Genesis 9

₁God blessed Noah and his sons. He said to them: ‘You must have many children and grandchildren so that people will live and stay everywhere on earth. ₂All the animals will be afraid of you. All the birds will be afraid of you. All the creeping animals will be afraid of you. All the fish in the sea will be afraid of you. You must rule over all of them. ₃Now I am also giving the animals to you. You may eat them. Before, I said you could eat only the green plants, but now I am saying you may also eat animals. ₄But you must not eat meat that still has blood in it. Blood is like the life of someone.

₅People must not kill other people, and animals must not kill people. If an animal kills a man, you must kill that animal. If a man kills another man, you must kill that man. ₆I have made people to be like Me, like God. If a person kills someone, he must also die.

₇Noah, you must have many children and their children must have more children. The earth must be full of people.’

₈God said to Noah and his sons:

₉‘I now make a covenant with you and your children and your descendants. ₁₀I am also making this covenant with all the birds and the animals that were in the ark with you. ₁₁I promise you: I will never send a water flood to kill all the people and animals on earth again.’

₁₂God also said: ‘I will give you a sign to show that I have made a covenant with you and with all the people and animals. I will remember this forever. ₁₃I have put my rainbow in the sky. This is the sign of my covenant with you. ₁₄When I send clouds and rain over the earth and there is a rainbow in the sky, ₁₅then I will remember my covenant that I have made with you and with all other people and animals. Never again will I kill all the people with a water flood. ₁₆When I see the rainbow in the sky, I will always remember the covenant that I have made with everyone and with the animals on earth. My covenant will never stop.’

₁₇God said to Noah: ‘The rainbow will be the sign of the covenant that I have made with all the people and animals on earth.’

₁₈Noah had 3 sons who were with him in the ark. Their names were Shem, Ham and Japheth. Ham was the father of Canaan. ₁₉All the people on earth are children and descendants of Noah and his 3 sons.

₂₀Noah was a farmer and he planted a vineyard.’ ₂₁One day he drank too much of the wine that he had made and he became drunk. He lay in his tent and started to sleep. He was naked. ₂₂His son Ham came into the tent and saw that his father was naked. Then he went outside and told his brothers what he had seen. ₂₃His brothers Shem and Japheth took some clothes and they put them on their shoulders and walked with their backs first into Noah's tent. They did not want to look at Noah, because he was naked. Then they put clothes over their father's naked body.

₂₄Later Noah woke up and the 2 brothers told him what Ham had done. ₂₅Then Noah said:

₂₆Noah also said:

₂₈Noah lived for 350 years after the flood. ₂₉Noah was 950 years old when he died.