Genesis 9

God's Promise to Noah

1 # Gn 1.28. God said to Noah and his sons:

I am giving you my blessing. Have a lot of children and grandchildren, so people will live everywhere on this earth. 2All animals, birds, reptiles, and fish will be afraid of you. I have placed them under your control, 3and I have given them to you for food. From now on, you may eat them, as well as the green plants that you have always eaten. 4#Lv 7.26,27; 17.10-14; 19.26; Dt 12.5-19,23,24; 15.23. But life is in the blood, and you must not eat any meat that still has blood in it. 5-6#Gn 1.26; Ex 20.13. I created humans to be like me, and I will punish any animal or person that takes a human life. If an animal kills someone, that animal must die. And if a person takes the life of another, that person must be put to death.

7 # Gn 1.28. I want you and your descendants to have many children, so people will live everywhere on earth.

8Again, God said to Noah and his sons:

9I am going to make a solemn promise to you and to everyone who will live after you. 10This includes the birds and the animals that came out of the boat. 11I promise every living creature that the earth and those living on it will never again be destroyed by a flood.

12-13The rainbow that I have put in the sky will be my sign to you and to every living creature on earth. It will remind you that I will keep this promise forever. 14When I send clouds over the earth, and a rainbow appears in the sky, 15I will remember my promise to you and to all other living creatures. Never again will I let floodwaters destroy all life. 16When I see the rainbow in the sky, I will always remember the promise that I have made to every living creature. 17The rainbow will be the sign of that solemn promise.

Noah and His Family

18Noah and his sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, left the boat. Ham later had a son named Canaan. 19All people on earth are descendants of Noah's three sons.

20Noah farmed the land and was the first to plant a vineyard. 21One day he got drunk and was lying naked in his tent. 22Ham entered the tent and saw him naked, then went back outside and told his brothers. 23Shem and Japheth put a robe over their shoulders and walked backwards into the tent. Without looking at their father, they placed it over his body.

24When Noah sobered up and learned what his youngest son had done, 25he said,

“I now put a curse on Canaan!

He will be the lowest slave

of his brothers.

26I ask the Lord my God

to bless Shem

and make Canaan his slave.

27I pray God will give Japheth

more and more#9.27 more and more: In Hebrew “Japheth” sounds like “more and more.” land

and let him take over

the territory of Shem.

May Canaan be his slave.”

28Noah lived 350 years after the flood 29and died at the age of 950.

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B'resheet (Gen) 9

1God blessed Noach and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply and fill the earth. 2The fear and dread of you will be upon every wild animal, every bird in the air, every creature populating the ground, and all the fish in the sea; they have been handed over to you. 3Every moving thing that lives will be food for you; just as I gave you green plants before, so now I give you everything — 4only flesh with its life, which is its blood, you are not to eat. 5I will certainly demand an accounting for the blood of your lives: I will demand it from every animal and from every human being. I will demand from every human being an accounting for the life of his fellow human being. 6Whoever sheds human blood, by a human being will his own blood be shed; for God made human beings in his image. 7And you people, be fruitful, multiply, swarm on the earth and multiply on it.”

(v) 8God spoke to Noach and his sons with him; he said, 9“As for me — I am herewith establishing my covenant with you, with your descendants after you, 10and with every living creature that is with you — the birds, the livestock and every wild animal with you, all going out of the ark, every animal on earth. 11I will establish my covenant with you that never again will all living beings be destroyed by the waters of a flood, and there will never again be a flood to destroy the earth.” 12God added, “Here is the sign of the covenant I am making between myself and you and every living creature with you, for all generations to come: 13I am putting my rainbow in the cloud — it will be there as a sign of the covenant between myself and the earth. 14Whenever I bring clouds over the earth, and the rainbow is seen in the cloud; 15I will remember my covenant which is between myself and you and every living creature of any kind; and the water will never again become a flood to destroy all living beings. 16The rainbow will be in the cloud; so that when I look at it, I will remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of any kind on the earth.”

17God said to Noach, “This is the sign of the covenant which I have established between myself and every living creature on the earth.”

(vi) 18The sons of Noach who went out from the ark were Shem, Ham and Yefet. Ham is the father of Kena‘an. 19These three were the sons of Noach, and the whole earth was populated by them.

20Noach, a farmer, was the first to plant a vineyard. 21He drank so much of the wine that he got drunk and lay uncovered in his tent. 22Ham, the father of Kena‘an, saw his father shamefully exposed, went out and told his two brothers. 23Shem and Yefet took a cloak, put it over both their shoulders, and, walking backward, went in and covered their naked father. Their faces were turned away, so that they did not see their father lying there shamefully exposed.

24When Noach awoke from his wine, he knew what his youngest son had done to him. 25He said, “Cursed be Kena‘an; he will be a servant of servants to his brothers.” 26Then he said, “Blessed be Adonai, the God of Shem; Kena‘an will be their servant. 27May God enlarge Yefet; he will live in the tents of Shem, but Kena‘an will be their servant.”

28After the flood Noach lived 350 years. 29In all, Noach lived 950 years; then he died.

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