Genesis 9
9
God Blesses Noah and His Sons
1God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fertile, increase in number, and fill the earth. 2All the wild animals and all the birds will fear you and be terrified of you. Every creature that crawls on the ground and all the fish in the sea have been put under your control. 3Everything that lives and moves will be your food. I gave you green plants as food; I now give you everything else.
4“But you are not to eat meat with blood in it. (Blood is life.) 5In addition, I will demand your blood for your life. I will demand it from any animal or from any person. I will demand the life of any person ⌞who kills⌟ another person.
6Whoever sheds human blood,
by humans his blood will be shed,
because in the image of God, God made humans.
7Be fertile, and increase in number. Spread over the earth, and increase.”
God’s Promise—the Sign of the Rainbow
8God also said to Noah and his sons, 9“I am going to make my promise #9:9 Or “covenant.” to you, your descendants, 10and every living being that is with you—birds, domestic animals, and all the wild animals, all those that came out of the ship—every living thing on earth. 11I am making my promise to you. Never again will all life be killed by floodwaters. Never again will there be a flood that destroys the earth.”
12God said, “This is the sign of the promise I am giving to you and every living being that is with you for generations to come. 13I will put my rainbow in the clouds to be a sign of my promise to the earth. 14Whenever I form clouds over the earth, a rainbow will appear in the clouds. 15Then I will remember my promise to you and every living animal. Never again will water become a flood to destroy all life. 16Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember my everlasting promise to every living animal on earth.”
17So God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the promise I am making to all life on earth.”
Noah Curses Canaan but Blesses Shem and Japheth
18Noah’s sons, who came out of the ship, were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. 19These were Noah’s three sons. From them the whole earth was populated. Ham was the father of Canaan.#9:19 The second part of verse 18 (in Hebrew) has been placed just after verse 19 to express the complex Hebrew sentence structure more clearly in English.
20Noah, a farmer, was the first person to plant a vineyard. 21He drank some wine, got drunk, and lay naked inside his tent. 22Ham, father of Canaan, saw his father naked. So he went outside and told his two brothers.
23Shem and Japheth took a blanket and laid it over their shoulders. Then they walked in backwards and covered their father’s naked body. They turned their faces away so that they didn’t see their father naked.
24When Noah sobered up, he found out what his youngest son had done to him. 25So he said,
“Canaan is cursed!
He will be the lowest slave to his brothers.
26Praise the Lord, the God of Shem!
Canaan will be his slave.
27May God expand the territory of Japheth.#9:27 There is a play on words here between the Hebrew yapht (May God expand) and yepheth (Japheth).
May he live in the tents of Shem.
Canaan will be his slave.”
28Noah lived 350 years after the flood. 29Noah lived a total of 950 years; then he died.
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GOD'S WORD® Translation ©1995, 2003, 2013, 2014, 2019, 2020 by God's Word to the Nations Mission Society. All rights reserved.
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.
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