Genesis 9:1-13

The Voice

9 God spoke a blessing over Noah and his sons.

Eternal One: Be fruitful, multiply, and populate the earth! ²All the animals on the earth, all the birds in the sky, all the creatures that creep along the ground, and all the fish of the sea will now be afraid and run from you; they have been handed over to you. ³Every living thing that moves will be available to you as food. Just as I once gave you the green plants to eat, I now give you everything. ⁴But listen carefully: Do not eat any meat with its life-blood still in it. ⁵More than that, do not spill the blood of any human. If anyone spills your blood, I will hold him responsible. It makes no difference whether it is a man or an animal, both will be accountable to Me! If someone murders a fellow human being, then I will require his life in return.

⁶    Whoever sheds the blood of a human,
        that person’s blood will be shed in return by another
        for God made humanity in His own image.
⁷    Now all of you, be fruitful and multiply; spread out and populate the earth.

All life is sacred. Human life is especially so. Protecting it is of utmost importance to God. He takes this so seriously and personally because He made humanity to reflect Him. We are His earthly representatives, made in His image. To murder another person is to mount an attack on the One who created him.

⁸But God was not finished. He had more to say both to Noah and his sons.

Eternal One: ⁹Look, for I am now going to make a pact, a special covenant, with you and all your descendants. ¹⁰This covenant also extends to every living creature in the world—the birds, the domesticated animals, and every wild animal on the earth—as many as emerged with you from the ark. ¹¹As part of this covenant, I promise you I will never again wipe out all living flesh by means of flooding waters. Never again will a flood destroy the earth. ¹²As a sign of this perpetual covenant I now make between Me and you and all living creatures along with you, as well as all future generations, ¹³I will hang a rainbow among the clouds. It will serve as a sign of the covenant between Me and the earth.