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.
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#GodHebrew: Elohim blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them, Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth. 2And let the fear of you and the dread of you be upon every animal of the earth, and upon all fowl of the heavens: upon all that moveth on the ground; and upon all the fishes of the sea: into your hand are they delivered. 3Every moving thing that liveth shall be food for you: as the green herb I give you everything. 4Only, the flesh with its life, its blood, ye shall not eat. 5And indeed your blood, the blood of your lives, will I require: at the hand of every animal will I require it, and at the hand of Man, at the hand of each the blood of his brother, will I require the life of Man. 6Whoso sheddeth Man's blood, by Man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God#GodHebrew: Elohim he hath made Man. 7And ye, be fruitful and multiply: swarm on the earth, and multiply on it.
8And God#GodHebrew: Elohim spoke to Noah, and to his sons with him, saying, 9And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you; 10and with every living soul which is with you, fowl as well as cattle, and all the animals of the earth with you, of all that has gone out of the ark — every animal of the earth. 11And I establish my covenant with you, neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood, and henceforth there shall be no flood to destroy the earth.
12And God#GodHebrew: Elohim said, This is the sign of the covenant that I set between me and you and every living soul that is with you, for everlasting generations: 13I set my bow in the clouds, and it shall be for a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. 14And it shall come to pass when I bring clouds over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud, 15and I will remember my covenant which is between me and you and every living soul of all flesh; and the waters shall not henceforth become a flood to destroy all flesh. 16And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God#GodHebrew: Elohim and every living soul of all flesh that is upon the earth. 17And God#GodHebrew: Elohim said to Noah, This is the sign of the covenant which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth.
18And the sons of Noah who went out of the ark were Shem, and Ham, and Japheth. And Ham is the father of Canaan. 19These three are the sons of Noah; and from these was the population of the whole earth spread abroad. 20And Noah began to be a husbandman, and planted a vineyard. 21And he drank of the wine, and was drunken, and he uncovered himself in his tent. 22And Ham the father of Canaan saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren outside. 23And Shem and Japheth took the upper garment and both laid it upon their shoulders, and went backwards, and covered the nakedness of their father. And their faces were turned away, that they saw not their father's nakedness.
24And Noah awoke from his wine, and learned what his youngest son had done to him. 25And he said, Cursed be Canaan; Let him be a bondman of bondmen to his brethren. 26And he said, Blessed be Jehovah, the God#GodHebrew: Elohim of Shem, And let Canaan be his bondman. 27Let God#GodHebrew: Elohim enlarge Japheth, and let him dwell in the tents of Shem, And let Canaan be his bondman.
28And Noah lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years. 29And all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years; and he died.
First published in 1890. This edition is maintained by the British and Foreign Bible Society.