Bereshis 9:8-17

8 And Elohim spoke unto Noach, and to his banim with him, saying,
9 And I, hineni, I establish My brit (covenant) with you, and with your zera after you;
10 And with kol nefesh that is with you, of the bird, of the behemah, and of every animal of ha’aretz with you; from kol yotzei hatevah (all that go out of the ark), to every creature of ha’aretz.
11 And I will establish My brit (covenant) with you, neither shall kol basar yikaret (be cut off, violently killed) any more by the waters of the mabbul; neither shall there be any more mabbul l’shachat (to destroy) ha’aretz.
12 And Elohim said, This is the ot (sign) of the brit (covenant) which I make between Me and you and every nefesh chayyah (living creature) that is with you, for dorot olam (perpetual generations);
13 I do set My keshet (bow) in the anan (cloud), and it shall be for an ot brit between Me and ha’aretz.
14 And it shall come to pass, when I bring an anan over ha’aretz, that the keshet be’anan (rainbow) shall be seen;
15 And I will remember My brit, which is between Me and you and kol nefesh chayyah of kol basar; and the waters shall no more become a mabbul (flood) l’shachat (to destroy) kol basar.
16 And the keshet shall be in the anan; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the brit olam between Elohim and kol nefesh chayyah of kol basar that is upon ha’aretz.
17 And Elohim said unto Noach, This is the ot habrit, which I have established between Me and kol basar that is upon ha’aretz.

Bereshis 9:8-17 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO GENESIS 9

In this chapter we have an account of God's blessing Noah and his sons, being just come out of the ark, with a renewal of the blessing of propagating their species, and replenishing the earth, the dominion over the creatures, and a freedom from the fear of them; with liberty to eat flesh, only it must not be eaten with blood; with a providential care and preservation of their lives from men and beasts, by making a law that that man or beast should die that shed man's blood, Ge 9:1-6 and after repeating the blessing of procreation, Ge 9:7 mention is made of a covenant God made with Noah, his sons, and all the creatures, that he would drown the world no more, the token of which should be the rainbow in the cloud, Ge 9:8-17 the names of the sons of Noah are observed, by whom the earth was repeopled, Ge 9:18,19 and seem to be observed for the sake of an event after recorded; Noah having planted a vineyard, and drank too freely of the wine of it, lay down uncovered in his tent, which Ham seeing, told his two brothers of it, who in a very modest manner covered him, Ge 9:20-23 of all which Noah being sensible when he awoke, cursed Canaan the son of Ham, and blessed Shem and Japheth, Ge 9:24-27 and the chapter is concluded with the age and death of Noah, Ge 9:28,29.

The Orthodox Jewish Bible fourth edition, OJB. Copyright 2002,2003,2008,2010, 2011 by Artists for Israel International. All rights reserved.