Genesis 9

The New Beginning

1Then God blessed Noah and his sons. He said to them, “Have many children. Grow in number and fill the earth. 2Every animal on earth and every bird in the sky will respect and fear you. So will every animal that crawls on the ground and every fish in the sea 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. And 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 your blood for your lives. That is, 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.

This is because God made humans

in his own image.

7“Noah, I want you and your family to have many children. Grow in number on the earth and 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 I also make it with every living thing that is with you. It is with the birds, the tame animals and the wild animals. It is with all that came out of the boat with you. I make my agreement with every living thing on earth. 11I make this agreement with you: I will never again destroy all living things by floodwaters. A flood will never again destroy the earth.”

12And God said, “I am making an agreement between me and you and every living creature that is with you. It will continue from now on. This is the sign: 13I am putting my rainbow in the clouds. It is the sign of the agreement between me and the earth. 14When I bring clouds over the earth, a rainbow appears in the clouds. 15Then I will remember my agreement. It is between me and you and every living thing. Floodwaters will never again destroy all life on the earth. 16When the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it. Then I will remember the agreement that continues forever. It is between me and every living thing on the earth.”

17So God said to Noah, “That rainbow is a sign. It is the sign of the agreement that I made with all living things on earth.”

Noah and His Sons

18The sons of Noah came out of the boat with him. They 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. 21He drank wine made from his grapes. Then he became drunk and lay naked in his tent. 22Ham, the father of Canaan, looked at his naked father. Ham told his brothers outside. 23Then Shem and Japheth got a coat and carried it on both their shoulders. They walked backwards into the tent and covered their father. They turned their faces away. In this way they did not see their father without clothes.

24Noah was sleeping because of the wine. Later he woke up. Then he learned what his youngest son, Ham, had done to him. 25So Noah 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. Then he died.

Learn More About International Children’s Bible

Berĕshith (Genesis) 9

1And Elohim blessed Noaḥ and his sons, and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase, and fill the earth.

2“And the fear of you and the dread of you is on every beast of the earth, on every bird of the heavens, on all that creeps on the ground, and on all the fish of the sea – into your hand they have been given.

3“Every creeping creature that lives is food for you. I have given you all, as I gave the green plants.

4“But do not eat flesh with its life, its blood.

5“But only your blood for your lives I require, from the hand of every beast I require it, and from the hand of man. From the hand of every man’s brother I require the life of man.

6“Whoever sheds man’s blood, by man his blood is shed, for in the image of Elohim has He made man.

7“As for you, be fruitful and increase, bring forth teemingly in the earth and increase in it.”

8And Elohim spoke to Noaḥ and to his sons with him, saying,

9“And I, see, I establish My covenant with you and with your seed after you,

10and with every living being that is with you: of the birds, of the cattle, and of every beast of the earth with you, of all that go out of the ark, every beast of the earth.

11“And I shall establish My covenant with you, and never again is all flesh cut off by the waters of the flood, and never again is there a flood to destroy the earth.”

12And Elohim said, “This is the sign of the covenant which I make between Me and you, and every living being that is with you, for all generations to come:

13“I shall set My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be for the sign of the covenant between Me and the earth.

14“And it shall be, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the rainbow shall be seen in the cloud,

15and I shall remember My covenant which is between Me and you and every living being of all flesh, and never again let the waters become a flood to destroy all flesh.

16“And the rainbow shall be in the cloud, and I shall see it, to remember the everlasting covenant between Elohim and every living being of all flesh that is on the earth.

17And Elohim said to Noaḥ, “This is the sign of the covenant which I have established between Me and all flesh that is on the earth.”

18And the sons of Noaḥ who went out of the ark were Shĕm and Ḥam and Yapheth. And Ḥam was the father of Kena‛an.

19These three were the sons of Noaḥ, and all the earth was overspread from them.

20And Noaḥ, a man of the soil, began and planted a vineyard.

21And he drank of the wine and was drunk, and became uncovered in his tent.

22And Ḥam, the father of Kena‛an, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brothers outside.

23So Shĕm and Yapheth took a garment, laid it on both their shoulders, and went backward and covered the nakedness of their father, but their faces were turned away, and they did not see their father’s nakedness.

24And Noaḥ awoke from his wine, and he knew what his younger son had done to him,

25and he said, “Cursed is Kena‛an, let him become a servant of servants to his brothers.”

26And he said, “Blessed be יהוה, the Elohim of Shĕm, and let Kena‛an become his servant.

27“Let Elohim enlarge Yapheth, and let him dwell in the tents of Shĕm. And let Kena‛an become his servant.”

28And Noaḥ lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years.

29So all the days of Noaḥ were nine hundred and fifty years, and he died.

Learn More About The Scriptures 2009