Genesis 9 (New American Standard)

Covenant of the Rainbow

1 And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, "¹Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth. 2 "The fear of you and the terror of you will be on every beast of the earth and on every bird of the ^asky ; with everything that creeps on the ground, and all the fish of the sea, into your hand they are given. 3 "Every moving thing that is alive shall be food for you; I give all to you, ²as I gave the green plant. 4 "Only you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, ³its blood. 5 "Surely I will require ^b4your lifeblood ; ^c5from every beast I will require it. And ^dfrom every man, ^efrom every man's brother I will require the life of man. 6 "⁶Whoever sheds man's blood, By man his blood shall be shed, For ⁷in the image of God He made man. 7 "As for you, ⁸be fruitful and multiply ; ^fPopulate the earth abundantly and multiply in it." 8 Then God spoke to Noah and to his sons with him, saying, 9 "Now behold, ⁹I Myself do establish My covenant with you, and with your ^gdescendants after you; 10 and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the cattle, and every beast of the earth with you; of all that comes out of the ark, even every beast of the earth. 11 "I establish My covenant with you; and all flesh shall ¹⁰never again be cut off by the water of the flood, ¹¹neither shall there again be a flood to destroy the earth." 12 God said, "This is ¹²the sign of the covenant which I am making between Me and you and every living creature that is with you, for ^hall successive generations ; 13 I set My ¹³bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a sign of a covenant between Me and the earth. 14 "It shall come about, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow will be seen in the cloud, 15 and ¹⁴I will remember My covenant, which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh ; and ¹⁵never again shall the water become a flood to destroy all flesh. 16 "When the bow is in the cloud, then I will look upon it, to remember the ¹⁶everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on 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 on the earth." 18 Now the sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem and Ham and Japheth ; and ¹⁷Ham was the father of Canaan. 19 These three were the sons of Noah, and ¹⁸from these the whole earth was ⁱpopulated. 20 Then Noah began ^jfarming and planted a vineyard. 21 He drank of the wine and ¹⁹became drunk, and uncovered himself inside his tent. 22 Ham, the father of Canaan, ²⁰saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brothers outside. 23 But Shem and Japheth took a garment and laid it upon both their shoulders and walked backward and covered the nakedness of their father ; and their faces were ^kturned away, so that they did not see their father's nakedness. 24 When Noah awoke from his wine, he knew what his youngest son had done to him. 25 So he said, "²¹Cursed be Canaan ; ^l22A servant of servants He shall be to his brothers." 26 He also said, "²³Blessed be the LORD, The God of Shem ; And let Canaan be ^mhis servant. 27 "²⁴May God enlarge Japheth, And let him dwell in the tents of Shem ; And let Canaan be ⁿhis servant." 28 Noah lived three hundred and fifty years after the flood. 29 So all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years, and he died.