1 And God gave his blessing to Noah and his sons, and said, Be fertile, and have increase, and make the earth full. 2 And the fear of you will be strong in every beast of the earth and every bird of the air; everything which goes on the land, and all the fishes of the sea, are given into your hands. 3 Every living and moving thing will be food for you; I give them all to you as before I gave you all green things. 4 But flesh with the life-blood in it you may not take for food. 5 And for your blood, which is your life, will I take payment; from every beast I will take it, and from every man will I take payment for the blood of his brother-man. 6 Whoever takes a man's life, by man will his life be taken; because God made man in his image. 7 And now, be fertile and have increase; have offspring on the earth and become great in number. 8 And God said to Noah and to his sons, 9 Truly, I will make my agreement with you and with your seed after you, 10 And with every living thing with you, all birds and cattle and every beast of the earth which comes out of the ark with you. 11 And I will make my agreement with you; never again will all flesh be cut off by the waters; never again will the waters come over all the earth for its destruction. 12 And God said, This is the sign of the agreement which I make between me and you and every living thing with you, for all future generations: 13 I will put my bow in the cloud and it will be for a sign of the agreement between me and the earth. 14 And whenever I make a cloud come over the earth, the bow will be seen in the cloud, 15 And I will keep in mind the agreement between me and you and every living thing; and never again will there be a great flow of waters causing destruction to all flesh. 16 And the bow will be in the cloud, and looking on it, I will keep in mind the eternal agreement between God and every living thing on the earth. 17 And God said to Noah, This is the sign of the agreement which I have made between me and all flesh on the earth. 18 And the sons of Noah who went out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth; and Ham is the father of Canaan. 19 These three were the sons of Noah and from them all the earth was peopled. 20 In those days Noah became a farmer, and he made a vine-garden. 21 And he took of the wine of it and was overcome by drink; and he was uncovered in his tent. 22 And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father unclothed, and gave news of it to his two brothers outside. 23 And Shem and Japheth took a robe, and putting it on their backs went in with their faces turned away, and put it over their father so that they might not see him unclothed. 24 And, awaking from his wine, Noah saw what his youngest son had done to him, and he said, 25 Cursed be Canaan; let him be a servant of servants to his brothers. 26 And he said, Praise to the Lord, the God of Shem; let Canaan be his servant. 27 May God make Japheth great, and let his living-place be in the tents of Shem, and let Canaan be his servant. 28 And Noah went on living three hundred and fifty years after the great flow of waters; 29 all the years of his life were nine hundred and fifty: and he came to his end.
Genesis · Bible in Basic English
Genesis 9 Bible in Basic English
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
People & places in this chapter
From this site's family tree and Bible maps, only where those guides cite this chapter.
People
Ham
A son of Noah whose descendants filled the Table of Nations.
Cited in the guide: Genesis 9:18–25; 10:6–20
Japheth
A son of Noah, ancestor of the northern and coastland nations.
Cited in the guide: Genesis 9:18–27; 10:2–5
Noah
A righteous man who found favor with God and rode out the flood in an ark.
Cited in the guide: Genesis 5:28–9:29
Shem
Noah's blessed son, ancestor of the Semitic peoples and of Abraham.
