Kejadian 9:6-19

9:6 “Whoever sheds human blood, ¹ 

by other humans ² 

must his blood be shed;

for in God’s image ³ 

God ⁴  has made humankind.”

9:7 But as for you, ⁵  be fruitful and multiply; increase abundantly on the earth and multiply on it.”

9:8 God said to Noah and his sons, ⁶  9:9 “Look! I now confirm ⁷  my covenant with you and your descendants after you ⁸  9:10 and with every living creature that is with you, including the birds, the domestic animals, and every living creature of the earth with you, all those that came out of the ark with you – every living creature of the earth. ⁹  9:11 I confirm ¹⁰  my covenant with you: Never again will all living things ¹¹  be wiped out ¹²  by the waters of a flood; ¹³  never again will a flood destroy the earth.”

9:12 And God said, “This is the guarantee ¹⁴  of the covenant I am making ¹⁵  with you ¹⁶  and every living creature with you, a covenant ¹⁷  for all subsequent ¹⁸  generations: 9:13 I will place ¹⁹  my rainbow ²⁰  in the clouds, and it will become ²¹  a guarantee of the covenant between me and the earth. 9:14 Whenever ²²  I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, 9:15 then I will remember my covenant with you ²³  and with all living creatures of all kinds. ²⁴  Never again will the waters become a flood and destroy ²⁵  all living things. ²⁶  9:16 When the rainbow is in the clouds, I will notice it and remember ²⁷  the perpetual covenant between God and all living creatures of all kinds that are on the earth.”

9:17 So God said to Noah, “This is the guarantee of the covenant that I am confirming between me and all living things ²⁸  that are on the earth.”

The Curse of Canaan

9:18 The sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. (Now Ham was the father of Canaan.) ²⁹  9:19 These were the sons of Noah, and from them the whole earth was populated. ³⁰ 

[9:6]  ¹ tn Heb “the blood of man.”

[9:6]  ² tn Heb “by man,” a generic term here for other human beings.

[9:6]  ³ sn See the notes on the words “humankind” and “likeness” in Gen 1:26, as well as J. Barr, “The Image of God in the Book of Genesis – A Study of Terminology,” BJRL 51 (1968/69): 11-26.

[9:6]  ⁴ tn Heb “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[9:7]  ⁵ sn The disjunctive clause (conjunction + pronominal subject + verb) here indicates a strong contrast to what has preceded. Against the backdrop of the warnings about taking life, God now instructs the people to produce life, using terms reminiscent of the mandate given to Adam (Gen 1:28).

[9:8]  ⁶ tn Heb “to Noah and to his sons with him, saying.”

[9:9]  ⁷ tn Heb “I, look, I confirm.” The particle הִנְנִי (hinni) used with the participle מֵקִים (meqim) gives the sense of immediacy or imminence, as if to say, “Look! I am now confirming.”

[9:9]  ⁸ tn The three pronominal suffixes (translated “you,” “your,” and “you”) are masculine plural. As v. 8 indicates, Noah and his sons are addressed.

[9:10]  ⁹ tn The verbal repetition is apparently for emphasis.

[9:11]  ¹⁰ tn The verb וַהֲקִמֹתִי (vahaqimoti) is a perfect with the vav (ו) consecutive and should be translated with the English present tense, just as the participle at the beginning of the speech was (v. 9). Another option is to translate both forms with the English future tense (“I will confirm”).

[9:11]  ¹¹ tn Heb “all flesh.”

[9:11]  ¹² tn Heb “cut off.”

[9:11]  ¹³ tn Heb “and all flesh will not be cut off again by the waters of the flood.”

[9:12]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “sign.”

[9:12]  ¹⁵ sn On the making of covenants in Genesis, see W. F. Albright, “The Hebrew Expression for ‘Making a Covenant’ in Pre-Israelite Documents,” BASOR 121 (1951): 21-22.

[9:12]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “between me and between you.”

[9:12]  ¹⁷ tn The words “a covenant” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[9:12]  ¹⁸ tn The Hebrew term עוֹלָם (’olam) means “ever, forever, lasting, perpetual.” The covenant would extend to subsequent generations.

[9:13]  ¹⁹ tn The translation assumes that the perfect verbal form is used rhetorically, emphasizing the certainty of the action. Other translation options include “I have placed” (present perfect; cf. NIV, NRSV) and “I place” (instantaneous perfect; cf. NEB).

[9:13]  ²⁰ sn The Hebrew word קֶשֶׁת (qeshet) normally refers to a warrior’s bow. Some understand this to mean that God the warrior hangs up his battle bow at the end of the flood, indicating he is now at peace with humankind, but others question the legitimacy of this proposal. See C. Westermann, Genesis, 1:473, and G. J. Wenham, Genesis (WBC), 1:196.

[9:13]  ²¹ tn The perfect verbal form with vav (ו) consecutive here has the same aspectual function as the preceding perfect of certitude.

[9:14]  ²² tn The temporal indicator (וְהָיָה, vÿhayah, conjunction + the perfect verb form), often translated “it will be,” anticipates a future development.

[9:15]  ²³ tn Heb “which [is] between me and between you.”

[9:15]  ²⁴ tn Heb “all flesh.”

[9:15]  ²⁵ tn Heb “to destroy.”

[9:15]  ²⁶ tn Heb “all flesh.”

[9:16]  ²⁷ tn The translation assumes that the infinitive לִזְכֹּר (lizkor, “to remember”) here expresses the result of seeing the rainbow. Another option is to understand it as indicating purpose, in which case it could be translated, “I will look at it so that I may remember.”

[9:17]  ²⁸ tn Heb “all flesh.”

[9:18]  ²⁹ sn The concluding disjunctive clause is parenthetical. It anticipates the following story, which explains that the Canaanites, Ham’s descendants through Canaan, were cursed because they shared the same moral abandonment that their ancestor displayed. See A. van Selms, “The Canaanites in the Book of Genesis,” OTS 12 (1958): 182-213.

[9:19]  ³⁰ tn Heb “was scattered.” The verb פָּצָה (patsah, “to scatter” [Niphal, “to be scattered”]) figures prominently in story of the dispersion of humankind in chap. 11.