1God blessed Noah and his sons. He said to them, ‘Give birth to many children so that you become very many people. Your descendants will live all over the earth. 2All the animals and all the birds will be afraid of you. You have authority over them. You also have authority over all the living things that move across the ground and all the fish in the sea. 3You may now eat anything that lives and moves. Before, I gave you the green plants to eat. Now I give you everything to eat as your food.

4But you must not eat meat that still has the blood of life in it.

5If any person or animal kills a human, I will certainly punish them. Their punishment will be death.

6God made people so that they were like himself. #9:6 See Genesis 1:26.

So if anyone kills a human,

another human must kill him.

7But as for you, you should give birth to many children so that you become very many people. There will be many people and they will live all over the earth.’

8God said to Noah and to his sons, 9‘I promise you that I will obey the covenant that I am making with you. #9:9 A covenant is a special agreement that God makes with people. He promises that he will help them in a certain way. I promise this to you and to all your descendants. 10I also promise this to all the animals and birds that came out of the ship with you. That is everything that lives on the earth. 11This is the covenant that I promise to keep: I will never cause water to destroy all living things on the earth again. Deep water will never again come again to destroy the earth.’

12Then God said, ‘I will show you clearly that I have made this covenant with you, and with every living animal. I will keep this promise for ever, for as long as people live on the earth. 13I have put my rainbow among the clouds in the sky. It will show you clearly that I have made this covenant with everything on the earth. 14When I bring clouds over the earth, a rainbow will sometimes appear. 15Then I will remember the covenant that I have made with you and with all the different kinds of living things. Never again will the water become so deep that it destroys everything that lives. 16When I see the rainbow in the clouds, I will remember my covenant. It is a promise that I have made with every kind of living thing on the earth.’

17Then God said to Noah, ‘The rainbow will show you that I will certainly keep my promise. I will keep my covenant that is between me and everything that lives on the earth.’

Noah's sons

18The names of Noah's sons were Shem, Ham and Japheth. They all came out of the ship with Noah. Ham later became the father of a son called Canaan. 19All the people who live on the earth are descendants of Noah's three sons.

20Noah was a farmer. He was the first person to plant vines.

21He used the grapes to make wine. One day, he drank some of the wine and he became drunk. He lay inside his tent and he slept. He was not wearing any clothes. 22Canaan's father, Ham, saw that Noah was not wearing any clothes. He went out of the tent. He told his two brothers what he had seen. 23Then Shem and Japheth took Noah's coat and they put it between their shoulders. They walked into Noah's tent with their backs to Noah. In this way they covered their father with the coat. They looked away from their father so that they did not see him. They did this because Noah was not wearing any clothes. #9:23 Vines grow a small round fruit called grapes. People use grapes to make wine. Wine is a drink containing alcohol.

24Later, when he was no longer drunk with the wine, Noah woke up. He found out what his youngest son, Ham, had done. 25He said, ‘I curse Canaan! He will become a slave that must serve his brothers.’

26Noah also said, ‘I praise the Lord, the God of Shem! Let Canaan become Shem's slave! 27I pray that God will make the land of Japheth and his descendants grow bigger. I pray that the descendants of Japheth will share good things with Shem. I pray that Canaan will become Japheth's slave.’ #9:27 Noah wanted God to bless Shem and Japheth, because they did the right thing. Noah asked for a curse on the descendants of Ham because he caused Noah to be ashamed.

28Noah lived for 350 years after God covered the earth with deep water. 29In his whole life, Noah lived for 950 years. Then he died.

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Genesis 9

1 And God blessed Noah and his sons. And he said to them: "Increase, and multiply, and fill the earth.

2 And let the fear and trembling of you be upon all the animals of the earth, and upon all the birds of the air, along with all that moves across the earth. All the fish of the sea have been delivered into your hand.

3 And everything that moves and lives will be food for you. Just as with the edible plants, I have delivered them all to you,

4 except that flesh with blood you shall not eat.

5 For I will examine the blood of your lives at the hand of every beast. So also, at the hand of mankind, at the hand of each man and his brother, I will examine the life of mankind.

6 Whoever will shed human blood, his blood will be poured out. For man was indeed made to the image of God.

7 But as for you: increase and multiply, and go forth upon the earth and fulfill it."

8 To Noah and to his sons with him, God also said this:

9 "Behold, I will establish my covenant with you, and with your offspring after you,

10 and with every living soul that is with you: as much with the birds as with the cattle and all the animals of the earth that have gone forth from the ark, and with all the wild beasts of the earth.

11 I will establish my covenant with you, and no longer will all that is flesh be put to death by the waters of a great flood, and, henceforth, there will not be a great flood to utterly destroy the earth."

12 And God said: "This is the sign of the pact that I grant between me and you, and to every living soul that is with you, for perpetual generations.

13 I will place my arc in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the pact between myself and the earth.

14 And when I obscure the sky with clouds, my arc will appear in the clouds.

15 And I will remember my covenant with you, and with every living soul that enlivens flesh. And there will no longer be waters from a great flood to wipe away all that is flesh.

16 And the arc will be in the clouds, and I will see it, and I will remember the everlasting covenant that was enacted between God and every living soul of all that is flesh upon the earth."

17 And God said to Noah, "This will be the sign of the covenant that I have established between myself and all that is flesh upon the earth."

18 And so the sons of Noah, who came out of the ark, were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Now Ham himself is the father of Canaan.

19 These three are the sons of Noah. And from these all the family of mankind was spread over the whole earth.

20 And Noah, a good farmer, began to cultivate the land, and he planted a vineyard.

21 And by drinking its wine, he became inebriated and was naked in his tent.

22 Because of this, when Ham, the father of Canaan, had indeed seen the privates of his father to be naked, he reported it to his two brothers outside.

23 And truly, Shem and Japheth put a cloak upon their arms, and, advancing backwards, covered the privates of their father. And their faces were turned away, so that they did not see their father's manhood.

24 Then Noah, awaking from the wine, when he had learned what his younger son had done to him,

25 he said, "Cursed be Canaan, a servant of servants will he be to his brothers."

26 And he said: "Blessed be the Lord God of Shem, let Canaan be his servant.

27 May God enlarge Japheth, and may he live in the tents of Shem, and let Canaan be his servant."

28 And after the great flood, Noah lived for three hundred and fifty years.

29 And all his days were completed in nine hundred and fifty years, and then he died.

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Genesis 9

Genesis 9