Genesis 9
9
Chapter 9
God's covenant with Noah
1God blessed Noah and his sons. He said to them, ‘Give birth to many children so that you become very many people. Your descendants will live all over the earth. 2All the animals and all the birds will be afraid of you. You have authority over them. You also have authority over all the living things that move across the ground and all the fish in the sea. 3You may now eat anything that lives and moves. Before, I gave you the green plants to eat. Now I give you everything to eat as your food.
4But you must not eat meat that still has the blood of life in it.
5If any person or animal kills a human, I will certainly punish them. Their punishment will be death.
6God made people so that they were like himself. #9:6 See Genesis 1:26.
So if anyone kills a human,
another human must kill him.
7But as for you, you should give birth to many children so that you become very many people. There will be many people and they will live all over the earth.’
8God said to Noah and to his sons, 9‘I promise you that I will obey the covenant that I am making with you. #9:9 A covenant is a special agreement that God makes with people. He promises that he will help them in a certain way. I promise this to you and to all your descendants. 10I also promise this to all the animals and birds that came out of the ship with you. That is everything that lives on the earth. 11This is the covenant that I promise to keep: I will never cause water to destroy all living things on the earth again. Deep water will never again come again to destroy the earth.’
12Then God said, ‘I will show you clearly that I have made this covenant with you, and with every living animal. I will keep this promise for ever, for as long as people live on the earth. 13I have put my rainbow among the clouds in the sky. It will show you clearly that I have made this covenant with everything on the earth. 14When I bring clouds over the earth, a rainbow will sometimes appear. 15Then I will remember the covenant that I have made with you and with all the different kinds of living things. Never again will the water become so deep that it destroys everything that lives. 16When I see the rainbow in the clouds, I will remember my covenant. It is a promise that I have made with every kind of living thing on the earth.’
17Then God said to Noah, ‘The rainbow will show you that I will certainly keep my promise. I will keep my covenant that is between me and everything that lives on the earth.’
Noah's sons
18The names of Noah's sons were Shem, Ham and Japheth. They all came out of the ship with Noah. Ham later became the father of a son called Canaan. 19All the people who live on the earth are descendants of Noah's three sons.
20Noah was a farmer. He was the first person to plant vines.
21He used the grapes to make wine. One day, he drank some of the wine and he became drunk. He lay inside his tent and he slept. He was not wearing any clothes. 22Canaan's father, Ham, saw that Noah was not wearing any clothes. He went out of the tent. He told his two brothers what he had seen. 23Then Shem and Japheth took Noah's coat and they put it between their shoulders. They walked into Noah's tent with their backs to Noah. In this way they covered their father with the coat. They looked away from their father so that they did not see him. They did this because Noah was not wearing any clothes. #9:23 Vines grow a small round fruit called grapes. People use grapes to make wine. Wine is a drink containing alcohol.
24Later, when he was no longer drunk with the wine, Noah woke up. He found out what his youngest son, Ham, had done. 25He said, ‘I curse Canaan! He will become a slave that must serve his brothers.’
26Noah also said, ‘I praise the Lord, the God of Shem! Let Canaan become Shem's slave! 27I pray that God will make the land of Japheth and his descendants grow bigger. I pray that the descendants of Japheth will share good things with Shem. I pray that Canaan will become Japheth's slave.’ #9:27 Noah wanted God to bless Shem and Japheth, because they did the right thing. Noah asked for a curse on the descendants of Ham because he caused Noah to be ashamed.
28Noah lived for 350 years after God covered the earth with deep water. 29In his whole life, Noah lived for 950 years. Then he died.
MissionAssist 2018
Genesis 9
9
1And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, #ch. 1:22, 28; 8:17“Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. 2#[Ps. 8:6-8; James 3:7]The fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth and upon every bird of the heavens, upon everything that creeps on the ground and all the fish of the sea. Into your hand they are delivered. 3#Deut. 12:15; 1 Tim. 4:3, 4 Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. And #ch. 1:29as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything. 4But you shall not eat flesh with its #Lev. 17:10, 11, 14; Deut. 12:16, 23; 1 Sam. 14:33; Acts 15:20, 29life, that is, its blood. 5And for your lifeblood I will require a reckoning: #Ex. 21:28 from every beast I will require it and #ch. 4:10, 11from man. From his fellow man I will require a reckoning for the life of man.
6 #
Ex. 21:12, 14; Lev. 24:17; Num. 35:31, 33; [Matt. 26:52; Rev. 13:10] “Whoever sheds the blood of man,
by man shall his blood be shed,
# ch. 1:27; 5:1; James 3:9 for God made man in his own image.
7And you,#9:7 In Hebrew you is plural be fruitful and multiply, increase greatly on the earth and multiply in it.”
8Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him, 9“Behold, #ch. 6:18; 8:20-22I establish my covenant with you and your offspring after you, 10and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the livestock, and every beast of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark; it is for every beast of the earth. 11#Isa. 54:9, 10I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.” 12And God said, #ch. 17:11“This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: 13I have set #Ezek. 1:28; [Rev. 4:3; 10:1]my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. 14When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, 15#[Lev. 26:42, 45; 1 Kgs. 8:23; Ezek. 16:60]I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh. And the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. 16When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember #ch. 17:7, 13, 19the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” 17God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth.”
Noah’s Descendants
18The sons of Noah who went forth from the ark were #ch. 5:32; 10:1Shem, Ham, and Japheth. (Ham was the father of Canaan.) 19These three were the sons of Noah, and #ch. 10:32from these the people of the whole earth were dispersed.#9:19 Or from these the whole earth was populated
20Noah began to be a man of the soil, and he planted a vineyard.#9:20 Or Noah, a man of the soil, was the first to plant a vineyard 21He drank 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. 23Then Shem and Japheth took a garment, laid it on both their shoulders, and walked backward and covered the nakedness of their father. Their faces were turned backward, and they did not see their father’s nakedness. 24When Noah awoke from his wine #[Hab. 2:15]and knew what his youngest son had done to him, 25he said,
#
Deut. 27:16 “Cursed be Canaan;
#
Josh. 9:23; Judg. 1:28; 1 Kgs. 9:20, 21 a servant of servants shall he be to his brothers.”
26He also said,
“Blessed be the Lord, the God of Shem;
and let Canaan be his servant.
27May God enlarge Japheth,#9:27 Japheth sounds like the Hebrew for enlarge
and let him dwell in the tents of Shem,
and let Canaan be his servant.”
28After the flood Noah lived 350 years. 29All the days of Noah were 950 years, and he died.
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
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