God’s Covenant With Noah

Then God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth.(A) The fear and dread of you will fall on all the beasts of the earth, and on all the birds in the sky, on every creature that moves along the ground, and on all the fish in the sea; they are given into your hands.(B) Everything that lives and moves about will be food for you.(C) Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything.(D)

“But you must not eat meat that has its lifeblood still in it.(E) And for your lifeblood I will surely demand an accounting.(F) I will demand an accounting from every animal.(G) And from each human being, too, I will demand an accounting for the life of another human being.(H)

“Whoever sheds human blood,
    by humans shall their blood be shed;(I)
for in the image of God(J)
    has God made mankind.

As for you, be fruitful and increase in number; multiply on the earth and increase upon it.”(K)

Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him: “I now establish my covenant with you(L) and with your descendants after you 10 and with every living creature that was with you—the birds, the livestock and all the wild animals, all those that came out of the ark with you—every living creature on earth. 11 I establish my covenant(M) with you:(N) Never again will all life be destroyed by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.(O)

12 And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant(P) I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come:(Q) 13 I have set my rainbow(R) in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. 14 Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow(S) appears in the clouds, 15 I will remember my covenant(T) between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life.(U) 16 Whenever the rainbow(V) appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant(W) between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.”

17 So God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant(X) I have established between me and all life on the earth.”

The Sons of Noah

18 The sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham and Japheth.(Y) (Ham was the father of Canaan.)(Z) 19 These were the three sons of Noah,(AA) and from them came the people who were scattered over the whole earth.(AB)

20 Noah, a man of the soil, proceeded[a] to plant a vineyard. 21 When he drank some of its wine,(AC) he became drunk and lay uncovered inside his tent. 22 Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father naked(AD) and told his two brothers outside. 23 But Shem and Japheth took a garment and laid it across their shoulders; then they walked in backward and covered their father’s naked body. Their faces were turned the other way so that they would not see their father naked.

24 When Noah awoke from his wine and found out what his youngest son had done to him, 25 he said,

“Cursed(AE) be Canaan!(AF)
    The lowest of slaves
    will he be to his brothers.(AG)

26 He also said,

“Praise be to the Lord, the God of Shem!(AH)
    May Canaan be the slave(AI) of Shem.
27 May God extend Japheth’s[b] territory;(AJ)
    may Japheth live in the tents of Shem,(AK)
    and may Canaan be the slave of Japheth.”

28 After the flood Noah lived 350 years. 29 Noah lived a total of 950 years, and then he died.(AL)

The Table of Nations

10 This is the account(AM) of Shem, Ham and Japheth,(AN) Noah’s sons,(AO) who themselves had sons after the flood.

The Japhethites(AP)

The sons[c] of Japheth:

Gomer,(AQ) Magog,(AR) Madai, Javan,(AS) Tubal,(AT) Meshek(AU) and Tiras.

The sons of Gomer:

Ashkenaz,(AV) Riphath and Togarmah.(AW)

The sons of Javan:

Elishah,(AX) Tarshish,(AY) the Kittites(AZ) and the Rodanites.[d] (From these the maritime peoples spread out into their territories by their clans within their nations, each with its own language.)(BA)

The Hamites(BB)

The sons of Ham:

Cush,(BC) Egypt, Put(BD) and Canaan.(BE)

The sons of Cush:

Seba,(BF) Havilah,(BG) Sabtah, Raamah(BH) and Sabteka.

The sons of Raamah:

Sheba(BI) and Dedan.(BJ)

Cush was the father[e] of Nimrod,(BK) who became a mighty warrior on the earth. He was a mighty(BL) hunter(BM) before the Lord; that is why it is said, “Like Nimrod, a mighty hunter before the Lord.” 10 The first centers of his kingdom were Babylon,(BN) Uruk,(BO) Akkad and Kalneh,(BP) in[f] Shinar.[g](BQ) 11 From that land he went to Assyria,(BR) where he built Nineveh,(BS) Rehoboth Ir,[h] Calah 12 and Resen, which is between Nineveh and Calah—which is the great city.

13 Egypt was the father of

the Ludites, Anamites, Lehabites, Naphtuhites, 14 Pathrusites, Kasluhites (from whom the Philistines(BT) came) and Caphtorites.(BU)

15 Canaan(BV) was the father of

Sidon(BW) his firstborn,[i](BX) and of the Hittites,(BY) 16 Jebusites,(BZ) Amorites,(CA) Girgashites,(CB) 17 Hivites,(CC) Arkites, Sinites, 18 Arvadites,(CD) Zemarites and Hamathites.(CE)

Later the Canaanite(CF) clans scattered 19 and the borders of Canaan(CG) reached from Sidon(CH) toward Gerar(CI) as far as Gaza,(CJ) and then toward Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboyim,(CK) as far as Lasha.

20 These are the sons of Ham by their clans and languages, in their territories and nations.

The Semites(CL)

21 Sons were also born to Shem, whose older brother was[j] Japheth; Shem was the ancestor of all the sons of Eber.(CM)

22 The sons of Shem:

Elam,(CN) Ashur,(CO) Arphaxad,(CP) Lud and Aram.(CQ)

23 The sons of Aram:

Uz,(CR) Hul, Gether and Meshek.[k]

24 Arphaxad was the father of[l] Shelah,

and Shelah the father of Eber.(CS)

25 Two sons were born to Eber:

One was named Peleg,[m] because in his time the earth was divided; his brother was named Joktan.

26 Joktan was the father of

Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah, 27 Hadoram, Uzal,(CT) Diklah, 28 Obal, Abimael, Sheba,(CU) 29 Ophir,(CV) Havilah and Jobab. All these were sons of Joktan.

30 The region where they lived stretched from Mesha toward Sephar, in the eastern hill country.

31 These are the sons of Shem by their clans and languages, in their territories and nations.

32 These are the clans of Noah’s sons,(CW) according to their lines of descent, within their nations. From these the nations spread out over the earth(CX) after the flood.

Footnotes

  1. Genesis 9:20 Or soil, was the first
  2. Genesis 9:27 Japheth sounds like the Hebrew for extend.
  3. Genesis 10:2 Sons may mean descendants or successors or nations; also in verses 3, 4, 6, 7, 20-23, 29 and 31.
  4. Genesis 10:4 Some manuscripts of the Masoretic Text and Samaritan Pentateuch (see also Septuagint and 1 Chron. 1:7); most manuscripts of the Masoretic Text Dodanites
  5. Genesis 10:8 Father may mean ancestor or predecessor or founder; also in verses 13, 15, 24 and 26.
  6. Genesis 10:10 Or Uruk and Akkad—all of them in
  7. Genesis 10:10 That is, Babylonia
  8. Genesis 10:11 Or Nineveh with its city squares
  9. Genesis 10:15 Or of the Sidonians, the foremost
  10. Genesis 10:21 Or Shem, the older brother of
  11. Genesis 10:23 See Septuagint and 1 Chron. 1:17; Hebrew Mash.
  12. Genesis 10:24 Hebrew; Septuagint father of Cainan, and Cainan was the father of
  13. Genesis 10:25 Peleg means division.

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