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
Genesis 9
9
1And God blessed Noe and his sons. And he said to them: Increase and multiply, and fill the earth.
2And let the fear and dread of you be upon all the beasts of the earth, and upon all the fowls of the air, and all that move upon the earth: all the fishes of the sea are delivered into your hand.
3And every thing that moveth and liveth shall be meat for you: even as the green herbs have I delivered them all to you:
4Saving that flesh with blood you shall not eat.
5For I will require the blood of your lives at the hand of every beast, and at the hand of man. At the hand of every man, and of his brother, will I require the life of man.
6Whosoever shall shed man's blood, his blood shall be shed: for man was made to the image of God.
7But increase you and multiply:, and go upon the earth, and fill it.
8This also said God to Noe, and to his sons with him:
9Behold, I will establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you.
10And with every living soul that is with you, as well in all birds as in cattle and beasts of the earth, that are come forth out of the ark: and in all the beasts of the earth.
11I will establish my covenant with you; and all flesh shall be no more destroyed with the waters of a flood: neither shall there be from henceforth a flood to waste the earth.
12And God said: This is the sign of the covenant which I will give between me and you, and to every living soul that is with you, for perpetual generations.
13I will set my bow in the clouds, and it shall be the sign of a covenant between me, and between the earth.
14And when I shall cover the sky with clouds, my bow shall appear in the clouds:
15And I will remember my covenant with you, and with every living soul that beareth flesh: and there shall no more be waters of a flood to destroy all flesh.
16And the bow shall be in the clouds, and I shall see it, and shall remember the everlasting covenant, that was made between God and every living soul of all flesh which is upon the earth.
17And God said to Noe: This shall be the sign of the covenant which I have established between me and all flesh upon the earth.
18And the sons of Noe who came out of the ark, were Sem, Cham, and Japheth: and Cham is the father of Chanaan.
19These three are the sons of Noe: and from these was all mankind spread over the whole earth.
20And Noe, a husbandman, began to till the ground, and planted a vineyard,
21And drinking of the wine was made drunk, and was uncovered in his tent.
22Which when Cham the father of Chaanan had seen, to wit, that his father's nakedness was uncovered, he told it to his two brethren without.
23But Sem and Japheth put a cloak upon their shoulders, and going backward covered the nakedness of their father: and their faces were turned away, and they saw not their father's nakedness.
24And Noe awaking from the wine, when he had learned what his younger son had done to him,
25He said: Cursed be Chaanan; a servant of servant shall he be unto his brethren.
26And he said: Blessed be the Lord God of Sem; be Chanaan his servant.
27May God enlarge Japheth, and may he dwell in the tents of Sem; and Chanaan be his servant.
28And Noe lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years.
29And all his days were in the whole nine hundred and fifty years: and he died.
An historical text maintained by the British and Foreign Bible Society.