Genesis 9

God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, "Have many children. Grow in number, and fill the earth."

1And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.

Note"Replenish" in 1611 English simply meant "fill"; it did not carry the modern sense of filling again. The command repeats word for word the blessing given at the creation of the first humans.

2Every animal on the earth, every bird in the sky, everything that moves on the ground, and all the fish in the sea will fear you and be afraid of you. They are handed over to you.

2And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moveth upon the earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea; into your hand are they delivered.

3Every living thing that moves will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything.

3Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things.

Note"Meat" in the King James Version means food of any kind, not flesh specifically. The sentence is saying that animals are now added to the plants already given as food.

4But you must not eat meat that still has its life in it, which is its blood.

4But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat.

NoteBlood was understood as the seat of a creature's life, so the life had to be returned rather than consumed. In practice this meant draining the blood from a slaughtered animal before eating it, a rule kept in Israelite law ever after, and the origin of kosher slaughter.

5And I will surely demand an accounting for your lifeblood. I will demand it from every animal, and I will demand it from human beings. From each person who takes the life of his fellow man I will demand an accounting for that life.

5And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man’s brother will I require the life of man.

Note"Require" here has its older legal sense: to demand back, to call someone to account for something owed. "Every man's brother" means every fellow human being, not a literal sibling.

6Whoever sheds a person's blood, by a person his own blood will be shed, for God made human beings in his own image.

6Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man.

NoteThe Hebrew wording can be read either as a prediction of what will happen (bloodshed brings bloodshed) or as an authorisation for human beings to execute a killer. Translators have long divided on which is meant, and the line is deliberately left open here. The phrase itself is a tight word-pattern in Hebrew (shofekh dam ha-adam, ba-adam damo yishafekh) with the words mirrored around the center.

7As for you, have many children and grow in number. Spread out over the earth in great numbers, and multiply on it.

7And you, be ye fruitful, and multiply; bring forth abundantly in the earth, and multiply therein.

8Then God spoke to Noah and to his sons who were with him. He said:

8And God spake unto Noah, and to his sons with him, saying,

9"Look, I am now making my covenant with you and with your descendants who come after you,

9And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you;

NoteA covenant is a formal, binding commitment, closer to a treaty or a sworn contract than to a promise casually given. Ancient covenants normally had two parties with obligations; this one places obligations on God alone. "Seed" in the King James Version means offspring or descendants.

10and with every living creature that is with you: the birds, the livestock, and every wild animal that is with you, everything that came out of the ark, every animal on the earth.

10And with every living creature that is with you, of the fowl, of the cattle, and of every beast of the earth with you; from all that go out of the ark, to every beast of the earth.

11I will make my covenant with you: never again will all living things be wiped out by the waters of a flood, and never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth."

11And I will establish my covenant with you; neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth.

Note"All flesh" is a standard Hebrew idiom for every living creature, humans and animals together, not for bodies as opposed to souls.

12And God said, "This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all generations to come:

12And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations:

Note"Token" in the King James Version means a sign or visible mark, not a keepsake or a coin. "Perpetual generations" means all generations to come, without end.

13I set my rainbow in the cloud, and it will be the sign of a covenant between me and the earth.

13I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth.

NoteThe Hebrew word translated "bow" is the ordinary word for the weapon, a war bow. It is not a separate word for rainbow; the image is of a bow hung up in the clouds. "I do set" translates a verb form that can mean either "I hereby place" or "I have placed," so it is unclear whether the rainbow is being newly created or newly given a meaning.

14And it will happen that when I bring a cloud over the earth, the rainbow will be seen in the cloud.

14And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud:

15Then I will remember my covenant, the covenant between me and you and every living creature of every kind, and the waters will never again become a flood to destroy all living things.

15And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh.

16The rainbow will be in the cloud, and I will look at it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of every kind on the earth."

16And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth.

17And God said to Noah, "This is the sign of the covenant I have made firm between me and all living things on the earth."

17And God said unto Noah, This is the token of the covenant, which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth.

18The sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Ham is the father of Canaan.

18And the sons of Noah, that went forth of the ark, were Shem, and Ham, and Japheth: and Ham is the father of Canaan.

NoteCanaan is singled out because his descendants, the Canaanites, were the people occupying the land that Israel later entered. Naming him here prepares for the curse in verse 25.

19These are the three sons of Noah, and from them the people of the whole earth were spread out.

19These are the three sons of Noah: and of them was the whole earth overspread.

20Noah began to be a farmer, and he planted a vineyard.

20And Noah began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard:

Note"Husbandman" is the older English word for a farmer or tiller of the soil. The Hebrew can mean either that Noah became a farmer and planted a vineyard, or that he was the first person ever to plant one.

21He drank some of the wine and became drunk, and he lay uncovered inside his tent.

21And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent.

22Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father naked, and he told his two brothers outside.

22And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without.

NoteElsewhere in Hebrew law "to see the nakedness of" someone is an idiom for a sexual act, so readers have long disputed whether Ham merely looked or did something worse. Verse 23 describes his brothers avoiding the literal sight, which points to looking; the text does not settle the question. In this culture, seeing a father exposed and then reporting it to others was a serious dishonoring of him.

23Shem and Japheth took a garment and laid it across both their shoulders. They walked backward and covered their father's naked body. Their faces were turned the other way, and they did not see their father naked.

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

NoteCarrying the garment stretched between them on their shoulders and reversing into the tent let them cover their father without any chance of glancing at him.

24Noah woke up from his wine and learned what his younger son had done to him.

24And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him.

Note"Awoke from his wine" means slept off the drunkenness. Ham is listed second of the three brothers throughout, so "younger son", literally "smallest son" in Hebrew, is puzzling; it may mean youngest, or simply the junior one, or the phrase may point to Canaan.

25He said, "Cursed be Canaan. He will be the lowest of servants to his brothers."

25And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren.

NoteThe curse falls on Ham's son Canaan rather than on Ham himself, and the text gives no explanation for the shift. "Servant of servants" is a Hebrew way of forming a superlative, the lowest of slaves. The word rendered "servant" means a slave, not a hired worker.

26He also said, "Blessed be the LORD, the God of Shem, and Canaan will be his servant.

26And he said, Blessed be the LORD God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.

Note"LORD" printed in capitals stands for the personal name of God in the Hebrew, four consonants usually written YHWH, which Jewish readers did not pronounce aloud. Blessing God rather than Shem is unusual phrasing; "his servant" could mean Shem's servant or the LORD's, and the Hebrew leaves it open.

27May God make Japheth spread out wide, and let him live in the tents of Shem, and let Canaan be his servant."

27God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.

NoteA play on the name: Japheth sounds like the Hebrew verb yaft, "make wide" or "give room to." The subject of "shall dwell in the tents of Shem" is grammatically unclear: it may be Japheth living among Shem's descendants, or God dwelling there.

28After the flood, Noah lived 350 years.

28And Noah lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years.

29Noah lived 950 years in all, and then he died.

29And all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years: and he died.

NoteRecording the full lifespan and then "and he died" is the fixed closing formula used for each figure in the early genealogies of Genesis.