Genesis 9
9
God Confirms His Covenant
1Then God blessed Noah and his sons and told them, “Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth. 2All the animals of the earth, all the birds of the sky, all the small animals that scurry along the ground, and all the fish in the sea will look on you with fear and terror. I have placed them in your power. 3I have given them to you for food, just as I have given you grain and vegetables. 4But you must never eat any meat that still has the lifeblood in it.
5“And I will require the blood of anyone who takes another person’s life. If a wild animal kills a person, it must die. And anyone who murders a fellow human must die. 6If anyone takes a human life, that person’s life will also be taken by human hands. For God made human beings#9:6 Or man; Hebrew reads ha-adam. in his own image. 7Now be fruitful and multiply, and repopulate the earth.”
8Then God told Noah and his sons, 9“I hereby confirm my covenant with you and your descendants, 10and with all the animals that were on the boat with you—the birds, the livestock, and all the wild animals—every living creature on earth. 11Yes, I am confirming my covenant with you. Never again will floodwaters kill all living creatures; never again will a flood destroy the earth.”
12Then God said, “I am giving you a sign of my covenant with you and with all living creatures, for all generations to come. 13I have placed my rainbow in the clouds. It is the sign of my covenant with you and with all the earth. 14When I send clouds over the earth, the rainbow will appear in the clouds, 15and I will remember my covenant with you and with all living creatures. Never again will the floodwaters destroy all life. 16When I see the rainbow in the clouds, I will remember the eternal covenant between God and every living creature on earth.” 17Then God said to Noah, “Yes, this rainbow is the sign of the covenant I am confirming with all the creatures on earth.”
Noah’s Sons
18The sons of Noah who came out of the boat with their father were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. (Ham is the father of Canaan.) 19From these three sons of Noah came all the people who now populate the earth.
20After the flood, Noah began to cultivate the ground, and he planted a vineyard. 21One day he drank some wine he had made, and he became drunk and lay naked inside his tent. 22Ham, the father of Canaan, saw that his father was naked and went outside and told his brothers. 23Then Shem and Japheth took a robe, held it over their shoulders, and backed into the tent to cover their father. As they did this, they looked the other way so they would not see him naked.
24When Noah woke up from his stupor, he learned what Ham, his youngest son, had done. 25Then he cursed Canaan, the son of Ham:
“May Canaan be cursed!
May he be the lowest of servants to his relatives.”
26Then Noah said,
“May the Lord, the God of Shem, be blessed,
and may Canaan be his servant!
27May God expand the territory of Japheth!
May Japheth share the prosperity of Shem,#9:27 Hebrew May he live in the tents of Shem.
and may Canaan be his servant.”
28Noah lived another 350 years after the great flood. 29He lived 950 years, and then he died.
Holy Bible, New Living Translation copyright 1996, 2004, 2007, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation.
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Genesis 9
9
The New Beginning
1Then God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Have many children; grow in number and fill the earth. 2Every animal on earth, every bird in the sky, every animal that crawls on the ground, and every fish in the sea will respect and fear you. I have given them to you.
3“Everything that moves, everything that is alive, is yours for food. Earlier I gave you the green plants, but now I give you everything for food. 4But you must not eat meat that still has blood in it, because blood gives life. 5I will demand blood for life. I will demand the life of any animal that kills a person, and I will demand the life of anyone who takes another person’s life.
6“Whoever kills a human being
will be killed by a human being,
because God made humans
in his own image.
7“As for you, Noah, I want you and your family to have many children, to grow in number on the earth, and to become many.”
8Then God said to Noah and his sons, 9“Now I am making my agreement with you and your people who will live after you, 10and with every living thing that is with you—the birds, the tame and the wild animals, and with everything that came out of the boat with you—with every living thing on earth. 11I make this agreement with you: I will never again destroy all living things by a flood. A flood will never again destroy the earth.”
12And God said, “This is the sign of the agreement between me and you and every living creature that is with you. 13I am putting my rainbow in the clouds as the sign of the agreement between me and the earth. 14When I bring clouds over the earth and a rainbow appears in them, 15I will remember my agreement between me and you and every living thing. Floods will never again destroy all life on the earth. 16When the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and I will remember the agreement that continues forever between me and every living thing on the earth.”
17So God said to Noah, “The rainbow is a sign of the agreement that I made with all living things on earth.”
Noah and His Sons
18The sons of Noah who came out of the boat with him were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. (Ham was the father of Canaan.) 19These three men were Noah’s sons, and all the people on earth came from these three sons.
20Noah became a farmer and planted a vineyard. 21When he drank wine made from his grapes, he became drunk and lay naked in his tent. 22Ham, the father of Canaan, looked at his naked father and told his brothers outside. 23Then Shem and Japheth got a coat and, carrying it on both their shoulders, they walked backwards into the tent and covered their father. They turned their faces away so that they did not see their father’s nakedness.
24Noah was sleeping because of the wine. When he woke up and learned what his youngest son, Ham, had done to him, 25he said,
“May there be a curse on Canaan!
May he be the lowest slave to his brothers.”
26Noah also said,
“May the Lord, the God of Shem, be praised!
May Canaan be Shem’s slave.
27May God give more land to Japheth.
May Japheth live in Shem’s tents,
and may Canaan be their slave.”
28After the flood Noah lived 350 years. 29He lived a total of 950 years, and then he died.
The Holy Bible, New Century Version, Copyright © 2005 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.