Genesis 9:1

God's Covenant with Noah

1 God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.

Genesis 9:1 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 9:1

And God blessed Noah and his sons
With temporal blessings, not spiritual ones; for though some of them were blessed with such, yet not all, particularly Ham:

and said unto them, be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the
earth;
depopulated by the flood: this is a renewal of the blessing on Adam, a power and faculty of propagating his species, which was as necessary now as then, since there were so few of the human race left in the world; and the renewal of this grant was the rather necessary, if, as has been observed, Noah and his sons were restrained from cohabiting with their wives while in the ark: but though these words are not an express command for the propagation of their species, yet more than a bare permission, at least they are a direction and instruction to it, and even carry in them a promise of fruitfulness, that they should multiply and increase, which was very needful at this time.

Genesis 9:1 In-Context

1 God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.

2 The fear and terror of you will be in every living creature on the earth, every bird of the sky, every creature that crawls on the ground, and all the fish of the sea. They are placed under your authority.

3 Every living creature will be food for you; as [I gave] the green plants, I have given you everything.

4 However, you must not eat meat with its lifeblood in it.

5 I will require the life of every animal and every man for your life and your blood. I will require the life of each man's brother for a man's life.