Genesis 9:1-17

New American Standard Bible

Covenant of the Rainbow

9 Then God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them, “^(A)Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth. ²The fear of you and the terror of you will be on every animal of the earth and on every bird of the sky; on everything that crawls on the ground, and on all the fish of the sea. They are handed over to you. ³Every moving thing that is alive shall be food for you; I have given everything to you, ^(B)as I gave the green plant. ⁴But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, ^(C)its blood. ⁵I certainly will require ^[a]^(D)your lifeblood; ^[b]^(E)from every animal I will require it. And ^[c]from every person, ^[d]from every man as his brother I will require the life of a person.

⁶^(F)Whoever sheds human blood,
By man his blood shall be shed,
For ^(G)in the image of God
He made mankind.
⁷As for you, ^(H)be fruitful and multiply;
^[e]Populate the earth abundantly and multiply in it.”

⁸Then God spoke to Noah and to his sons with him, saying, ⁹“Now behold, ^(I)I Myself am establishing My covenant with you, and with your ^[f]descendants after you; ¹⁰and with every living creature that is with you: the birds, the livestock, and every animal of the earth with you; of all that comes out of the ark, every animal of the earth. ¹¹I establish My covenant with you; and all flesh shall ^(J)never again be eliminated by the waters of a flood, ^(K)nor shall there again be a flood to destroy the earth.” ¹²God said, “This is ^(L)the sign of the covenant which I am making between Me and you and every living creature that is with you, for ^[g]all future generations; ¹³I have set My ^(M)rainbow in the cloud, and it shall ^[h]serve as a sign of a covenant between Me and the earth. ¹⁴It shall come about, when I make a cloud appear over the earth, that the rainbow will be seen in the cloud, ¹⁵and ^(N)I will remember My covenant, which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and ^(O)never again shall the water become a flood to destroy all flesh. ¹⁶When the rainbow is in the cloud, then I will look at it, to remember the ^(P)everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” ¹⁷And God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant which I have established between Me and all flesh that is on the earth.”