This should be the most extensive examination of Gen. 9 available, where you will be able to examine in depth every word of the original text.

Outline of Chapter 9:

Introduction

         vv.     1–7           God’s Covenant: Requirements of the New Civilization

         vv.     8–17         God’s Covenant: A Promise Never to Flood the Entire Earth Again

         vv.    18–19         The Progenitors of Humanity

         vv.    20–27         Noah’s Drunkenness Followed by Noah Alternately Cursing and Blessing his Sons

         vv.    28–29         Noah’s Age

Addendum

Charts, Graphics and Short Doctrines:

         v.       3              God Blesses Adam and the Woman/God Blesses Noah and his Sons

         v.       6              Man, the Shadow Image of God

         v.       6              The [Short] Doctrine of Murder

         v.       8              A Review of Dispensations

         v.       8              Covenant Theology

         v.       8              Problems with Covenant Theology

         v.       8              Dispensationalism versus Covenant Theology

         v.       8              Additional Readings on Dispensations and Covenant Theology

         v.       9              Points on Covenants

         v.      12              The Doctrine of a Sign or Token

         v.      15              God’s Omniscience

         v.      17              Summary Points on the Noahic Covenant

         v.      17              Additional References to Antediluvian Meteorological Conditions

         v.      18              R. B. Thieme, Jr. Breaks Down the Races

         v.      23              The Three Reactions

         Addendum          Josephus’ History of this Time Period

         Addendum          Edersheim Summarizes Genesis 9

         Addendum          A Complete Translation of Genesis 9

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An Introduction to Genesis 9

I ntroduction: Chapter 9 is the new civilization and the slightly changed earth. We will see the life expectancy to drop abruptly and we will see the existence of bacteria, which did not seem to exist or was not a factor in the antediluvian system. We will also see behavior which is certainly unbecoming a Christian in this chapter. It is all recorded for our benefit. There is not a man in Scripture who does not have feet of clay. This further indicates the unusual material which is found in the Scripture; most people spend a great deal of time justifying themselves—however, those who wrote Scripture record even there most embarrassing moments or the most serious mistakes that they made; and these are recorded unabashedly, without apology and without justification.

In the previous chapters, the earth has suffered a worldwide flood, and Noah and his family have been in an ark for over a year with representative members of the various animal families. The rain has stopped, the waters have subsided, dry land has begun to appear, and God has ordered Noah and company to exit the ark.

In Gen. 9, God appears to speak to Noah and his sons on 1 or 2 occasions. He first speaks to Noah and his sons after they exit the ark, and lays down a few rules (vv. 1–7). Then God speaks to Noah and his sons, and makes a covenant with them (vv. 8–17). Whether this second conversation is a continuation of the first, or occurs an hour later, a day later or a month later, we do not know. Most approach these conversations as if God just started talking in v. 1 and He stops in v. 17.

Even though it is a fairly minor thing, whether there are 2 separate conversations or whether God said this to Noah and company upon exiting the ark, this has bothered me for over a month now, and so far, I have not come up with any satisfactory explanation or understanding of this on my own or through the reading and studying that I do.

In any case, here is my take on these conversations (and I have changed my mind on this several times). At the end of the flood, when the waters subsided, and it was possible to live outside of the ark, God first tells Noah to exit the ark (Gen. 8:15–17). Noah and company exit the ark and offer up some animal sacrifices (recall that they took 7 of each of the clean animals with them into the ark—Gen. 7:2). After these animal sacrifices, which portray the death of Christ on the cross, God lays down the basic ground rules of this new dispensation and this new civilization, explaining to them their responsibilities (Gen. 9:1–7). What God tells Noah and his sons is, what has changed since the flood. Prior to the flood, it does not appear as if there was any formal governance or any formal law (what we know about these 1600+ years is covered in only 6 chapters). Then, after laying down the changes, which includes at least one prohibition, God makes a covenant with Noah and his sons, which appears to be a continuation of this. “These are your responsibilities (vv. 1–7) and this is My promise (vv. 8–17),” seems to be the gist of what is being said here.

In the first 7 verses, there are 7 verbs in the imperative mood and 5 in the imperfect tense, which essentially function as imperatives (the Ten Commandments are given in imperfect tenses rather than in the imperative mood). So God, after Noah and company have exited the ark, will lay down a few requirements and mandates which they are to follow.

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God's Covenant: Requirements of the New Civilization

Here is how others have translated this verse:

Ancient texts:                       Note: I compare the Hebrew text to English translations of the Latin, Syriac and Greek texts, using the Douay-Rheims translation; George Lamsa’s translation, and Sir Lancelot Charles Lee Brenton’s translation as revised and edited by Paul W. Esposito, respectively. I often update these texts with non-substantive changes (e.g., you for thou, etc.). I often use the text of the Complete Apostles’ Bible instead of Brenton’s translation, because it updates the English text.

The Septuagint was the earliest known translation of a book (circa 200 b.c.). Since this translation was made before the textual criticism had been developed into a science and because different books appear to be translated by different men, the Greek translation can sometimes be very uneven.

