Biblical character from Genesis .
The son of Lamech and ninth in descent from Adam , he was a man of blameless piety, who was chosen by God to perpetuate the human race after his wicked contemporaries had perished in the flood. On God's instructions, Noah built an ark and took into it one male and one female of each of the world's animals. After the waters receded, God set a rainbow in the sky as a guarantee of his promise never again to curse the earth. Noah was the father of Shem, Ham, and Japheth, from whom the entire human race is supposed to have descended. Noah is also said to have been the originator of vineyard cultivation.