Genesis 9
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
Chapter 9
Covenant with Noah. 1 [a]God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them: Be fertile and multiply and fill the earth.(A) 2 [b]Fear and dread of you shall come upon all the animals of the earth and all the birds of the air, upon all the creatures that move about on the ground and all the fishes of the sea; into your power they are delivered. 3 (B)Any living creature that moves about shall be yours to eat; I give them all to you as I did the green plants. 4 (C)Only meat with its lifeblood still in it you shall not eat.[c] 5 Indeed for your own lifeblood I will demand an accounting: from every animal I will demand it, and from a human being, each one for the blood of another, I will demand an accounting for human life.(D)
6 [d]Anyone who sheds the blood of a human being,
by a human being shall that one’s blood be shed;
For in the image of God
have human beings been made.(E)
7 Be fertile, then, and multiply; abound on earth and subdue it.(F)
8 [e]God said to Noah and to his sons with him: 9 See, I am now establishing my covenant with you and your descendants after you(G) 10 and with every living creature that was with you: the birds, the tame animals, and all the wild animals that were with you—all that came out of the ark. 11 I will establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all creatures be destroyed by the waters of a flood; there shall not be another flood to devastate the earth.(H) 12 God said: This is the sign of the covenant that I am making between me and you and every living creature with you for all ages to come: 13 (I)I set my bow in the clouds to serve as a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. 14 When I bring clouds over the earth, and the bow appears in the clouds, 15 I will remember my covenant between me and you and every living creature—every mortal being—so that the waters will never again become a flood to destroy every mortal being.(J) 16 When the bow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature—every mortal being that is on earth. 17 God told Noah: This is the sign of the covenant I have established between me and every mortal being that is on earth.
Noah and His Sons. 18 [f]The sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham and Japheth. Ham was the father of Canaan.(K) 19 These three were the sons of Noah, and from them the whole earth was populated.
20 Noah, a man of the soil, was the first to plant a vineyard. 21 He drank some of the wine, became drunk, and lay naked inside his tent.(L) 22 Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father’s nakedness, and he told his two brothers outside. 23 Shem and Japheth, however, took a robe, and holding it on their shoulders, they walked backward and covered their father’s nakedness; since their faces were turned the other way, they did not see their father’s nakedness. 24 When Noah woke up from his wine and learned what his youngest son had done to him, 25 he said:
“Cursed be Caanan!
The lowest of slaves
shall he be to his brothers.”(M)
26 He also said:
“Blessed be the Lord, the God of Shem!
Let Canaan be his slave.
27 May God expand Japheth,[g]
and may he dwell among the tents of Shem;
and let Canaan be his slave.”
28 Noah lived three hundred and fifty years after the flood. 29 The whole lifetime of Noah was nine hundred and fifty years; then he died.
Footnotes
- 9:1 God reaffirms without change the original blessing and mandate of 1:28. In the Mesopotamian epic Atrahasis, on which the Genesis story is partly modeled, the gods changed their original plan by restricting human population through such means as childhood diseases, birth demons, and mandating celibacy among certain groups of women.
- 9:2–3 Pre-flood creatures, including human beings, are depicted as vegetarians (1:29–30). In view of the human propensity to violence, God changes the original prohibition against eating meat.
- 9:4 Because a living being dies when it loses most of its blood, the ancients regarded blood as the seat of life, and therefore as sacred. Jewish tradition considered the prohibition against eating meat with blood to be binding on all, because it was given by God to Noah, the new ancestor of all humankind; therefore the early Christian Church retained it for a time (Acts 15:20, 29).
- 9:6 The image of God, given to the first man and woman and transmitted to every human being, is the reason that no violent attacks can be made upon human beings. That image is the basis of the dignity of every individual who, in some sense, “represents” God in the world.
- 9:8–17 God makes a covenant with Noah and his descendants and, remarkably, with all the animals who come out of the ark: never again shall the world be destroyed by flood. The sign of this solemn promise is the appearance of a rainbow.
- 9:18–27 The character of the three sons is sketched here. The fault is not Noah’s (for he could not be expected to know about the intoxicating effect of wine) but Ham’s, who shames his father by looking on his nakedness, and then tells the other sons. Ham’s conduct is meant to prefigure the later shameful sexual practices of the Canaanites, which are alleged in numerous biblical passages. The point of the story is revealed in Noah’s curse of Ham’s son Canaan and his blessing of Shem and Japheth.
- 9:27 In the Hebrew text there is a play on the words yapt (“expand”) and yepet (“Japheth”).
创世记 9
Chinese New Version (Simplified)
神赐福挪亚，与他立约
9 神赐福给挪亚和他的儿子，对他们说：“你们要繁衍增多，充满大地。 2 地上各样的走兽，空中各样的飞鸟，甚至地上各样爬行的动物，和海里各样的鱼类，都要对你们惊恐惧怕；这一切都已经交在你们手里了。 3 所有活着的动物都可以作你们的食物，我把这一切都赐给你们，好象我把青菜赐给了你们一样。 4 唯独带着生命的肉，就是带着血的肉，你们却不可吃。 5 流你们的血、害你们生命的，我必向他们追偿；无论是走兽或人类，甚至各人自己的兄弟，我必要他偿命。
6 流人血的，
人也必流他的血；
因为 神造人，
是按着他自己的形象。
7 你们要繁衍增多；
要在地上滋生、增多。”
8 神告诉挪亚和与他在一起的儿子说： 9 “看哪，我现在与你们和你们的后裔立约， 10 并且与所有跟你们在一起有生命的活物立约，包括飞鸟、牲畜和所有地上的走兽，就是与从方舟里出来的立约。 11 我要与你们立约：凡有生命的必不再被洪水除灭，再没有洪水来毁灭大地了。” 12 神说：“这就是我与你们，与一切跟你们同在有生命的活物所立之约的记号，直到万代； 13 我把彩虹放在云彩中，作我与大地立约的记号。 14 我使云彩遮盖大地时，彩虹出现云彩中， 15 我就记念我与你们和一切有生命的活物所立的约：
水不再成为洪水，
来毁灭凡有生命的。
16 彩虹在云彩中出现，
我看见了就记念
我与地上一切有生命的活物，所立的永约。”
17 神对挪亚说：“这就是我与地上凡有生命的立约的记号。”
挪亚的儿子
18 挪亚的儿子，从方舟里出来的，就是闪、含、雅弗；含是迦南的父亲。 19 这三个人是挪亚的儿子，全地的人都是从这些人播散开来的。
挪亚的过失
20 挪亚作起农夫来，栽种葡萄园。 21 他喝酒，喝醉了，就在帐棚里光着身子。 22 迦南的父亲含看见了自己父亲的下体，就去告诉在外面的两个兄弟。 23 于是，闪和雅弗二人拿了件外衣，搭在自己的肩膀上，倒退着进去，盖上他们父亲的下体；因为他们背着脸，所以没有看见他们父亲的下体。
挪亚对儿子的咒诅与祝福
24 挪亚酒醒以后，知道小儿子对他所作的事， 25 就说：
“迦南应当受咒诅，
他必给自己的兄弟，
作奴仆的奴仆。”
26 又说：
“耶和华，闪的 神，
是应当称颂的；愿迦南作他的奴仆。
27 愿 神使雅弗扩展，
使雅弗住在闪的帐棚里；
愿迦南作他的奴仆。”
挪亚逝世
28 洪水以后，挪亚又活了三百
五十年。 29 挪亚共活了九百五十岁，就死了。
Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.
Chinese New Version (CNV). Copyright © 1976, 1992, 1999, 2001, 2005 by Worldwide Bible Society.