Shared Word Translation
Genesis 9
God’s Covenant with Noah
Then God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. The fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every animal of the earth and upon every bird of the heavens, upon everything that creeps on the ground and upon all the fish of the sea. Into your hand they are given. Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. As I gave you the green plants, I give you everything. But flesh with its life, that is, its blood, you shall not eat. And for your lifeblood I will surely require an accounting. From every animal I will require it, and from humankind. From each one’s fellow human being I will require an accounting for human life.
Whoever sheds human blood,
by a human shall that one’s blood be shed,
for in the image of God
he made humankind.
And you, be fruitful and multiply; abound upon the earth and multiply in it.”
Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him, “As for me, behold, I establish my covenant with you and with your offspring after you, and with every living creature that is with you—the birds, the livestock, and every animal of the earth with you, all that came out of the ark, every animal of the earth. I establish my covenant with you: never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.”
The Sign of the Covenant
And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all generations: I have set my bow in the clouds, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, 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. When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth.” God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth.”
Noah and His Sons
The sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Ham was the father of Canaan. These three were the sons of Noah, and from these the whole earth was populated.
Noah began to be a man of the soil, and he planted a vineyard.
He drank from the wine and became drunk, and he uncovered himself inside his tent.
Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father and told his two brothers outside.
Then Shem and Japheth took a garment, laid it upon both their shoulders, and walked backward and covered the nakedness of their father. Their faces were turned away, and they did not see their father’s nakedness.
When Noah awoke from his wine and knew what his youngest son had done to him,
he said,
“Cursed be Canaan;
a servant of servants
shall he be to his brothers.”
And he said,
“Blessed be the LORD, the God of Shem;
and let Canaan be his servant.
May God enlarge Japheth,
and let him dwell in the tents of Shem;
and let Canaan be his servant.”
Noah lived after the flood three hundred fifty years. Thus all the days of Noah were nine hundred fifty years, and he died.