Genesis 8:20-9:17
International Children’s Bible
20 Then Noah built an altar to the Lord. Noah took some of all the clean birds and animals. And he burned them on the altar as offerings to God. 21 The Lord was pleased with these sacrifices. He said to himself, “I will never again curse the ground because of human beings. Their thoughts are evil even when they are young. But I will never again destroy every living thing on the earth as I did this time.
22 “As long as the earth continues,
there will be planting and harvest.
Cold and hot,
summer and winter,
day and night
will not stop.”
The New Beginning
9 Then God blessed Noah and his sons. He said to them, “Have many children. Grow in number and fill the earth. 2 Every animal on earth and every bird in the sky will respect and fear you. So will every animal that crawls on the ground and every fish in the sea respect and fear you. I have given them to you.
3 “Everything that moves, everything that is alive, is yours for food. Earlier I gave you the green plants. And now I give you everything for food. 4 But you must not eat meat that still has blood in it, because blood gives life. 5 I will demand your blood for your lives. That is, I will demand the life of any animal that kills a person. And I will demand the life of anyone who takes another person’s life.
6 “Whoever kills a human being
will be killed by a human being.
This is because God made humans
in his own image.
7 “Noah, I want you and your family to have many children. Grow in number on the earth and become many.”
8 Then God said to Noah and his sons, 9 “Now I am making my agreement with you and your people who will live after you. 10 And I also make it with every living thing that is with you. It is with the birds, the tame animals and the wild animals. It is with all that came out of the boat with you. I make my agreement with every living thing on earth. 11 I make this agreement with you: I will never again destroy all living things by floodwaters. A flood will never again destroy the earth.”
12 And God said, “I am making an agreement between me and you and every living creature that is with you. It will continue from now on. This is the sign: 13 I am putting my rainbow in the clouds. It is the sign of the agreement between me and the earth. 14 When I bring clouds over the earth, a rainbow appears in the clouds. 15 Then I will remember my agreement. It is between me and you and every living thing. Floodwaters will never again destroy all life on the earth. 16 When the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it. Then I will remember the agreement that continues forever. It is between me and every living thing on the earth.”
17 So God said to Noah, “That rainbow is a sign. It is the sign of the agreement that I made with all living things on earth.”
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.