1 And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them, Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth. 2 And let the fear of you and the dread of you be upon every animal of the earth, and upon all fowl of the heavens: upon all that moveth [on] the ground; and upon all the fishes of the sea: into your hand are they delivered. 3 Every moving thing that liveth shall be food for you: as the green herb I give you everything. 4 Only, the flesh with its life, its blood, ye shall not eat. 5 And indeed your blood, [the blood] of your lives, will I require: at the hand of every animal will I require it, and at the hand of Man, at the hand of each [the blood] of his brother, will I require the life of Man. 6 Whoso sheddeth Man's blood, by Man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God he hath made Man. 7 And ye, be fruitful and multiply: swarm on the earth, and multiply on it. 8 And God spoke to Noah, and to his sons with him, saying, 9 And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you; 10 and with every living soul which is with you, fowl as well as cattle, and all the animals of the earth with you, of all that has gone out of the ark — every animal of the earth. 11 And I establish my covenant with you, neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood, and henceforth there shall be no flood to destroy the earth. 12 And God said, This is the sign of the covenant that I set between me and you and every living soul that is with you, for everlasting generations: 13 I set my bow in the clouds, and it shall be for a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. 14 And it shall come to pass when I bring clouds over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud, 15 and I will remember my covenant which is between me and you and every living soul of all flesh; and the waters shall not henceforth become a flood to destroy all flesh. 16 And 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 soul of all flesh that is upon the earth. 17 And God said to Noah, This is the sign of the covenant which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth. 18 And the sons of Noah who went out of the ark were Shem, and Ham, and Japheth. And Ham is the father of Canaan. 19 These three are the sons of Noah; and from these was [the population of] the whole earth spread abroad. 20 And Noah began [to be] a husbandman, and planted a vineyard. 21 And he drank of the wine, and was drunken, and he uncovered himself in his tent. 22 And Ham the father of Canaan saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren outside. 23 And Shem and Japheth took the upper garment and both laid [it] upon their shoulders, and went backwards, and covered the nakedness of their father. And their faces were turned away, that they saw not their father's nakedness. 24 And Noah awoke from his wine, and learned what his youngest son had done to him. 25 And he said, Cursed be Canaan; Let him be a bondman of bondmen to his brethren. 26 And he said, Blessed be Jehovah, the God of Shem, And let Canaan be his bondman. 27 Let God enlarge Japheth, and let him dwell in the tents of Shem, And let Canaan be his bondman. 28 And Noah lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years. 29 And all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years; and he died.
Genesis 9 Darby Translation
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)