1And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth. 2The fear and the terror of you shall be [instinctive] in every animal of the land and in every bird of the air; and together with everything that moves on the ground, and with all the fish of the sea; they are given into your hand. 3Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you; I give you everything, as I gave you the green plants and vegetables. 4But you shall not eat meat along with its life, that is, its blood. 5For your lifeblood I will most certainly require an accounting; from every animal [that kills a person] I will require it. And from man, from every man’s brother [that is, anyone who murders] I will require the life of man.

6Whoever sheds man’s blood [unlawfully],

By man (judicial government) shall his blood be shed,

For in the image of God

He made man.

7As for you, be fruitful and multiply;

Populate the earth abundantly and multiply in it.”

8Then God spoke to Noah and to his sons with him, saying, 9“Now behold, I am establishing My covenant (binding agreement, solemn promise) with you and with your descendants after you 10and with every living creature that is with you—the birds, the livestock, and the wild animals of the earth along with you, of everything that comes out of the ark—every living creature of the earth. 11I will establish My covenant with you: Never again shall all flesh be cut off by the water of a flood, nor shall there ever again be a flood to destroy and ruin the earth.” 12And God said, “This is the token (visible symbol, memorial) of the [solemn] covenant which I am making between Me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations; 13I set My rainbow in the clouds, and it shall be a sign of a covenant between Me and the earth. 14It shall come about, when I bring clouds over the earth, that the rainbow shall be seen in the clouds, 15and I will [compassionately] remember My covenant, which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and never again will the water become a flood to destroy all flesh. 16When the rainbow is in the clouds and I look at it, I will [solemnly] remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” 17And God said to Noah, “This [rainbow] is the sign of the covenant (solemn pledge, binding agreement) which I have established between Me and all living things on the earth.”

18The sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem and Ham and Japheth. Ham would become the father of Canaan. 19These are the three sons of Noah, and from these [men] the whole earth was populated and scattered with inhabitants.

20And Noah began to farm and cultivate the ground and he planted a vineyard. 21He drank some of the wine and became drunk, and he was uncovered and lay exposed inside his tent. 22Ham, the father of Canaan, saw [by accident] the nakedness of his father, and [to his father’s shame] told his two brothers outside. 23So Shem and Japheth took a robe and put it on both their shoulders, and walked backwards and covered the nakedness of their father; their faces were turned away so that they did not see their father’s nakedness. 24When Noah awoke from his wine [induced stupor], he knew what his younger son [Ham] had done to him. 25So he said,

“Cursed be Canaan [the son of Ham];

# The words of Noah are prophetic. God later found the disobedience of the Canaanites to be repulsive and replaced them with the descendants of Shem. A servant of servants

He shall be to his brothers.”

26He also said,

“Blessed be the Lord,

The God of #The Jewish people are the descendants of Shem. Through Shem’s lineage came the Messiah and salvation.Shem;

And let Canaan be his servant.

27May God enlarge [the land of] Japheth,

And #Note that “let” in this verse represents a command, as in “Let there be light” (1:3).let #The antecedent of the word “him” could be Japheth, but it could also be “God,” thus making Him (the Messiah) dwell in the tents of Shem indicating the incarnation in the Semitic line.him dwell in the tents of Shem;

And let Canaan be his servant.”

28Noah lived three hundred and fifty years after the flood. 29So all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years, and he died.

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Genesis 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.

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Genesis 9

Genesis 9