9
God’s Covenant with Noah
1God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.#Gn 1:28; 8:17; 9:7; 35:11 2The fear and terror of you will be in every living creature on the earth, every bird of the sky, every creature that crawls on the ground, and all the fish of the sea. They are placed under your authority. 3Every creature that lives and moves will be food for you;#Dt 12:15; 1Tm 4:3–4 as I gave the green plants, I have given you everything.#Gn 1:28–30 4However, you must not eat meat with its lifeblood in it.#Lv 3:17; 7:20; 17:10–16; 19:26; Dt 12:16,23; 15:23; 1Sm 14:34; Ac 15:20,29 5And I will require a penalty for your lifeblood;#9:5 Lit And your blood belonging to your life I will seek I will require it from any animal#Ex 21:28 and from any human; if someone murders a fellow human, I will require that person’s life.#Gn 4:2,8
6Whoever sheds human blood,
by humans his blood will be shed,#Ex 21:12–14; Lv 24:17; Nm 35:33; Mt 26:52
for God made humans in his image.#Gn 1:26–27
7But you, be fruitful and multiply; spread out over the earth and multiply on it.”#Gn 1:28
8Then God said to Noah and his sons with him, 9“Understand that I am establishing my covenant#Gn 6:18; 8:22; 17:2; Ex 6:4; 19:5; Lv 26:9 with you and your descendants after you, 10and with every living creature that is with you — birds, livestock, and all wildlife of the earth that are with you — all the animals of the earth that came out of the ark. 11I establish my covenant with you that never again will every creature be wiped out by floodwaters; there will never again be a flood to destroy the earth.”#Is 54:9–10
12And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant#Gn 17:11 I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all future generations: 13I have placed my bow in the clouds,#Ezk 1:28; Rv 4:3; 10:1 and it will be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. 14Whenever I form clouds over the earth and the bow appears in the clouds, 15I will remember my covenant#Lv 26:42,45; Dt 7:9; 1Kg 8:23; Ezk 16:60 between me and you and all the living creatures: water will never again become a flood to destroy every creature. 16The bow will be in the clouds, and I will look at it and remember the permanent covenant#Gn 17:13; 2Sm 23:5; 1Ch 16:17; Is 24:5 between God and all the living creatures on earth.” 17God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and every creature on earth.”
Prophecies about Noah’s Family
18Noah’s sons who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Ham was the father of Canaan. 19These three were Noah’s sons, and from them the whole earth was populated.#Gn 9:1,7; 10:32; 1Ch 1:4
20Noah, as a man of the soil, began by planting#9:20 Or Noah began to be a farmer and planted a vineyard. 21He drank some of the wine, became drunk, and uncovered himself inside his tent. 22Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father naked and told his two brothers outside.#Lm 4:21; Hab 2:15 23Then Shem and Japheth took a cloak and placed it over both their shoulders, and walking backward, they covered their father’s nakedness. Their faces were turned away, and they did not see their father naked.
24When Noah awoke from his drinking and learned what his youngest son had done to him, 25he said:
Canaan is cursed.#Dt 27:16
He will be the lowest of slaves to his brothers.#Jos 9:23; Jdg 1:28; 1Kg 9:20–21
26He also said:
Blessed be the Lord, the God of Shem;
Let Canaan be#9:26 As a wish or prayer; others interpret the verbs in vv. 26–27 as prophecy: Canaan will be... Shem’s slave.
27Let God extend Japheth;#9:27 In Hb, the name Japheth sounds like the word “extend.”
let Japheth dwell in the tents of Shem;
let Canaan be Shem’s slave.
28Now Noah lived 350 years after the flood. 29So Noah’s life lasted 950 years; then he died.