NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible | Page 34
38 | Genesis 9:3
the fish in the sea; they are given into your hands. 3 Everything that lives and moves about
will be food for you. b Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything.
4 “But you must not eat meat that has its lifeblood still in it. c 5 And for your lifeblood I
will surely demand an accounting. I will demand an accounting from every animal. d And
from each human being, too, I will demand an accounting for the life of another human
being. e
6 “Whoever sheds human blood,
by humans shall their blood be shed; f
for in the image of God g
has God made mankind.
7 As for you, be fruitful and increase in number; multiply on the earth and increase
upon it.” h
8 Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him: 9 “I now establish my covenant with
you i and with your descendants after you 10 and with every living creature that was with
you — the birds, the livestock and all the wild ani m
als, all those that came out of the ark
with you — every living creature on earth. 11 I establish my covenant j with you: Never again
will all life be destroyed by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to de
stroy the e
arth. k ”
12 And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant l I am making between me and you
and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: 13 I have set my
rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth.
14 Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, 15 I will
remember my covenant m between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never
again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. 16 Whenever the rainbow appears
in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant n between God and all
living creatures of every kind on the earth.”
17 So God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant o I have established between me
and all life on the earth.”
9:3 b Ge 1:29
9:4 c Lev 3:17;
17:10-14; Dt 12:16,
23-25; 1Sa 14:33
9:5 d Ex 21:28-32
e Ge 4:10
9:6 f Ge 4:14; Ex 21:12,
14; Lev 24:17;
Mt 26:52 g Ge 1:26
9:7 h Ge 1:22
9:9 i Ge 6:18
9:11 j ver 16; Isa 24:5
k Ge 8:21; Isa 54:9
9:12 l ver 17; Ge 17:11
9:15 m Ex 2:24;
Lev 26:42, 45; Dt 7:9;
Eze 16:60
9:16 n ver 11; Ge 17:7,
13, 19; 2Sa 7:13; 23:5
9:17 o ver 12; Ge 17:11
9:18 p ver 25-27;
Ge 10:6, 15
9:19 q Ge 10:32
The Sons of Noah
18 The sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham and Japheth. (Ham was
the father of Canaan.) p 19 These were the three sons of Noah, and from them came the peo
ple who were scattered over the whole earth. q
20 Noah, a man of the soil, proceeded a to plant a vineyard. 21 When he drank some of its
wine, he became d
runk and lay uncovered inside his tent. 22 Ham, the father of Canaan,
saw his father naked and told his two brothers outside. 23 But Shem and Japheth took a
garment and laid it a
cross t heir shoulders; then they walked in backward and covered
their father’s naked body. Their faces were turned the other way so that they would not
see their father naked.
a 20 Or
soil, was the first
9:3 food. The first explicit statement of a
carnivorous diet. Although the olive leaf (8:11)
signifies the return of agricultural life, it can-
not provide Noah’s children with sufficient
food, especially in the first months after de-
parting from the ark, when the harvest sea-
son has not yet begun (8:22).
9:4,5 lifeblood. Blood is the God-given sign
of life (Lev 17:11). God forbids his people to
eat blood as a way of recognizing that life
belongs to him (Lev 17:10 – 14). This remains
a regulation through the OT and into the NT
(Acts 15:20).
9:5 I will demand an accounting. God will
hold responsible “each human being” who
takes the life of another.
9:6 by humans shall their blood be shed. In
the context of the law, God bans the ven-
detta and commands death for shedding
innocent blood (Exod 21:12 – 13; Deut 21:1 – 9)
while recognizing different levels of inten-
tion in planning a murder and adjusting the
punishment accordingly. in the image of God.
See note on 1:26. Because human beings are
formed in God’s image, human life is so valu-
able that taking innocent life can only be paid
for by the life of the one who took it in the
first place.
9:9,11 my covenant. The new world after the
flood is characterized by covenants (6:18; see
“Covenant,” p. 2334). This covenant is for all of
Noah’s family, that is, for all the world (9:19;
10:1 – 32).
9:10 and with every living creature. This
is God’s only OT covenant with the animal
kingdom.
9:11 Never again. This repeats the promise of
8:21 – 22 in the context of a covenant.
9:12 – 13 sign . . . rainbow. Every major cov-
enant that God makes in the Pentateuch has
a sign: Abraham’s covenant has circumcision
(ch. 17) and Isr