Noah’s Ark Dimensions: Cubits, Feet and Tons

Genesis gives the size of Noah’s ark in cubits. Sebastian C. Adams’ chart prints the same three numbers in feet, with a tonnage. Here are both, with the King James text.

In short: Genesis 6:15 gives the ark as 300 cubits long, 50 cubits broad and 30 cubits high. Adams’ chart prints 547 feet long, 91 feet wide and 54 feet high, and 81,000 tons.

What Genesis says

The measures are in Genesis 6:15, in the middle of God’s instructions to Noah.

¹⁴ Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch. ¹⁵ And this is the fashion which thou shalt make it of: The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits. ¹⁶ A window shalt thou make to the ark, and in a cubit shalt thou finish it above; and the door of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof; with lower, second, and third stories shalt thou make it.
Genesis 6:14–16, King James Version

What Adams’ chart prints

Below the ark, Adams prints a tonnage and three dimensions in two columns of numbers:

81,000, Tons.
300 cu. 547. ft. long.
50 „ 91 „ wide.
30 „ 54 „ high.
Printed on Adams’ chart, panel 3; beneath the ark: “The Ark resting on Ararat Gen. 8. 4.”

Dimension	Genesis 6:15 (cubits)	Adams (feet)	Feet per cubit
Length	300	547	1.8233…
Width	50	91	1.82
Height	30	54	1.8

Dividing each printed feet value by its cubit value gives the three ratios in the last column. The 81,000 tons is Adams’ figure.

Calculations: the length-to-breadth ratio in cubits is 300 ÷ 50 = 6, and the breadth-to-height ratio is 50 ÷ 30 = 5/3.

Where the ark came to rest

Adams labels the scene with the reference Genesis 8:4:

⁴ And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat.
Genesis 8:4, King James Version

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Questions

How big was Noah’s ark in feet?

Adams’ chart prints 547 feet long, 91 feet wide and 54 feet high, beside Genesis’ 300, 50 and 30 cubits. The feet-per-cubit ratios implied by his three figures are 1.8233, 1.82 and 1.8.

How many cubits long was Noah’s ark?

Three hundred cubits long, fifty cubits broad and thirty cubits high: “The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits” (Genesis 6:15).

How many tons was Noah’s ark?

Adams’ chart prints 81,000 tons. The figure is Adams’, printed above the three dimensions.

Where did Noah’s ark rest?

“upon the mountains of Ararat” (Genesis 8:4). Adams’ chart labels the scene “The Ark resting on Ararat Gen. 8. 4.”