Cited in the guide: Genesis 9:18–10:31; 11:10–26
Cross references (24)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 Genesis 1:28; Genesis 9:7; Genesis 1:22; Genesis 8:17; Isaiah 51:2
- 2 Psalm 8:4–8; Hosea 2:18; James 3:7; Genesis 1:28; Leviticus 26:6
- 3 Romans 14:14; 1 Timothy 4:3–5; Colossians 2:21–22; Deuteronomy 12:15; 1 Corinthians 10:31
- 4 Deuteronomy 12:23; Deuteronomy 12:16; Deuteronomy 15:23; Acts 15:20; Leviticus 7:26
- 5 Exodus 21:28–29; Exodus 21:12; Genesis 4:9–10; Psalm 9:12; Numbers 35:31–33
- 6 Leviticus 24:17; Matthew 26:52; Revelation 13:10; Exodus 21:12–14; Numbers 35:33
- 7 Genesis 9:1; Genesis 1:28; Genesis 9:19; Genesis 8:17
- 9 Genesis 6:18; Isaiah 54:9–10; Romans 1:3; Genesis 9:11; Genesis 17:7–8
- 10 Psalm 145:9; Job 38:1–41; Job 41:1–34; Genesis 9:15–16; Psalm 36:5–6
- 11 Isaiah 54:9; Genesis 8:21–22; 2 Peter 3:7; Genesis 7:21–23; 2 Peter 3:11
- 12 Genesis 17:11; Matthew 26:26–28; Exodus 12:13; Exodus 13:16; Genesis 9:17
- 13 Ezekiel 1:28; Revelation 10:1; Revelation 4:3
- 15 Deuteronomy 7:9; Isaiah 54:8–10; Ezekiel 16:60; Exodus 28:12; Psalm 106:45
- 16 Jeremiah 32:40; Isaiah 54:8–10; Genesis 17:19; 2 Samuel 23:5; Genesis 17:13
- 18 Genesis 10:1; Genesis 10:6; Genesis 9:25–27; Genesis 9:23; 1 Chronicles 1:4
- 19 Genesis 10:2–32; 1 Chronicles 1:4–28; Genesis 8:17; Genesis 5:32
- 20 Proverbs 12:11; Isaiah 28:24–26; Deuteronomy 28:30; Deuteronomy 20:6; Genesis 3:23
- 21 Habakkuk 2:15–16; Proverbs 20:1; Proverbs 23:31–32; Galatians 5:21; Titus 2:2
- 22 Proverbs 30:17; Galatians 6:1; Matthew 18:15; 1 Corinthians 13:6; Psalm 40:15
- 23 Galatians 6:1; Exodus 20:12; 1 Peter 2:17; 1 Peter 4:8; Romans 13:7
- 25 Deuteronomy 27:16; Joshua 9:23; Judges 1:28–30; 1 Kings 9:20–21; Joshua 9:27
- 26 Psalm 144:15; Hebrews 11:16; Genesis 12:1–3; Genesis 27:37; Luke 3:23–36
- 27 Romans 15:12; Romans 11:12; Ephesians 3:6; Hebrews 11:9–10; Ephesians 2:13–14
- 29 Genesis 5:27; Psalm 90:10; Genesis 5:32; Genesis 5:20; Genesis 5:5
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
… when he had slain his brother, "The voice of thy brother's blood crieth to Me." And as their blood will be inquired after, He said to those with Noah, "For your blood of your souls will I require, [even] from the hand of all beasts;" and again, "Whosoever will shed man's blood, it shall be shed for his blood." In …
… was younger than the first and older than the last born--had sinned against him, he cursed him not in his own person, but in his son's (his own grandson's), in the words, "Cursed be the lad Canaan; a servant shall he be unto his brethren." Now Canaan was born of Ham, who, so far from covering his sleeping father's nakedness, …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 2 (1887)
Which sort of thing was done with respect to man upon his creation, "For the dread of you," it is said, "and the fear of you shall be on the wild beasts," and it came not to pass, for he proved himself unworthy of the sovereignty, even as did Judas also.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 10 (1888)
… reason Jacob by his father's blessing became lord of Esau, in order that the foolish son, who had not intelligence, his proper guardian, might, even though he wished it not, be benefited by his prudent brother. So Canaan shall be "a servant unto his brethren" because, since his father Ham was unwise, he was uninstructed in virtue.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 8 (1895)
… and our Lord's sufferings typically set forth, in the case of Noah, when he drank wine, and was drunken, and was uncovered within his tent, and his nakedness was exposed by his second son, and was carefully hidden by his elder and his younger sons. It is not necessary to mention the other circumstances in detail, as it is only …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 2 (1887)