Genesis 9: The rainbow covenant
God renews His blessing, guards His image-bearers, and by the rainbow vows no flood will destroy the earth again.
Where Genesis 9 sits
- In the story
- Act II, Fall: Genesis 3–11
- In the Bible
- Old Testament · The Law · chapter 9 of 50 in Genesis
- In Genesis
- Noah: the flood and the covenant, 6:9–9:29 · part of All humanity
- Before
- Genesis 8: God remembered Noah
- After
- Genesis 10: The table of nations
Genesis 9 summary
God blesses Noah's family to fill the earth, gives every creature for food but forbids eating blood, and requires the life of any who shed man's blood, for man is made in God's image. He makes His covenant with Noah, his offspring and every living thing that no flood will again destroy the earth, and sets His rainbow in the clouds as its sign, which He Himself will see and remember. Noah's drunkenness exposes him; Ham looks and tells, Shem and Japheth cover him, and Noah curses Canaan, blesses the LORD, the God of Shem, and prays that Japheth will dwell in Shem's tents.
Genesis 9 in context
- Speaking
- Moses, narrating; God speaks the covenant, and Noah speaks the curse and blessing
- Written for
- Israel, about to enter the land of Canaan, learning that the world stands by God's promise and that Canaan's corruption has long roots
- Around it
- Closes the flood story and Noah's life; the nations descended from his sons follow (ch. 10)
How Genesis 9 points to Christ
The world kept by this covenant is the stage on which the promised Seed will come; Luke's genealogy of Jesus runs through Shem (Luke 3:36), and in Christ the nations are brought into the blessing of Shem's line (Eph 2:11–22)
The sections of Genesis 9
- Blessing and blood9:1–7
God renews His blessing, gives meat but not its blood, and requires a life for a murdered man, made in God's image.
- The rainbow in the clouds9:8–17
God covenants with Noah and every creature never again to destroy all life by flood, setting the rainbow as its sign.
- Three sons9:18–19
Shem, Ham and Japheth come out of the ark, Ham being the father of Canaan, and from them the whole earth is peopled.
- Cursed be Canaan9:20–27
Noah lies drunk and uncovered; Ham sees and tells, his brothers cover him, and Noah curses Canaan and blesses the God of Shem.
- Noah dies9:28–29
Noah lives 350 years after the flood and dies at 950.
Read Genesis 9
The Covenant of the Rainbow
1And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. 2The fear and dread of you will fall on every living creature on the earth, every bird of the air, every creature that crawls on the ground, and all the fish of the sea. They are delivered into your hand. 3Everything that lives and moves will be food for you; just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you all things. 4But you must not eat meat with its lifeblood still in it. 5And surely I will require the life of any man or beast by whose hand your lifeblood is shed. I will demand an accounting from anyone who takes the life of his fellow man:
6Whoever sheds the blood of man,
by man his blood will be shed;
for in His own image
God has made mankind.
7But as for you,
be fruitful and multiply;
spread out across the earth
and multiply upon it.”
8Then God said to Noah and his sons with him, 9“Behold, I now establish My covenant with you and your descendants after you, 10and with every living creature that was with you—the birds, the livestock, and every beast of the earth—every living thing that came out of the ark. 11And I establish My covenant with you: Never again will all life be cut off by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.”
12And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between Me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: 13I have set My rainbow in the clouds, and it will be a sign of the covenant between Me and the earth.
14Whenever I form clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, 15I will remember My covenant between Me and you and every living creature of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. 16And whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of every kind that is on the earth.”
17So God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between Me and every creature on the earth.”
Noah’s Shame and Canaan’s Curse
18The sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. And Ham was the father of Canaan. 19These three were the sons of Noah, and from them the whole earth was populated.
20Now Noah, a man of the soil, proceeded to plant a vineyard. 21But when he drank some of its wine, he became drunk and uncovered himself inside his tent. 22And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father’s nakedness and told his two brothers outside.
23Then Shem and Japheth took a garment and placed it across their shoulders, and walking backward, they covered their father’s nakedness. Their faces were turned away so that they did not see their father’s nakedness.
24When Noah awoke from his drunkenness and learned what his youngest son had done to him, 25he said,
“Cursed be Canaan!
A servant of servants
shall he be to his brothers.”
Shem’s Blessing and Noah’s Death
26He also declared:
“Blessed be the LORD, the God of Shem!
May Canaan be the servant of Shem.
27May God expand the territory of Japheth;
may he dwell in the tents of Shem,
and may Canaan be his servant.”
28After the flood, Noah lived 350 years. 29So Noah lived a total of 950 years, and then he died.
Berean Standard Bible, 29 verses. The BSB is in the public domain.
Around Genesis 9
Also in Noah: the flood and the covenant
Read alongside
- Genesis 1:28 The first blessing, renewed after the flood.
- Isaiah 54:9–10 As God swore no more flood, so He swears His kindness will not depart from His people.
- Revelation 4:3 A rainbow encircles the throne.
- Romans 13:4 The ruler carries the sword as God's servant to punish evil.
Chapters that point here
- Exodus 21
- Leviticus 17
- Numbers 35
- Isaiah 24
- 1 Timothy 4
How Genesis 9 connects
- Blessing · Genesis 9:1 · “Be fruitful, and multiply” restates 1:28 for a new start.
- The Seed Line · Genesis 9:26–27 · The LORD is called the God of Shem; the line of promise will run through him (11:10–26). (Luke 3:36)
- Promise · Genesis 9:11–16, kept in 2 Peter 3:6–7; Revelation 4:3
- Promise · Genesis 9:26–27, kept in Luke 3:36; Ephesians 2:11–22
- Covenant with Noah · Genesis 9:8–17 · Ratified with Noah, his offspring and every living creature, with the rainbow as its sign: a covenant that preserves the whole world and its order, given to all who live under it, not a covenant that saves them.
Doctrines Genesis 9 teaches
- Providence · Genesis 9:8–17
How Genesis 9 is shaped
Covenant, seven times Gen 9:8–17
- 1 9:9 I now establish My covenant
- 2 9:11 I establish My covenant
- 3 9:12 the sign of the covenant
- 4 9:13 a sign of the covenant
- 5 9:15 I will remember My covenant
- 6 9:16 the everlasting covenant
- 7 9:17 the sign of the covenant
The Hebrew word comes seven times in ten verses (the BSB adds an eighth in 9:12), pressing home that the earth's future rests on God's own pledge.
Questions on Genesis 9
What is the sign of God's covenant with Noah, and what does it promise?
Show the answer
The rainbow in the clouds (9:13). It promises that never again will a flood cut off all life or destroy the earth, and whenever it appears God will remember His everlasting covenant with every living creature (9:11–16).
On what ground does 9:6 require a reckoning for murder?
Show the answer
On the image of God: whoever sheds man’s blood will have his own blood shed by man, because “in His own image God has made mankind” (9:6). The image given at creation (1:27) still stands after the flood.
Which words in 9:1 repeat God's first blessing in 1:28?
Show the answer
“Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth” (9:1), the very words of God’s first blessing on mankind (1:28). After the flood God renews to Noah’s family the charge He gave at creation.
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