9:1   God said to Noah and his sons: I am giving you my blessing. Have a lot of children and grandchildren, so people will live everywhere on this earth.

9:2   All animals, birds, reptiles, and fish will be afraid of you. I have placed them under your control,

9:3   and I have given them to you for food. From now on, you may eat them, as well as the green plants that you have always eaten.

9:4   But life is in the blood, and you must not eat any meat that still has blood in it.

9:5   I created humans to be like me, and I will punish any animal or person that takes a human life. If an animal kills someone, that animal must die. And if a person takes the life of another, that person must be put to death.

9:6   (SEE 9:5)

9:7   I want you and your descendants to have many children, so people will live everywhere on earth.

9:8   Again, God said to Noah and his sons:

9:9   I am going to make a solemn promise to you and to everyone who will live after you.

9:10   This includes the birds and the animals that came out of the boat.

9:11   I promise every living creature that the earth and those living on it will never again be destroyed by a flood.

9:12   The rainbow that I have put in the sky will be my sign to you and to every living creature on earth. It will remind you that I will keep this promise forever.

9:13   (SEE 9:12)

9:14   When I send clouds over the earth, and a rainbow appears in the sky,

9:15   I will remember my promise to you and to all other living creatures. Never again will I let floodwaters destroy all life.

9:16   When I see the rainbow in the sky, I will always remember the promise that I have made to every living creature.

9:17   The rainbow will be the sign of that solemn promise.

9:18   Noah and his sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, came out of the boat. Ham later had a son named Canaan.

9:19   All people on earth are descendants of Noah's three sons.

9:20   Noah farmed the land and was the first to plant a vineyard.

9:21   One day he got drunk and was lying naked in his tent.

9:22   Ham entered the tent and saw him naked, then went back outside and told his brothers.

9:23   Shem and Japheth put a robe over their shoulders and walked backwards into the tent. Without looking at their father, they placed it over his body.

9:24   When Noah woke up and learned what his youngest son had done,

9:25   he said, "I now put a curse on Canaan! He will be the lowest slave of his brothers.

9:26   I ask the LORD my God to bless Shem and make Canaan his slave.

9:27   I pray that the LORD will give Japheth more and more land and let him take over the territory of Shem. May Canaan be his slave."

9:28   Noah lived three hundred fifty years after the flood

9:29   and died at the age of nine hundred fifty.