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And God pronounced a blessing upon Noah and his sons and said to them, Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.

And the fear of you and the dread and terror of you shall be upon every beast of the land, every bird of the air, all that creeps upon the ground, and upon all the fish of the sea; they are delivered into your hand.

Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you; and as I gave you the green vegetables and plants, I give you everything.

But you shall not eat flesh with the life of it, which is its blood.

And surely for your lifeblood I will require an accounting; from every beast I will require it; and from man, from every man [who spills another’s lifeblood] I will require a reckoning.

Whoever sheds man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God He made man.

And you, be fruitful and multiply; bring forth abundantly on the earth and multiply on it.

Then God spoke to Noah and to his sons with him, saying,

Behold, I establish My covenant or pledge with you and with your descendants after you

10 And with every living creature that is with you—whether the birds, the livestock, or the wild beasts of the earth along with you, as many as came out of the ark—every animal of the earth.

11 I will establish My covenant or pledge with you: Never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood; neither shall there ever again be a flood to destroy the earth and make it corrupt.

12 And God said, This is the token of the covenant (solemn pledge) which I am making between Me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations:

13 I set My bow [rainbow] in the cloud, and it shall be a token or sign of a covenant or solemn pledge between Me and the earth.

14 And it shall be that when I bring clouds over the earth and the bow [rainbow] is seen in the clouds,

15 I will [earnestly] remember My covenant or solemn pledge which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters will no more become a flood to destroy and make all flesh corrupt.

16 When the bow [rainbow] is in the clouds and I look upon it, I will [earnestly] remember the everlasting covenant or pledge between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth.

17 And God said to Noah, This [rainbow] is the token or sign of the covenant or solemn pledge which I have established between Me and all flesh upon the earth.

18 The sons of Noah who went forth from the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Ham was the father of Canaan [born later].

19 These are the three sons of Noah, and from them the whole earth was overspread and stocked with inhabitants.

20 And Noah began to cultivate the ground, and he planted a vineyard.

21 And he drank of the wine and became drunk, and he was uncovered and lay naked in his tent.

22 And Ham, the father of Canaan, glanced at and saw the nakedness of his father and told his two brothers outside.

23 So Shem and Japheth took a garment, laid it upon the shoulders of both, and went backward and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were backward, and they did not see their father’s nakedness.

24 When Noah awoke from his wine, and knew the thing which his youngest son had done to him,

25 He exclaimed, Cursed be Canaan! He shall be the [a]servant of servants to his brethren!(A)

26 He also said, Blessed be the Lord, the God of Shem! And blessed by the Lord my God be Shem! And let Canaan be his servant.

27 May God enlarge Japheth; and let him dwell in the tents of Shem, and let Canaan be his servant.

28 And Noah lived after the flood 350 years.

29 All the days of Noah were 950 years, and he died.

Footnotes

  1. Genesis 9:25 The language of Noah here is an actual prophecy and not merely an expression of personal feeling. That Noah placed a curse on his youngest grandchild, Canaan, who would naturally be his favorite, can only be explained on the ground that in the prophetic spirit he saw into the future of the Canaanites. God Himself found the delinquency of the Canaanites insufferable and ultimately drove them out or subdued them and put the descendants of Shem in their place. But Noah’s foresight did not yet include the extermination of the Canaanite peoples, for then he would have expressed it differently. He would not merely have called them “the servant of servants” if he had foreseen their destruction. The form of the expression, therefore, testifies to the great age of the prophecy (J.P. Lange, A Commentary).

God’s Covenant With Noah

Then God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth.(A) The fear and dread of you will fall on all the beasts of the earth, and on all the birds in the sky, on every creature that moves along the ground, and on all the fish in the sea; they are given into your hands.(B) Everything that lives and moves about will be food for you.(C) Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything.(D)

“But you must not eat meat that has its lifeblood still in it.(E) And for your lifeblood I will surely demand an accounting.(F) I will demand an accounting from every animal.(G) And from each human being, too, I will demand an accounting for the life of another human being.(H)

“Whoever sheds human blood,
    by humans shall their blood be shed;(I)
for in the image of God(J)
    has God made mankind.

As for you, be fruitful and increase in number; multiply on the earth and increase upon it.”(K)

Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him: “I now establish my covenant with you(L) and with your descendants after you 10 and with every living creature that was with you—the birds, the livestock and all the wild animals, all those that came out of the ark with you—every living creature on earth. 11 I establish my covenant(M) with you:(N) Never again will all life be destroyed by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.(O)

12 And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant(P) I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come:(Q) 13 I have set my rainbow(R) in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. 14 Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow(S) appears in the clouds, 15 I will remember my covenant(T) between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life.(U) 16 Whenever the rainbow(V) appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant(W) between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.”

17 So God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant(X) I have established between me and all life on the earth.”

The Sons of Noah

18 The sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham and Japheth.(Y) (Ham was the father of Canaan.)(Z) 19 These were the three sons of Noah,(AA) and from them came the people who were scattered over the whole earth.(AB)

20 Noah, a man of the soil, proceeded[a] to plant a vineyard. 21 When he drank some of its wine,(AC) he became drunk and lay uncovered inside his tent. 22 Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father naked(AD) and told his two brothers outside. 23 But Shem and Japheth took a garment and laid it across their shoulders; then they walked in backward and covered their father’s naked body. Their faces were turned the other way so that they would not see their father naked.

24 When Noah awoke from his wine and found out what his youngest son had done to him, 25 he said,

“Cursed(AE) be Canaan!(AF)
    The lowest of slaves
    will he be to his brothers.(AG)

26 He also said,

“Praise be to the Lord, the God of Shem!(AH)
    May Canaan be the slave(AI) of Shem.
27 May God extend Japheth’s[b] territory;(AJ)
    may Japheth live in the tents of Shem,(AK)
    and may Canaan be the slave of Japheth.”

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

Footnotes

  1. Genesis 9:20 Or soil, was the first
  2. Genesis 9:27 Japheth sounds like the Hebrew for extend.