The two accounts at a glance
Bible
World English BibleNoah, his wife, his sons and their wives enter the ark; the flood destroys those outside and God makes a covenant.
Qur'an
Sahih InternationalNoah calls his people; one son seeks refuge on a mountain, is swept away, and Noah is corrected for pleading for him.
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11 documented comparison points
The comparison includes Noah's call, preaching, ark construction, passengers, flood, family outcome, landing, covenant, and later life in both corpora. Labels use one standard: agreement means both texts state the point; additional detail means one adds a non-conflicting detail; omission means one is silent; ambiguity means an identity or meaning is not explicit; contradiction means both texts state mutually exclusive claims. Stylistic wording alone is not counted.
How long Noah preaches
Genesis gives Noah's age at the flood and a preparation timeline but does not say he preached for 950 years.
Noah is said to remain among his people for a thousand years less fifty before the flood overtakes them.
The content of Noah's preaching
Genesis calls Noah righteous and says he obeys God, but preserves no sermon to his generation; the New Testament later calls him a preacher of righteousness.
Several surahs preserve extended appeals to worship God alone, repent, observe creation, and heed warning, along with the people's replies.
The ark's construction instructions
God specifies gopher wood, rooms, pitch, dimensions, decks, an opening, and a door.
God commands Noah to build under divine eyes and inspiration, but the Qur'an gives no dimensions, material, decks, window, or door plan.
How many animals enter
Genesis distinguishes pairs generally from seven pairs of clean animals and birds, and explains preservation of animal kinds.
Noah is told to load a pair of every kind, without a clean-unclean distinction or seven-pair instruction.
Which family members are saved
Noah, his wife, his three sons, and their wives enter the ark and survive.
A son refuses to board and drowns. Q 66 later presents a wife of Noah as an unbelieving example told to enter the Fire, but it does not say whether she boarded the ark or survived the flood.
How the flood begins
The fountains of the deep burst open and the windows of heaven open; rain falls forty days and nights.
The command comes when the oven or furnace boils over; heaven pours water and earth springs forth, but no forty-day rain duration is given.
Where the ark lands
The ark rests on the mountains of Ararat.
The vessel comes to rest on Mount Judi.
Birds sent from the ark
Noah sends a raven and then a dove repeatedly; the dove returns with an olive leaf before finally not returning.
The flood accounts do not narrate a raven, dove, olive leaf, or repeated bird test.
Sacrifice after leaving the ark
Noah builds an altar and offers clean animals and birds; God responds with a promise concerning the earth.
No post-flood altar or animal offering by Noah is narrated.
The rainbow covenant
God covenants with Noah, his descendants, and every creature never again to destroy all flesh by flood, setting the rainbow as the sign.
No rainbow sign or universal covenant with every creature after the flood is narrated.
Noah's vineyard and family oracle
Genesis continues with Noah's vineyard, drunkenness, nakedness, his sons' responses, and an oracle concerning Canaan, Shem, and Japheth.
The Qur'anic Noah narratives end without the vineyard, drunkenness, nakedness, or family oracle.
What do both texts share?
- Noah receives a divine warning and builds an ark.
- A devastating flood judges a resistant population.
- The survivor receives a post-flood divine word.