9
God made a promise to Noah
1 God was good to Noah and his sons. God blessed them and said, “I want you to have lots of children so that the earth is full of people again.+ 2 And I am making you the boss over everything that lives on the ground, all the animals, all the birds, and all the fish in the sea too. But they will be frightened of you.
3 Before now, I gave you plants to eat, but from now on you can eat anything that is alive. 4 But do not eat meat that still has blood in it. Let all the blood run out, you see that blood keeps an animal alive.+
5-6 A person's life is so special that if an animal kills someone, that animal has to die. And if somebody murders another person, the murderer has to die.
You see, I made people like myself,
and that is why they are special to me+.
7 But you Noah and your family, I want you to have a lot of children so that the earth is full of people again.”+
8 Then God said to Noah and his sons, 9 “Right now I am going to make a strong promise to you and to all the family that will come from you. 10 And I am making the same promise to all the animals that live on the earth too, all the birds, all the quiet animals, and all the wild animals. I promise this to all of the animals that came out of the boat with you. 11 This is my promise. I will never again send a flood that kills everything.”
God sent a rainbow to help people remember what he promised
12-13 Then God said, “I am going to put a rainbow up in the sky. It will be a sign for everyone that I have made a strong promise to you and to everything that lives on the earth. That promise will last forever. 14-15 So, when I make the clouds come across the sky and there is a rainbow that everyone can see, I will remember the promise I made to you and to everything that is alive. That promise is that I will never again send a flood that kills every living thing on the earth. 16 Yes, when I see a rainbow in the sky, I will remember my promise to you and to everything that lives on the earth. That promise will last forever.” 17 Then God said to Noah, “This is very important. That rainbow will show us that I made this promise to every living thing that lives on the earth.”
Noah got drunk
18-19 When Noah went out of the boat, his 3 sons, Shem, Ham, and Jay-feth went with him. The sons and their wives had children and grandchildren until there were a lot of people living on the earth again. One of Ham's sons was named Canaan.
20 Noah was a farmer, and so he started to grow food in a garden. He planted some grape vines and later on, he used the grapes to make wine. 21 One day Noah drank too much of the wine and got drunk. He took off all his clothes and went to sleep in his tent. 22 Ham went into the tent and saw his father sleeping with no clothes on. But Ham, the father of Canaan, did not respect his father. He went outside and told his brothers. 23 When Shem and Jay-feth heard what Ham said, they got a coat to cover their father. They held it between them and walked backwards into the tent and put the coat over their father and covered him up. They made sure they did not turn around and look at their father's body.
24 Noah woke up and when he was sober, he found out what his youngest son Ham did. 25 And so Noah said, “I am putting a curse on Ham's son, Canaan. He will be forced to work really hard for his relations and he will not get paid. He will be a slave. 26 I know that Shem respects God and so I am going to ask the Lord to make Canaan a slave for Shem. 27 I am going to ask God to make Jay-feth's country much bigger. Jay-feth and Shem will live together in that country, and Canaan will work hard as a slave for both Jay-feth and Shem.”
28 Noah lived for another 350 years after the flood. 29 He died when he was 950 years old.
+ 9:1 Genesis 1:28 + 9:4 Leviticus 7:26-27; 17:10-14; 19:26; Deuteronomy 12:16; 23; 15:23; Acts 15:20 + 9:5-6 Genesis 1:26; Exodus 20:13 + 9:7 Genesis 1:28