Gopher wood

Gopher wood or gopherwood is a term used once in the Bible, to describe the material used to construct Noah's Ark.

Genesis 6:14 states that Noah was instructed to build the Ark of gofer (גֹפֶר‎), commonly transliterated as gopher wood, a word not otherwise used in the Bible or the Hebrew language in general (a hapax legomenon).

The Jewish Encyclopedia states that it was most likely a translation of the Akkadian term gushure iṣ erini, 'cedar beams', or the Assyrian giparu, 'reeds'.

[3] The Aramaic Targum Onkelos, considered by many Jews to be an authoritative translation of the Hebrew scripture, renders this word as qadros, 'cedar'.

Later suggestions for a dynamic equivalent of the word have included 'laminated wood' (to strengthen the Ark), or a now-lost type of tree, but there is no consensus.

Noah's Ark by Edward Hicks , 1846. Genesis 6:14 says that Noah's Ark was constructed from gopher wood.