Genesis9
New Living Translation
1Then God blessed Noah and his sons and told them, “Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth.
2All the animals of the earth, all the birds of the sky, all the small animals that scurry along the ground, and all the fish in the sea will look on you with fear and terror. I have placed them in your power.
3I have given them to you for food, just as I have given you grain and vegetables.
4But you must never eat any meat that still has the lifeblood in it.
5“And I will require the blood of anyone who takes another person’s life. If a wild animal kills a person, it must die. And anyone who murders a fellow human must die.
6If anyone takes a human life, that person’s life will also be taken by human hands. For God made human beings in his own image.
7Now be fruitful and multiply, and repopulate the earth.”
8Then God told Noah and his sons,
9“I hereby confirm my covenant with you and your descendants,
10and with all the animals that were on the boat with you—the birds, the livestock, and all the wild animals—every living creature on earth.
11Yes, I am confirming my covenant with you. Never again will floodwaters kill all living creatures; never again will a flood destroy the earth.”
12Then God said, “I am giving you a sign of my covenant with you and with all living creatures, for all generations to come.
13I have placed my rainbow in the clouds. It is the sign of my covenant with you and with all the earth.
14When I send clouds over the earth, the rainbow will appear in the clouds,
15and I will remember my covenant with you and with all living creatures. Never again will the floodwaters destroy all life.
16When I see the rainbow in the clouds, I will remember the eternal covenant between God and every living creature on earth.”
17Then God said to Noah, “Yes, this rainbow is the sign of the covenant I am confirming with all the creatures on earth.”
18The sons of Noah who came out of the boat with their father were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. (Ham is the father of Canaan.)
19From these three sons of Noah came all the people who now populate the earth.
20After the flood, Noah began to cultivate the ground, and he planted a vineyard.
21One day he drank some wine he had made, and he became drunk and lay naked inside his tent.
22Ham, the father of Canaan, saw that his father was naked and went outside and told his brothers.
23Then Shem and Japheth took a robe, held it over their shoulders, and backed into the tent to cover their father. As they did this, they looked the other way so they would not see him naked.
24When Noah woke up from his stupor, he learned what Ham, his youngest son, had done.
25Then he cursed Canaan, the son of Ham: “May Canaan be cursed! May he be the lowest of servants to his relatives.”
26Then Noah said, “May the Lord, the God of Shem, be blessed, and may Canaan be his servant!
27May God expand the territory of Japheth! May Japheth share the prosperity of Shem, and may Canaan be his servant.”
28Noah lived another 350 years after the great flood.
29He lived 950 years, and then he died.
Study Guide
Public-domain commentary and original-language notes for Genesis 9.
Chapter Summary
In this chapter: God blesses Noah, and grants flesh for food. (1–3). Blood, and murder forbidden. (4–7). God's covenant by the rainbow. (8–17). Noah plants a vineyard, is drunken and mocked by Ham. (18–23). Noah curses Canaan, blesses Shem, prays for Japheth, His death. (24–29).
vv1-3
The blessing of God is the cause of our doing well. On him we depend, to him we should be thankful. Let us not forget the advantage and pleasure we have from the labour of beasts, and which their flesh affords. Nor ought we to be less thankful for the security we enjoy from the savage and hurtful beasts, through the fear of man which God has fixed deep in them. We see the fulfilment of this promise every day, and on every side. This grant of the animals for food fully warrants the use of them, but not the abuse of them by gluttony, still less by cruelty. We ought not to pain them needlessly whilst they live, nor when we take away their lives.
vv4-7
The main reason of forbidding the eating of blood, doubtless was because the shedding of blood in sacrifices was to keep the worshippers in mind of the great atonement; yet it seems intended also to check cruelty, lest men, being used to shed and feed upon the blood of animals, should grow unfeeling to them, and be less shocked at the idea of shedding human blood. Man must not take away his own life. Our lives are God's, and we must only give them up when he pleases. If we in any way hasten our own death, we are accountable to God for it. When God requires the life of a man from him that took it away unjustly, the murderer cannot render that, and therefore must render his own instead. One time or other, in this world or in the next, God will discover murders, and punish those murders which are beyond man's power to punish. But there are those who are ministers of God to protect the innocent, by being a terror to evil-doers, and they must not bear the sword in vain, Ro 13:4. Wilful murder ought always to be punished with death. To this law there is a reason added. Such remains of God's image are still upon fallen man, that he who unjustly kills a man, defaces the image of God, and does dishonour to him.
