The Message Bible MSG
King James Version KJV
1 God blessed Noah and his sons: He said, "Prosper! Reproduce! Fill the Earth!
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And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.
2 Every living creature - birds, animals, fish - will fall under your spell and be afraid of you. You're responsible for them.
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And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moveth upon the earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea; into your hand are they delivered.
3 All living creatures are yours for food; just as I gave you the plants, now I give you everything else.
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Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things.
4 Except for meat with its lifeblood still in it - don't eat that.
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But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat.
5 "But your own lifeblood I will avenge; I will avenge it against both animals and other humans.
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And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man's brother will I require the life of man.
6 Whoever sheds human blood, by humans let his blood be shed, Because God made humans in his image reflecting God's very nature.
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Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man.
7 You're here to bear fruit, reproduce, lavish life on the Earth, live bountifully!"
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And you, be ye fruitful, and multiply; bring forth abundantly in the earth, and multiply therein.
8 Then God spoke to Noah and his sons:
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And God spake unto Noah, and to his sons with him, saying,
9 "I'm setting up my covenant with you including your children who will come after you,
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And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you;
10 along with everything alive around you - birds, farm animals, wild animals - that came out of the ship with you.
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And with every living creature that is with you, of the fowl, of the cattle, and of every beast of the earth with you; from all that go out of the ark, to every beast of the earth.
11 I'm setting up my covenant with you that never again will everything living be destroyed by floodwaters; no, never again will a flood destroy the Earth."
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And I will establish my covenant with you; neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth.
12 God continued, "This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and everything living around you and everyone living after you.
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And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations:
13 I'm putting my rainbow in the clouds, a sign of the covenant between me and the Earth.
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I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth.
14 From now on, when I form a cloud over the Earth and the rainbow appears in the cloud,
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And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud:
15 I'll remember my covenant between me and you and everything living, that never again will floodwaters destroy all life.
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And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh.
16 When the rainbow appears in the cloud, I'll see it and remember the eternal covenant between God and everything living, every last living creature on Earth."
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And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth.
17 And God said, "This is the sign of the covenant that I've set up between me and everything living on the Earth."
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And God said unto Noah, This is the token of the covenant, which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth.
18 The sons of Noah who came out of the ship were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Ham was the father of Canaan.
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And the sons of Noah, that went forth of the ark, were Shem, and Ham, and Japheth: and Ham is the father of Canaan.
19 These are the three sons of Noah; from these three the whole Earth was populated.
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These are the three sons of Noah: and of them was the whole earth overspread.
20 Noah, a farmer, was the first to plant a vineyard.
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And Noah began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard:
21 He drank from its wine, got drunk and passed out, naked in his tent.
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And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent.
22 Ham, the father of Canaan, saw that his father was naked and told his two brothers who were outside the tent.
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And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without.
23 Shem and Japheth took a cloak, held it between them from their shoulders, walked backwards and covered their father's nakedness, keeping their faces turned away so they did not see their father's exposed body.
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And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were backward, and they saw not their father's nakedness.
24 When Noah woke up with his hangover, he learned what his youngest son had done.
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And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him.
25 He said, Cursed be Canaan! A slave of slaves, a slave to his brothers!
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And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren.
26 Blessed be God, the God of Shem, but Canaan shall be his slave.
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And he said, Blessed be the LORD God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.
27 God prosper Japheth, living spaciously in the tents of Shem. But Canaan shall be his slave.
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God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.
28 Noah lived another 350 years following the flood.
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And Noah lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years.
29 He lived a total of 950 years. And he died.
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And all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years: and he died.
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.