Genesis 9
9
The Noahic Covenant
1#Ge 1:28; 8:17; 9:7Then God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. 2#Jas 3:7Every beast of the earth and every bird of the sky and all that moves on the earth and all the fish of the sea will fear you and be terrified of you. They are given into your hand. 3#Dt 12:15; Ro 14:14Every moving thing that lives will be food for you. I give you everything, just as I gave you the green plant.
4#Dt 12:16; 12:23“Only you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. 5#Ex 21:28–29; Ge 4:9–10But for your own lifeblood I will surely require a reckoning; from every animal will I require it; of man, too, will I require a reckoning for human life, of every man for that of his fellow man.
6#Ge 1:26–27; Lev 24:17 Whoever sheds the blood of man,
by man shall his blood be shed;
for God made man
in His own image.
7#Ge 9:1And as for you, be fruitful and multiply; increase abundantly in the earth and multiply in it.”
8Again God spoke to Noah and to his sons with him, saying, 9#Ge 6:18“As for Me, I establish My covenant with you, and with your descendants after you; 10and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the livestock, and every beast of the earth with you; of all that comes out of the ark, every beast of the earth. 11#Isa 54:9; Ge 8:21–22I establish My covenant with you. Never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood. Never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.”
12#Ge 17:11Then God said, “This is the sign of the covenant which I am making between Me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations. 13#Eze 1:28; Rev 4:3I have set My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of a covenant between Me and the earth. 14When I bring a cloud over the earth, the rainbow will be seen in the cloud; 15#Eze 16:60; Dt 7:9then I will remember My covenant, which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh, and the waters will never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. 16#Ge 17:13; 17:19The rainbow will appear in the cloud, and I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.”
17So God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between Me and all flesh that is on the earth.”
The Sons of Noah
18#Ge 10:1; 10:6The sons of Noah who went forth from the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Ham was the father of Canaan. 19These were the three sons of Noah, and from them the whole earth was populated.
20Noah began to be a man of the soil, and he planted a vineyard. 21#Pr 20:1Then he drank some of the wine and became drunk, and lay uncovered in his tent. 22And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brothers outside. 23So Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father. Their faces were turned away, and they did not see their father’s nakedness.
24When Noah awoke from his wine and knew what his younger son had done to him, 25#Jos 9:23; Dt 27:16he said,
“Canaan be cursed!
He will be a servant of servants
to his brothers.”
26He also said,
“Blessed be the Lord God of Shem,
and let Canaan be his servant.
27May God enlarge Japheth,
and may he dwell in the tents of Shem,
and may Canaan be his servant.”
28Noah lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years. 29All the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years, and then he died.
Military Bible Association
Genesis 9
9
The New Beginning
1God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Have many children. Fill the earth with your people. 2Every animal on earth, every bird in the air, every animal that crawls on the ground, and every fish in the sea will be afraid of you. All of them will be under your control. 3In the past, I gave you the green plants to eat. Now every animal will also be food for you. I give you everything on earth—it is yours. 4But I give you one command. You must not eat meat that still has its life (blood) in it. 5Also, I will demand your blood for your lives. That is, I will demand the life of any person or animal that takes a human life.
6“God made humans to be like himself.
So whoever kills a person must be killed by another person.
7“Have many children and fill the earth with your people.”
8Then God said to Noah and his sons, 9“I now make my promise to you and to your people who will live after you. 10I make my promise to all the birds, and to all the cattle, and to all the animals that came out of the boat with you. I make my promise to every living thing on earth. 11This is my promise to you: All life on the earth was destroyed by the flood. But that will never happen again. A flood will never again destroy all life on the earth.”
12And God said, “I will give you something to prove that I made this promise to you. It will continue forever to show that I have made an agreement with you and every living thing on earth. 13I am putting a rainbow in the clouds as proof of the agreement between me and the earth. 14When I bring clouds over the earth, you will see the rainbow in the clouds. 15When I see this rainbow, I will remember the agreement between me and you and every living thing on the earth. This agreement says that a flood will never again destroy all life on the earth. 16When I look and see the rainbow in the clouds, I will remember the agreement that continues forever. I will remember the agreement between me and every living thing on the earth.”
17So God said to Noah, “This rainbow is proof of the agreement that I made with all living things on earth.”
Problems Begin Again
18Noah’s sons came out of the boat with him. Their names 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. 21One day Noah made some wine. He got drunk, went into his tent, and took off all his clothes. 22Ham, the father of Canaan, saw that his father was naked and told his brothers who were outside the tent. 23Shem and Japheth took a robe, put it across their shoulders, and walked backward into the tent. Then they covered their father without looking at him.
24Later, Noah woke up. (He was sleeping because of the wine.) When he learned what his youngest son Ham had done to him, 25he said,
“May there be a curse on Canaan#9:25 Canaan Ham’s son. The people of Canaan lived along the coast of Palestine, Lebanon, and Syria. Later, God gave this land to the Israelites.!
May he be a 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 God 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; then he died.
© 1987, 2004 Bible League International