The New Beginning

9 Then God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “·Have many children; grow in number [^TBe fruitful and multiply] and fill the earth [1:22, 29]. ² Every ·animal [living thing] on earth, every bird in the ·sky [heavens], every animal that crawls on the ground, and every fish in the sea will ·respect [fear] and ·fear [dread; be terrified of] you. I have given them ·to you [^Linto your hand].

³ “Everything that moves, everything that is alive, is yours for food. Earlier I gave you the green plants [1:29–30], but now I give you everything for food. ⁴ But you must not eat ·meat [flesh] that still has blood in it, because blood ·gives [^Lis] life [Lev. 3:17; 7:26–27; 17:10–14]. ⁵ I will ·demand [require; ^Lseek] blood for life. I will ·demand [require; ^Lseek] the life of any animal that kills a person, and I will ·demand [require; ^Lseek] the life of anyone who takes another person’s life.

⁷ “As for you, Noah, ·I want you and your family to have many children, to grow in number on the earth, and to become many [^Lbe fruitful and multiply, swarm/teem over the earth and multiply on it; 9:1].”

⁸ Then God said to Noah and his sons, ⁹ “·Now [or Look] I am making my ·agreement [covenant; treaty; 6:18] with you and your ·people [seed] ·who will live after you [^Lafter you], ¹⁰ and with every living thing that is with you—the birds, the ·tame [livestock; cattle] and the wild animals, and with everything that came out of the ·boat [ark] with you—with every living thing on earth. ¹¹ I ·make [establish] this ·agreement [covenant; treaty; 6:18] with you: ·I will never again destroy all living things by a flood [^La flood will never again cut off all flesh]. A flood will never again destroy the earth.”

¹² And God said, “This is the sign [^Ca symbol that represents this relationship between God and Noah; 17:11; Ex. 31:13, 17] of the ·agreement [covenant; treaty; 6:18] between me and you and every living creature that is with you for all future generations. ¹³ I am putting my ·rainbow [bow; ^Cmay represent God hanging up his weapon after warring against humanity] in the clouds as the sign of the ·agreement [covenant; treaty; 6:18] between me and the earth. ¹⁴ When I bring clouds over the earth and a ·rainbow [bow] appears in them, ¹⁵ I will remember my ·agreement [covenant; treaty; 6:18] between me and you and every living thing [^Lof all flesh]. [^LThe waters of the] Floods will never again destroy all ·life on the earth [^Lflesh]. ¹⁶ When the ·rainbow [bow] appears in the clouds, I will see it and I will remember the ·agreement that continues forever [^Leternal covenant] between me and every living thing [^Lof all flesh] on the earth.”

¹⁷ So God said to Noah, “·The rainbow [^LThis] is a ·sign [9:12] of the ·agreement [covenant; treaty; 6:18] that I made with all living things on earth.”

Noah and His Sons

¹⁸ The sons of Noah who came out of the ·boat [ark] with him were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. (Ham was the father of Canaan.) ¹⁹ These three men were Noah’s sons, and all the people on earth ·came [spread out; ^Csee the genealogy in ch. 10] from these three sons.

²⁰ Noah ·became a farmer [^Lwas the first man of the ground/soil] and planted a vineyard. ²¹ When he drank ·wine made from his grapes [^Lthe wine], he became drunk and lay ·naked [uncovered] in his tent. ²² Ham, the father of Canaan, looked at his naked father and told his [^Ltwo] brothers outside [^Can act of disrespect; he should have helped his father, as in the next verse]. ²³ Then Shem and Japheth got a coat and, carrying it on both their shoulders, they walked backwards into the tent and covered [^Lthe nakedness of] their father. They turned their faces away so that they did not see their father’s nakedness [^Cthey acted appropriately according to ancient custom].

²⁴ Noah ·was sleeping because of the wine. When he woke up [woke up from his wine] and ·learned [^Lhe knew] what his youngest son, Ham, had done to him, ²⁵ he said,

²⁶ Noah also said,

²⁸ After the flood Noah lived 350 years. ²⁹ ·He lived a total of [^LAll the days of Noah were] 950 years, and then he died.