God’s Covenant With Humanity
Genesis 9God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them, “Y’all be fruitful, multiply, and replenish the earth. The fear of y’all and the dread of y’all 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 y’all’s hand. Every moving thing that lives will be food for y’all. As I gave y’all the green plant, I now give everything to y’all. But y’all must not eat flesh with its life (that is, its blood). Surely I will require accounting for y’all’s lifeblood. At the hand of every animal I will require it. At the hand of every human, even at the hand of every person’s brother or sister, I will require the life of person.
Whoever sheds human blood, by humans will their blood be shed, for in the image of God God made humankind.As for y’all, be fruitful and multiply, increase abundantly in the earth and multiply in it.”
Then God spoke to Noah and to his sons with him, saying, “Look! I will establish my covenant with y’all, and with y’all’s offspring after y’all, and with every living creature that is with y’all: the birds, the livestock, and every animal of the earth with y’all, of all that go out of the ark, every animal of the earth. I will establish my covenant with y’all: Never again will all living things be destroyed by the waters of the flood. Never again will there be a flood destroy the earth.” God said, “This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and y’all and every living creature that is with y’all, for all subsequent generations: I set my rainbow in the cloud, and it will be a sign of a covenant between me and the earth. When I bring a cloud over the earth, that the rainbow will be seen in the cloud, I will remember my covenant, which is between me and y’all and every living creature of all flesh, and the waters will no more become a flood to destroy all flesh. The 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.” God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant which I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth.”
The Vineyard and the Curse
The sons of Noah who went out from the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Ham was the father of Canaan. These three were the sons of Noah, and from these the whole earth was populated.
Then Noah, a man of the soil, planted a vineyard. He drank of the wine, became drunk, and uncovered himself inside his tent. Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brothers outside. Shem 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. When Noah awoke from his wine, he knew what his youngest son had done to him. He said,
“Canaan is cursed. He will be a servant of servants to his brothers.”He said,
“Blessed be YHWH, the God of Shem. Let Canaan be his servant. May God enlarge Japheth. Let him dwell in the tents of Shem. Let Canaan be his servant.”Noah lived three hundred fifty years after the flood. All the days of Noah were nine hundred fifty years, and then he died.