Skip to main content
Psalmlog Logo

Genesis 9

God pledges to preserve life after the flood, while Noah’s household reveals the continuing disorder within the human family.

After the flood, God blesses Noah and his sons and tells them to fill the earth. He permits animal food, forbids eating blood, and demands an accounting for human bloodshed. God then establishes his covenant with their descendants and every living creature, setting the rainbow as its sign. The account turns to Noah’s drunkenness and his sons’ responses to his nakedness. Noah pronounces a curse on Canaan and blessings concerning Shem and Japheth. The chapter closes with Noah’s death.

fear for the futurefamily conflictinjustice and anger
Read
1God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, and replenish the earth.
2The fear of you and the dread of you will be on every animal of the earth, and on every bird of the sky. Everything that moves along the ground, and all the fish of the sea, are delivered into your hand.
3Every moving thing that lives will be food for you. As I gave you the green herb, I have given everything to you.
4But flesh with its life, that is, its blood, you shall not eat.
5I will surely require accounting for your life’s blood. At the hand of every animal I will require it. At the hand of man, even at the hand of every man’s brother, I will require the life of man.
6Whoever sheds man’s blood, his blood will be shed by man, for God made man in his own image.
7Be fruitful and multiply. Increase abundantly on the earth, and multiply in it.”
9“As for me, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your offspring after you,
10and with every living creature that is with you: the birds, the livestock, and every animal of the earth with you, of all that go out of the ship, even every animal of the earth.
11I will establish my covenant with you: All flesh will not be cut off any more by the waters of the flood. There will never again be a flood to destroy the earth.”
12God said, “This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations:
13I set my rainbow in the cloud, and it will be a sign of a covenant between me and the earth.
15I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh, and the waters will no more become a flood to destroy all flesh.
16The rainbow will be in the cloud. I will look at it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.”
18The sons of Noah who went out from the ship were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Ham is the father of Canaan.
19These three were the sons of Noah, and from these the whole earth was populated.
20Noah began to be a farmer, and planted a vineyard.
21He drank of the wine and got drunk. He was uncovered within his tent.
22Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brothers outside.
23Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it on both their shoulders, went in backwards, and covered the nakedness of their father. Their faces were backwards, and they didn’t see their father’s nakedness.
25He said, “Canaan is cursed. He will be a servant of servants to his brothers.”
26He said, “Blessed be the LORD, the God of Shem. Let Canaan be his servant.
27May God enlarge Japheth. Let him dwell in the tents of Shem. Let Canaan be his servant.”
29All the days of Noah were nine hundred fifty years, and then he died.
World English BibleRead in NIV in Psalmlog →Highlighted verses are the most connected.
Key verses
Genesis 9:1God’s blessing sends Noah’s family into the emptied earth with a renewed charge to multiply and fill it.
Genesis 9:5God claims authority over human life and requires an accounting from any person or animal that takes it.
Genesis 9:6The judgment against human bloodshed rests on humanity’s enduring dignity as creatures made in God’s image.
Where this chapter reaches

Leviticus and Deuteronomy share Genesis 9’s prohibition against eating blood and its link between blood and life; Exodus also requires an accounting for fatal violence involving people or animals. Isaiah recalls God’s promise concerning Noah’s flood when declaring the firmness of his covenant of peace.

Genesis 9's chapter linksAll strongest linksHover or tap a book
Notice

After reading the whole chapter

What do God’s commands about blood and his covenant with living creatures show about his regard for life?

Write on this

What stands out to you in the contrast between Ham’s response and his brothers’ actions?

Write on this

Questions people ask about Genesis 9

What does the rainbow mean in Genesis 9?

The rainbow is the sign of God’s covenant with Noah, his descendants, and every living creature. God promises that floodwaters will never again destroy all flesh. His words about seeing the rainbow and remembering the covenant express his commitment to keep that promise. The passage does not rule out local floods.

Why did Noah curse Canaan instead of Ham?

The text names Ham as the one who saw Noah’s nakedness and told his brothers, yet Noah’s curse falls on Ham’s son Canaan. It does not explain that choice. Claims about an unmentioned sexual act go beyond the account. The curse names Canaan; it provides no basis for cursing a race or skin color.

Does Genesis 9:6 teach the death penalty?

Verse 6 states that a person who sheds human blood will have his blood shed by another human. It grounds this penalty in God’s making humanity in his image. The verse establishes the gravity of murder and human accountability, though it does not spell out courts, evidence, or procedures for carrying out judgment.

Read it. Now write it.

Start an entry on Genesis 9. Your words go beside the text, and you get one next step for the week.

Genesis · 50 chapters
1234567891011121314151617181920212223242526272829303132333435363738394041424344454647484950
What the Bible says about fear →What the Bible says about anger →

Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).