Genesis 9:22

22 Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father naked and told his two brothers outside.

Genesis 9:22 in Other Translations

King James Version (KJV)
22 And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without.
English Standard Version (ESV)
22 And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father and told his two brothers outside.
New Living Translation (NLT)
22 Ham, the father of Canaan, saw that his father was naked and went outside and told his brothers.
The Message Bible (MSG)
22 Ham, the father of Canaan, saw that his father was naked and told his two brothers who were outside the tent.
American Standard Version (ASV)
22 And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without.
GOD'S WORD Translation (GW)
22 Ham, father of Canaan, saw his father naked. So he went outside and told his two brothers.
Holman Christian Standard Bible (CSB)
22 Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father naked and told his two brothers outside.
New International Reader's Version (NIRV)
22 Ham saw his father's naked body. Ham was the father of Canaan. Ham went outside and told his two brothers.

Genesis 9:22 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 9:22

And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his
father
Which, had it been through surprise, and at an unawares, would not have been thought criminal; but be went into his father's tent, where he ought not to have entered; he looked with pleasure and delight on his father's nakedness: Ham is represented by many writers as a very wicked, immodest, and profligate creature: Berosus F9 makes him a magician, and to be the same with Zoroast or Zoroastres, and speaks of him as the public corrupter of mankind; and says that he taught men to live as before the flood, to lie with mothers, sisters, daughters, males and brutes, and creatures of all sorts; and that he actually did so himself, and therefore was cast out by his father Janus, or Noah, and got the name of "Chem", the infamous and immodest:

and told his two brethren without;
he went out of the tent after he had pleased himself with the sight; see ( Habakkuk 2:15 ) and in a wanton, ludicrous, and scoffing manner, related what he had seen: some of the Jewish Rabbins F11, as Jarchi relates, say that Canaan first saw it, and told his father of it; and some say F12, that he or Ham committed an unnatural crime with him; and others F13, that he castrated him; and hence, it is supposed, came the stories of Jupiter castrating his father Saturn, and Chronus his father Uranus: and Berosus F14 says, that Ham taking hold of his father's genitals, and muttering some words, by a magic charm rendered him impotent: and some F15 will have it that he committed incest with his father's wife; but these things are said without foundation: what Noah's younger son did unto him, besides looking on him, we are not told, yet it was such as brought a curse on Canaan; and one would think it would be more than bare sight, nay, it is expressly said there was something done, but what is not said, ( Genesis 9:24 ) .


FOOTNOTES:

F9 Antiqu. l. 3. fol. 25. 1.
F11 In Bereshit Rabba, sect. 36. fol. 32. 1.
F12 Some in Jarchi.
F13 Pirke Eliezer, c. 23. Some Rabbins in Ben Gersom & Jarchi in loc.
F14 Antiqu. l. 3. fol. 25. 1.
F15 Vander Hart, apud Bayle Dict. vol. 10. Art. "Ham", p. 588.

Genesis 9:22 In-Context

20 Noah, a man of the soil, proceeded to plant a vineyard.
21 When he drank some of its wine, he became drunk and lay uncovered inside his tent.
22 Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father naked and told his two brothers outside.
23 But Shem and Japheth took a garment and laid it across their shoulders; then they walked in backward and covered their father’s naked body. Their faces were turned the other way so that they would not see their father naked.
24 When Noah awoke from his wine and found out what his youngest son had done to him,

Cross References 1

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