Fluent Translation · Read & Reflect
Genesis 9
Life after the Flood
God blessed Noah and his sons: “Be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth. Every wild animal, every bird in the sky, everything that moves on the ground, and all the fish in the sea will fear and dread you. They are given into your hands. Every moving creature that lives will be food for you. Just as I gave you green plants, I now give you everything.
But you must not eat flesh with its life—its blood—still in it. For your lifeblood I will demand an accounting. I will demand it from every animal and from every human; from each person's fellow human I will demand an accounting for human life.
Whoever sheds human blood,
by a human shall that person's blood be shed,
for God made humanity
in God's image.
As for you, be fruitful and multiply. Teem across the earth and multiply on it.”
God’s Covenant with All Flesh
God spoke to Noah and his sons who were with him: “I am establishing my covenant with you and with your descendants after you, and with every living creature with you: birds, livestock, and every wild animal, all that came out of the ark—every living animal on earth. I establish my covenant with you: never again will all flesh be cut off by floodwaters. Never again will a flood destroy the earth.”
The Sign of the Covenant
God said, “This is the sign of the covenant I am giving between me and you and every living creature with you, for all generations to come: I have set my bow in the clouds. It will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth.
When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow appears in them, I will remember my covenant with you and every living creature of all flesh. The waters will never again become a flood that destroys all flesh.
When the bow is in the clouds, I will look at it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh on the earth.”
God told Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant I have established between me and all flesh on the earth.”
Noah and His Sons
Noah's sons who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Ham was Canaan's father. These were Noah's three sons, and from them people spread across the whole earth.
Noah began to work the ground and planted a vineyard. He drank some of its wine, became drunk, and lay uncovered inside his tent.
Ham, Canaan's father, saw his father's nakedness and told his two brothers outside. Shem and Japheth took a garment, laid it across their shoulders, and walked backward to cover their father's nakedness. Their faces were turned away, so they did not see him naked.
When Noah awoke from his wine, he learned what his younger son had done to him.
He said,
“Cursed be Canaan!
He will be the lowest of slaves
to his brothers.”
He also said,
“Blessed be the LORD, the God of Shem!
Let Canaan be their slave.
May God give Japheth room to spread,
and may he live in Shem's tents.
Let Canaan be their slave.”
Noah lived another 350 years after the flood. Noah lived 950 years in all. Then he died.