Genesi 9:23

23 Ma Sem e Iafet presero un mantello, e se lo misero amendue in su le spalle; e, camminando a ritroso, copersero le vergogne del padre loro; e le faccie loro erano volte indietro, tal che non videro le vergogne del padre loro.

Genesi 9:23 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 9:23

And Shem and Japheth took a garment
Who were the two brothers Ham told what he had seen, and who, no doubt, reproved him for his ill behaviour, and then took a garment, a coat of their own, very probably, some large garment fit for the purpose;

and laid it upon both their shoulders;
one part of it on the right shoulder of the one, and the other on the left shoulder of the other:

and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father;
going backward when they came into the tent, and to the place where their father lay, they threw the garment off from their shoulders over him, and so covered him:

and their faces were backward, and they saw not their father's
nakedness:
which they purposely shunned, for which reason they went backwards, and their faces were backwards to their father; which showed their modesty, and their filial piety and duty, and thus by their actions reproved Ham, as well as doubtless they did by words.

Genesi 9:23 In-Context

21 E bevve del vino, e s’inebbriò, e si scoperse in mezzo del suo tabernacolo.
22 E Cam, padre di Canaan, vide le vergogne di suo padre, e lo rapportò fuori a’ suoi due fratelli.
23 Ma Sem e Iafet presero un mantello, e se lo misero amendue in su le spalle; e, camminando a ritroso, copersero le vergogne del padre loro; e le faccie loro erano volte indietro, tal che non videro le vergogne del padre loro.
24 E, quando Noè si fu svegliato dal suo vino, seppe ciò che gli avea fatto il suo figliuol minore.
25 E disse: Maledetto sia Canaan; sia servo de’ servi de’ suoi fratelli.
The Giovanni Diodati Bible is in the public domain.