8 Genesis 8 – 10

20 Noah built an altar, and sacrificed some of the clean animals and birds as a burnt
offering. 21 The Lord accepteda the sacrifice, and said to himself, “I won't ever again
curse the ground because of human beings, even though every single thought in their
minds is evil from childhood. I won't ever destroy all life again as I have just done. 22 As
long as the earth exists, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and
night, will never come to an end.”
1God blessed Noah and his sons, and told them, “Reproduce, increase, and spread
9 2
throughout the earth! All animals will be very afraid of you—this includes all the
birds, all the creatures that run along the ground, and all the fish in the sea. You are in
charge of them. 3 Every living creature that moves will be food for you, as well as all the
green plants.b 4 But do not eat meat with the lifeblood still in it. 5 If your blood is shed by
any animal, I will call it to account; and if your blood is shed by any person, I will call
that person to account. 6 Whoever sheds the blood of a human being will have their blood
shed by human beings. For God made human beings in his image. 7 Reproduce, increase,
and spread throughout the earth—have many descendants!”
8 Then God told Noah and his sons who were there with him, 9 “Listen, I'm making my
agreement with you and your descendants, 10 and with all the animals around you—the
birds, the livestock, and all the wild animals of the earth—every animal that accompanied
you on the ark. 11 In my agreement I'm promising you that I won't ever again destroy all
life by means of a flood—there won't be a destructive flood like this again.”
12 Then God said, “I'm going to give you a sign to confirm the agreement I'm
making between me and you and all living creatures, an agreement that will last for all
generations. 13 I've placed my rainbow in the clouds, and this will be the sign of my
agreement with you and with all life on earth. 14 Whenever I make clouds form over the
earth and the rainbow appears, 15 it will remind me of my agreement between me and you
and every kind of living creature that floodwaters won't ever again destroy all life. 16 I
will see the rainbow in the clouds and it will remind me of the eternal agreement between
God and every kind of living creature that lives on the earth.”
17 Then God told Noah, “This is the sign of the agreement I'm making between me
and every creature on earth.”
18 Noah's sons who left the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. (Ham was the father
of the Canaanites.) 19 All the people who are spread over the world are descended from
these three sons of Noah.
20 Noah started to cultivate the ground as a farmer, and he planted a vineyard. 21 He
drank some of the wine he'd produced, got drunk, and fell asleep in his tent, naked.
22 Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father's private parts and went and told his two
brothers who were outside. 23 Shem and Japheth picked up a cloak and, holding it over
their shoulders, walked in backwards and covered up their father's privates. They made
sure to look the other way so they wouldn't see their father's privates.
24 When Noah woke up from his drunken sleep, he discovered what his youngest son
had done, 25 and said, “May Canaanc be cursed! He will be the lowest kind of slave and
will serve his brothers!”
26 Then Noah continued, “May the Lord be blessed, the God of Shem, and may
Canaan be his slave. 27 May God give Japtheth plenty of space to accommodate his many
descendants, and may they live at peace among Shem's people, and may Canaan also be
his slave.”
a 8:21. “Accepted”: literally, “smelled a pleasing aroma.” This is a “figurative extension” of this sensory
process which meant that in the same way when we like something, and by extension, accept it, so does
God.
b 9:3. According to 1:30, the green plants were originally meant for the animals. Now both the plants and
the animals themselves are permitted as human food. After the flood there would have been little food
immediately available to eat.
c 9:25. Why Canaan is the one cursed and not Ham has long been a matter of debate. One suggestion is
that it was the later Canaanites who were the particular enemies of Israel and who were subjugated by
them, and so Canaan was prophetically more symbolically significant.