Genesis 9:11-21

11 And I establish my covenant with you, neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood, and henceforth there shall be no flood to destroy the earth.
12 And God said, This is the sign of the covenant that I set between me and you and every living soul that is with you, for everlasting generations:
13 I set my bow in the clouds, and it shall be for a sign of the covenant between me and the earth.
14 And it shall come to pass when I bring clouds over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud,
15 and I will remember my covenant which is between me and you and every living soul of all flesh; and the waters shall not henceforth become a flood to destroy all flesh.
16 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 soul of all flesh that is upon 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 upon the earth.
18 And the sons of Noah who went out of the ark were Shem, and Ham, and Japheth. And Ham is the father of Canaan.
19 These three are the sons of Noah; and from these was [the population of] the whole earth spread abroad.
20 And Noah began [to be] a husbandman, and planted a vineyard.
21 And he drank of the wine, and was drunken, and he uncovered himself in his tent.

Genesis 9:11-21 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.

Footnotes 3

  • [a]. Or 'have set.'
  • [b]. Or '... earth, and the bow ... cloud, that I.'
  • [c]. Lit. 'man of the ground.'
The Darby Translation is in the public domain.