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”).
Bilowgii 9
Somali Bible
Axdigii Ilaah La Dhigtay Nuux
9 Oo Ilaah waa barakeeyey Nuux iyo wiilashiisii, oo wuxuu ku yidhi, Wax badan dhala, oo tarma, oo dhulka ka buuxsama. 2 Cabsidiinna iyo baqdintiinnu way la jiri doonaan dugaag kasta, iyo haad kasta oo hawada, iyo waxa dhulka gurguurta oo dhan, iyo kalluunka badda oo dhan, gacmihiinna baa laydiin geliyey iyaga. 3 Wax kasta oo dhaqdhaqaaqa oo noolu cuntay idiin noqon doonaan; sidii aan geedaha cagaarka ah idiin siiyey ayaan kulli idiin siiyey. 4 Laakiin waa inaydnaan cunin hilibka noloshiisu la jirto, taasoo ah dhiiggiisa. 5 Oo hubaal dhiigga naftiinna waan weyddiin, oo waxaan weyddiin dugaag kasta iyo dadkaba, xataa nafta nin kasta walaalkiis waan weyddiin. 6 Ku kasta oo nin dhiiggiis daadiya, nin baa isna dhiiggiisa daadin doona: waayo, Ilaah araggiisuu ka sameeyey ninka. 7 Idinku wax badan dhala, oo tarma; aad iyo aadna ugu farcama dhulka, kuna tarma dhexdiisa.
8 Oo Ilaah Nuux buu la hadlay, iyo wiilashiisii la joogay, isagoo ku leh, 9 Bal eega, anigu axdigayga baan idinku adkaynayaa, idinka iyo farcankiinna idinka dambeeya; 10 iyo uun kasta oo nool oo idinla jooga, haadda iyo xoolaha, iyo dugaag kasta oo dhulka idinla jooga; oo ah in alla intii ka soo baxda doonnida, xataa dugaag kasta oo dhulka. 11 Oo waxaan idinku adkayn doonaa axdigayga; inta jidh leh oo dhan mar dambe biyo daad ah laguma baabbi'in doono; daad dambe oo dhulka baabbi'iyaana mar dambe ma jiri doono. 12 Oo Ilaah wuxuu yidhi, Waa tan calaamadii axdiga aan idinla dhiganayo idinka iyo uun kasta oo nool oo idinla jooga, tan iyo qarni kasta. 13 Waxaan qaansadayda ku dhex dhigay daruurta, waxayna noqon doontaa calaamadii axdiga dhex yaal aniga iyo dhulka. 14 Waxaana dhici doonta, markii aan dhulka daruur dul keeno, in qaansada lagu arki doono daruurta dhexdeeda, 15 oo waxaan xusuusan doonaa axdigayga ina dhex yaal aniga iyo idinka iyo uun kasta oo nool oo jidh kasta leh; biyuhuna dib dambe ma noqon doonaan daad baabbi'iya inta jidh leh oo dhan. 16 Qaansaduna waxay ku dhex jiri doontaa daruurta; anna waan fiirin doonaa iyada, inaan xusuusto axdiga weligiis dhex yaal Ilaah iyo uun kasta oo nool oo jidh kasta leh oo dhulka jooga. 17 Oo Ilaah wuxuu Nuux ku yidhi, Tanu waa calaamadii axdigii aan ku adkeeyey inta jidhka leh oo dhulka joogta.
Wiilashii Nuux
18 Oo wiilashii Nuux oo doonnidii ka soo baxay, waxay ahaayeen Sheem, iyo Xaam, iyo Yaafed: Xaamna waa Kancaan aabbihiis. 19 Saddexdanu waxay ahaayeen wiilashii Nuux; oo iyagii farcankoodii baa dhulka oo dhan ku fiday.
20 Nuuxna wuxuu bilaabay inuu beerrey noqdo, oo wuxuu beertay canab. 21 Kolkaasuu wax ka cabbay khamrigeedii, wuuna sakhraamay; oo teendhadiisii dhexdeeda ayuu ku qaawanaa. 22 Oo Xaam, oo ahaa Kancaan aabbihiis, ayaa arkay qaawanaantii aabbihiis, kolkaasuu u sheegay labadii walaalihiis ahayd oo dibadda joogta. 23 Kolkaasaa Sheem iyo Yaafed dhar qaadeen, oo labadoodu garbahay saareen, oo dib dib u socdeen, kolkaasay qaawanaantii aabbahood ku dedeen, oo wejiyadooduna way sii jeedeen, mana ay arkin qaawanaantii aabbahood. 24 Nuuxna khamrigiisii wuu ka soo miyirsaday, wuuna ogaaday wixii wiilkiisa yaru ku sameeyey. 25 Kolkaasuu yidhi,
Inkaaru ha ku dhacdo Kancaan;
Addoonkii addoommaduu u noqon doonaa walaalihiis.
26 Oo wuxuu yidhi,
Ammaanu ha u ahaato Rabbiga ah Ilaaha Sheem,
Kancaanna addoon ha u noqdo.
27 Ilaah ha fidiyo Yaafed,
Hana dego teendhooyinka Sheem;
Kancaanna addoon ha u noqdo isaga.
28 Nuuxna daadka ka dib wuxuu sii noolaa saddex boqol iyo konton sannadood. 29 Wakhtigii Nuux noolaa oo dhammuna waxay ahaayeen sagaal boqol iyo konton sannadood; dabadeedna wuu dhintay.
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.
© 1979, 2008 Society for International Ministries-Kenya