1 And God blessed Noah and his sons. And he said to them: “Increase, and multiply, and fill the earth. 2 And let the fear and trembling of you be upon all the animals of the earth, and upon all the birds of the air, along with all that moves across the earth. All the fish of the sea have been delivered into your hand. 3 And everything that moves and lives will be food for you. Just as with the edible plants, I have delivered them all to you, 4 except that flesh with blood you shall not eat. 5 For I will examine the blood of your lives at the hand of every beast. So also, at the hand of mankind, at the hand of each man and his brother, I will examine the life of mankind. 6 Whoever will shed human blood, his blood will be poured out. For man was indeed made to the image of God. 7 But as for you: increase and multiply, and go forth upon the earth and fulfill it.” 8 To Noah and to his sons with him, God also said this: 9 “Behold, I will establish my covenant with you, and with your offspring after you, 10 and with every living soul that is with you: as much with the birds as with the cattle and all the animals of the earth that have gone forth from the ark, and with all the wild beasts of the earth. 11 I will establish my covenant with you, and no longer will all that is flesh be put to death by the waters of a great flood, and, henceforth, there will not be a great flood to utterly destroy the earth.” 12 And God said: “This is the sign of the pact that I grant between me and you, and to every living soul that is with you, for perpetual generations. 13 I will place my arc in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the pact between myself and the earth. 14 And when I obscure the sky with clouds, my arc will appear in the clouds. 15 And I will remember my covenant with you, and with every living soul that enlivens flesh. And there will no longer be waters from a great flood to wipe away all that is flesh. 16 And the arc will be in the clouds, and I will see it, and I will remember the everlasting covenant that was enacted between God and every living soul of all that is flesh upon the earth.” 17 And God said to Noah, “This will be the sign of the covenant that I have established between myself and all that is flesh upon the earth.” 18 And so the sons of Noah, who came out of the ark, were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Now Ham himself is the father of Canaan. 19 These three are the sons of Noah. And from these all the family of mankind was spread over the whole earth. 20 And Noah, a good farmer, began to cultivate the land, and he planted a vineyard. 21 And by drinking its wine, he became inebriated and was naked in his tent. 22 Because of this, when Ham, the father of Canaan, had indeed seen the privates of his father to be naked, he reported it to his two brothers outside. 23 And truly, Shem and Japheth put a cloak upon their arms, and, advancing backwards, covered the privates of their father. And their faces were turned away, so that they did not see their father’s manhood. 24 Then Noah, awaking from the wine, when he had learned what his younger son had done to him, 25 he said, “Cursed be Canaan, a servant of servants will he be to his brothers.” 26 And he said: “Blessed be the Lord God of Shem, let Canaan be his servant. 27 May God enlarge Japheth, and may he live in the tents of Shem, and let Canaan be his servant.” 28 And after the great flood, Noah lived for three hundred and fifty years. 29 And all his days were completed in nine hundred and fifty years, and then he died.
Genesis · Catholic Public Domain Version
Genesis 9 Catholic Public Domain Version
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
Notes on this text (3)
- Esther and Daniel are the Vulgate books (Esther 1–16 with the Greek additions as chapters 10:4–16; Daniel 1–14 with the Song of the Three, Susanna and Bel). Baruch 6 is the Letter of Jeremiah.
- The translator's footnotes, cross-references, chapter summaries and book introductions in the CrossWire module are not shown.
- No imprimatur; single translator.
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)