vv8-17
As the old world was ruined, to be a monument of justice, so this world remains to this day a monument of mercy. But sin, that drowned the old world, will burn this. Articles of agreement among men are sealed, that what is promised may be the more solemn, and the doing of what is covenanted the more sure to mutual satisfaction. The seal of this covenant was the rainbow, which, it is likely, was seen in the clouds before, but was never a seal of the covenant till now it was made so. The rainbow appears when we have most reason to fear the rain prevailing; God then shows this seal of the promise, that it shall not prevail. The thicker the cloud, the brighter the bow in the cloud. Thus, as threatening afflictions abound, encouraging consolations much more abound. The rainbow is the reflection of the beams of the sun shining upon or through the drops of rain: all the glory of the seals of the covenant are derived from Christ, the Sun of righteousness. And he will shed a glory on the tears of his saints. A bow speaks terror, but this has neither string nor arrow; and a bow alone will do little hurt. It is a bow, but it is directed upward, not toward the earth; for the seals of the covenant were intended to comfort, not to terrify. As God looks upon the bow, that he may remember the covenant, so should we, that we may be mindful of the covenant with faith and thankfulness. Without revelation this gracious assurance could not be known; and without faith it can be of no use to us; and thus it is as to the still greater dangers to which all are exposed, and as to the new covenant with its blessings.
Key Words
אֱלֹהִים: gods in the ordinary sense; but specifically used (in the plural thus, especially with the article) of the supreme God; occasionally applied by way of deference to magistrates; and sometimes as a superlative
בָרַךְ: to kneel; by implication to bless God (as an act of adoration), and (vice-versa) man (as a benefit); also (by euphemism) to curse (God or the king, as treason)
נֹחַ: Noach, the patriarch of the flood
בֵּן: a son (as a builder of the family name), in the widest sense (of literal and figurative relationship, including grandson, subject, nation, quality or condition, etc., (like father or brother), etc.)
אָמַר: to say (used with great latitude)
פָּרָה: to bear fruit (literally or figuratively)
רָבָה: to increase (in whatever respect)
מָלֵא: to fill or (intransitively) be full of, in a wide application (literally and figuratively)
אֶרֶץ: the earth (at large, or partitively a land)
מוֹרָא: fear; by implication, a fearful thing or deed
Cross References
Genesis 9Re-establishment of the creation mandate to multiply and replenish the earth after the flood.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Expounds the prohibition of eating blood as representing the life and reserving it for atonement.
Supported by Matthew Poole
New Testament backing for civil government utilizing the sword to punish murderers.
Supported by Matthew Henry, JFB
The creation of man in the image of God justifies the death penalty for murder.
Supported by Matthew Henry, JFB
Prophetic confirmation of God's oath that the waters of Noah would no more overflow the earth.
Fulfilled in the Gibeonites (Canaanites) being made perpetual bondservants to Israel.
Supported by Matthew Henry, JFB
Contrasts the original vegetarian diet in Eden with the new permission to eat animal meat.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Mosaic law executing a beast that kills a human, showing life's sacred value.
Supported by Matthew Poole
The rainbow appears in Ezekiel's vision of the glory of the Lord, signifying mercy.
A rainbow surrounds God's throne in heaven, signifying the eternal covenant of grace.
Shem and Japheth's action embodies the principle that love covers a multitude of sins.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Relates to the Gentiles (Japheth's descendants) sharing in the spiritual riches of Israel.
Supported by JFB
Gentiles becoming fellow heirs, dwelling in the spiritual tents of Shem's lineage.
Supported by JFB
Poetic reflection on man's dominion over beasts restored here to Noah.
Apostolic decree in Jerusalem abstaining from blood, reflecting this enduring Noahic precept.
Reuben uses the same Hebrew idiom of 'requiring' blood for murder.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Noah's unexpected fall warns: 'let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.'
Supported by Matthew Henry
Pronounces woe on those who make others drink to look on their nakedness.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Solomon levying tribute/bondservice on the remaining Canaanite nations.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Sins against other men are heinous because they are made in God's similitude.
Parallels the language of a physical token given to seal a divine covenant.
Noah's return to husbandry parallels Cain's original tilling of the ground.
Parallels Lot's drunkenness, illustrating how wine betrays even righteous patriarchs.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Shem and Japheth exemplify the honor due to parents commanded in the Decalogue.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Of Shem's lineage, according to the flesh, Christ came, who is God blessed forever.
Supported by JFB
Contrasts Noah's 'perfect' character in a wicked world with his sudden lapse in sobriety.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Jesus warns against overcharging hearts with surfeiting and drunkenness.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Law curses anyone who dishonors or sets light by their father.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Identifies Shem as the ancestor of all the children of Eber.
Supported by JFB