1And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, #ch. 1:22, 28; 8:17“Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. 2#[Ps. 8:6-8; James 3:7]The fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth and upon every bird of the heavens, upon everything that creeps on the ground and all the fish of the sea. Into your hand they are delivered. 3#Deut. 12:15; 1 Tim. 4:3, 4 Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. And #ch. 1:29as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything. 4But you shall not eat flesh with its #Lev. 17:10, 11, 14; Deut. 12:16, 23; 1 Sam. 14:33; Acts 15:20, 29life, that is, its blood. 5And for your lifeblood I will require a reckoning: #Ex. 21:28 from every beast I will require it and #ch. 4:10, 11from man. From his fellow man I will require a reckoning for the life of man.

6 # Ex. 21:12, 14; Lev. 24:17; Num. 35:31, 33; [Matt. 26:52; Rev. 13:10] “Whoever sheds the blood of man,

by man shall his blood be shed,

# ch. 1:27; 5:1; James 3:9 for God made man in his own image.

7And you,#9:7 In Hebrew you is plural be fruitful and multiply, increase greatly on the earth and multiply in it.”

8Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him, 9“Behold, #ch. 6:18; 8:20-22I establish my covenant with you and your offspring after you, 10and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the livestock, and every beast of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark; it is for every beast of the earth. 11#Isa. 54:9, 10I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.” 12And God said, #ch. 17:11“This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: 13I have set #Ezek. 1:28; [Rev. 4:3; 10:1]my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. 14When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, 15#[Lev. 26:42, 45; 1 Kgs. 8:23; Ezek. 16:60]I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh. And the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. 16When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember #ch. 17:7, 13, 19the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” 17God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth.”

Noah’s Descendants

18The sons of Noah who went forth from the ark were #ch. 5:32; 10:1Shem, Ham, and Japheth. (Ham was the father of Canaan.) 19These three were the sons of Noah, and #ch. 10:32from these the people of the whole earth were dispersed.#9:19 Or from these the whole earth was populated

20Noah began to be a man of the soil, and he planted a vineyard.#9:20 Or Noah, a man of the soil, was the first to plant a vineyard 21He drank of the wine and became drunk and lay uncovered in his tent. 22And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father and told his two brothers outside. 23Then Shem and Japheth took a garment, laid it on both their shoulders, and walked backward and covered the nakedness of their father. Their faces were turned backward, and they did not see their father’s nakedness. 24When Noah awoke from his wine #[Hab. 2:15]and knew what his youngest son had done to him, 25he said,

# Deut. 27:16 “Cursed be Canaan;

# Josh. 9:23; Judg. 1:28; 1 Kgs. 9:20, 21 a servant of servants shall he be to his brothers.”

26He also said,

“Blessed be the Lord, the God of Shem;

and let Canaan be his servant.

27May God enlarge Japheth,#9:27 Japheth sounds like the Hebrew for enlarge

and let him dwell in the tents of Shem,

and let Canaan be his servant.”

28After the flood Noah lived 350 years. 29All the days of Noah were 950 years, and he died.

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Genesis 9

God’s Covenant with Noah and Humankind

1And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth. 2And fear of you and dread of you shall be upon every animal of the earth, and on every bird of heaven,#Or “the sky” and on everything that moves upon the ground, and on all the fish of the sea. Into your hand they shall be given. 3Every moving thing that lives shall be for you as food. As I gave the green plants to you, I have now given you everything. 4Only you shall not eat raw flesh with blood in it.#Literally “flesh with its life, its blood” 5And#Or “only”; the same word that occurs at the beginning of v. 4 your lifeblood#Literally “your blood belonging to your life” I will require; from every animal#Literally “from the hand of every animal” I will require it. And from the hand of humankind, from the hand of each man to his brother I will require the life of humankind.

6“As for the one shedding the blood of humankind,

by humankind his blood shall be shed,

for God made humankind in his own image.

7“And you, be fruitful and multiply, swarm on the earth and multiply in it.” 8And God said to Noah and to his sons with him, 9“As for me, behold, I am establishing my covenant with you and with your seed after you, 10and with every living creature that is with you—the birds, the animals, and every animal of the earth with you, from all that came out of the ark to all the animals of the earth. 11I am establishing my covenant with you, that never again will all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood, nor will there ever be a flood that destroys the earth.” 12And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant that I am making between me and you, and between every living creature that is with you for future generations. 13My bow I have set in the clouds, and it shall be for a sign of the covenant between me and between the earth. 14And when I make clouds appear over the earth the bow shall be seen in the clouds. 15Then#Or “And” I will remember my covenant that is between me and you, and between every living creature, with all flesh. And the waters of a flood will never again cause the destruction#Literally “be to destroy” of all flesh. 16The bow shall be in the clouds, and I will see it, so as to remember the everlasting covenant between God and between every living creature, with all flesh that is upon the earth.” 17And God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant which I am establishing between me and all flesh that is upon the earth.

Noah’s Descendants

18Now#Or “And” the sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. (Ham was the father of Canaan.) 19These three were the sons of Noah, and from these the whole earth was populated.#Literally “all the earth branched out” 20And Noah began to be a man of the ground, and he planted a vineyard. 21And he drank some of the wine and became drunk, and he exposed himself in the midst of his tent. 22And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and he told his two brothers outside. 23Then#Or “And” Shem and Japheth took a garment, and the two of them put it on their shoulders and, walking backward, they covered the nakedness of their father. And their faces were turned backward, so that#Or “and” they did not see the nakedness of their father. 24Then#Or “And” Noah awoke from his drunkenness,#Or “his wine” and he knew what his youngest son had done to him. 25And he said,

“Cursed be Canaan,

a slave of slaves he shall be to his brothers.”

26Then#Or “And” he said,

“Blessed be Yahweh, the God of Shem,

and let Canaan be a slave to them.

27May God make space for Japheth,

and let him dwell in the tents of Shem,

and let Canaan be a slave for him.”

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

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Genesis 9

Genesis 9