*Genesis 9:1-17
God establishes a covenant with Noah and all living things, symbolized by the rainbow.
- God Blesses Noah and His Sons:
- Following the flood, God blesses Noah and his sons, encouraging them to be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth.
- Establishment of Human Authority Over Animals:
- God establishes human dominion over all animals, declaring that all living creatures are now given into human hands.
- He specifies that, along with plants, every moving creature will serve as food for humans, but with the stipulation that blood, which represents life, must not be consumed.
- Prohibition Against Murder and the Sanctity of Human Life:
- God commands that human life is sacred and must be respected; whoever sheds human blood, by humans shall their blood be shed.
- This command underscores the value of human life and introduces a basic form of justice.
- God’s Covenant with Noah and All Living Creatures:
- God establishes a covenant not only with Noah and his descendants but with every living creature that was on the ark.
- He promises never again to destroy all life with a flood, regardless of human behavior.
- The Sign of the Covenant – The Rainbow:
- God sets a rainbow in the clouds as a sign of His covenant.
- This rainbow will serve as a reminder to God Himself of His promise to never again destroy the earth with floodwaters.
- Permanence of the Covenant:
- The covenant is described as everlasting, applicable to all future generations and every living creature on earth.
- This marks the rainbow as a universal symbol of God’s mercy and the stability of creation post-flood.
9:1 And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.
9:2 And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moveth upon the earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea; into your hand are they delivered.
9:3 Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things.
9:4 But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat.
9:5 And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man’s brother will I require the life of man.
9:6 Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man.
9:7 And you, be ye fruitful, and multiply; bring forth abundantly in the earth, and multiply therein.
9:8 And God spake unto Noah, and to his sons with him, saying, 9:9 And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you; 9:10 And with every living creature that is with you, of the fowl, of the cattle, and of every beast of the earth with you; from all that go out of the ark, to every beast of the earth.
9:11 And I will establish my covenant with you, neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth.
9:12 And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: 9:13 I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth.
9:14 And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud: 9:15 And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh.
9:16 And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth.
9:17 And God said unto Noah, This is the token of the covenant, which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth.