1And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. 2The fear and dread of you will fall on every living creature on the earth, every bird of the air, every creature that crawls on the ground, and all the fish of the sea. They are delivered into your hand. 3Everything that lives and moves will be food for you; just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you all things. 4But you must not eat meat with its lifeblood still in it. 5And surely I will require the life of any man or beast by whose hand your lifeblood is shed. I will demand an accounting from anyone who takes the life of his fellow man:

6Whoever sheds the blood of man,

by man his blood will be shed;

for in His own image

God has made mankind.

7But as for you,

be fruitful and multiply;

spread out across the earth

and multiply upon it.”

8Then God said to Noah and his sons with him, 9“Behold, I now establish My covenant with you and your descendants after you, 10and with every living creature that was with you—the birds, the livestock, and every beast of the earth—every living thing that came out of the ark. 11And I establish My covenant with you: Never again will all life be cut off by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.”

12And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between Me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: 13I have set My rainbow in the clouds, and it will be a sign of the covenant between Me and the earth.

14Whenever I form clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, 15I will remember My covenant between Me and you and every living creature of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. 16And whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of every kind that is on the earth.”

17So God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between Me and every creature on the earth.”

Noah’s Shame and Canaan’s Curse

18The sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. And Ham was the father of Canaan. 19These three were the sons of Noah, and from them the whole earth was populated.

20Now Noah, a man of the soil, proceeded #9:20 Or was the first to plant a vineyard. 21But when he drank some of its wine, he became drunk and uncovered himself inside his tent. 22And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father’s nakedness and told his two brothers outside.

23Then Shem and Japheth took a garment and placed it across their shoulders, and walking backward, they covered their father’s nakedness. Their faces were turned away so that they did not see their father’s nakedness.

24When Noah awoke from his drunkenness and learned what his youngest son had done to him, 25he said,

“Cursed be Canaan!

A servant of servants

shall he be to his brothers.”

Shem’s Blessing and Noah’s Death

26He also declared:

“Blessed be the Lord, the God of Shem!

May Canaan be the servant of Shem.

27May God expand the territory of Japheth;#9:27 Japheth sounds like the Hebrew for expand.

may he dwell in the tents of Shem,

and may Canaan be his servant.”

28After the flood, Noah lived 350 years. 29So Noah lived a total of 950 years, and then he died.

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Genesis 9

Chapter 9

God's covenant with Noah

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

Genesis 9