When there are serious disparities between my translation and Brenton’s (or the text of the Complete Apostles’ Bible), I look at the Greek text of the Septuagint (the LXX) to see if a substantive difference actually exists (and I reflect these changes in the English rendering of the Greek text). I use the Greek LXX with Strong’s numbers and morphology available for e-sword. The only problem with this resource (which is a problem for similar resources) is, there is no way to further explore Greek verbs which are not found in the New Testament. Although I usually quote the Complete Apostles’ Bible here, I have begun to make changes in the translation when their translation conflicts with the Greek and note what those changes are.

The Masoretic text is the Hebrew text with all of the vowels (vowel points) inserted (the original Hebrew text lacked vowels). We take the Masoretic text to be the text closest to the original. However, differences between the Masoretic text and the Greek, Latin and Syriac are worth noting and, once in a great while, represent a more accurate text possessed by those other ancient translators.

In general, the Latin text is an outstanding translation from the Hebrew text into Latin and very trustworthy (I say this as a non-Catholic). Unfortunately, I do not read Latin—apart from some very obvious words—so I am dependent upon the English translation of the Latin (principally, the Douay-Rheims translation).

Underlined words indicate differences in the text.

Bracketed portions of the Dead Sea Scrolls are words, letters and phrases lost in the scroll due to various types of damage. Underlined words or phrases are those in the Dead Sea Scrolls but not in the Masoretic text.

The Targum of Onkelos is actually the Pentateuchal Targumim, which are The Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan Ben Uzziel. On the Pentateuch With The Fragments of the Jerusalem Targum From the Chaldee by J. W. Etheridge, M.A. Take from http://targum.info/targumic-texts/pentateuchal-targumim/ and first published in 1862.

Targum of Onkelos                And the Lord blessed Noah, and his sons, and said to them, Spread forth and multiply, and replenish the earth.

Latin Vulgate                          And God blessed Noe and his sons. And he said to them: Increase, and multiply, and fill the earth.

Masoretic Text (Hebrew)        And so blesses Elohim Noah and his sons; and so He says to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill up the earth.

Peshitta (Syriac)                    AND God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.

Septuagint (Greek)                And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them, Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and have dominion over it.

Significant differences: 

Thought-for-thought translations; paraphrases:

Common English Bible           God's covenant with all life

God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, "Be fertile, multiply, and fill the earth.

Contemporary English V.       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.

Easy English                          And God *blessed Noah and his sons. And God said this to them. `Have very many children and *descendants. And live everywhere on the earth.

Easy-to-Read Version            God blessed Noah and his sons. God said to him, “Have many children. Fill the earth with your people.

Good News Bible (TEV)         God blessed Noah and his sons and said, "Have many children, so that your descendants will live all over the earth.

The Message                         God blessed Noah and his sons: He said, "Prosper! Reproduce! Fill the Earth!

New Century Version                                         The New Beginning

Then God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, "Have many children; grow in number and fill the earth.

New Life Bible                                                    God's Agreement With Noah

God made good come to Noah and his sons, and said to them, "Have many children, and cover the earth.

Partially literal and partially paraphrased translations:

American English Bible          Thereafter, God blest Noah and his sons and told them, 'Reproduce and multiply. fill the earth and rule over it.

Christian Community Bible     The new world order

God blessed Noah and his sons and he said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply and fill the earth.

God’s Word™                         God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, "Be fertile, increase in number, and fill the earth.

New American Bible              Covenant with Noah.

God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them: Be fertile and multiply and fill the earth. God reaffirms without change the original blessing and mandate of 1:28. In the Mesopotamian epic Atrahasis, on which the Genesis story is partly modeled, the gods changed their original plan by restricting human population through such means as childhood diseases, birth demons, and mandating celibacy among certain groups of women. Gn 1:22, 28; 8:17.

NIRV                                      Then God gave his blessing to Noah and his sons. He said to them, "Have children and increase your numbers. Fill the earth.

New Simplified Bible              God blessed Noah and his sons. He said: »Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth.

Mostly literal renderings (with some occasional paraphrasing):

Bible in Basic English             And God gave his blessing to Noah and his sons, and said, Be fertile, and have increase, and make the earth full.

Ferar-Fenton Bible                 God’s Blessing and Command to Mankind upon Noah Leaving the Ark. A Renewal of the Primeval Blessings.

God also blessed Noah and his sons, and said, “Be prolific and increase and fill the earth.

NET Bible®                             God's Covenant with Humankind through Noah

Then God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. When it comes to making an actual material change to the text, the NET Bible® is pretty good about indicating this. Since most of these corrections will be clear in the more literal translations below and within the Hebrew exegesis itself, I will not continue to list every NET Bible® footnote.

The Scriptures 1998              And Elohim blessed Noaḥ and his sons, and said to them, “Bear fruit and increase, and fill the earth.

Limited Vocabulary Translations:

International Standard V        .

Catholic Bibles (those having the Imprimatur):

The Heritage Bible                 .

Jewish/Hebrew Names Bibles:

Kaplan Translation                 .

Expanded/Embellished Bibles:

Kretzmann’s Commentary    .

Lexham English Bible            .

Translation for Translators     .

The Voice                               .

Literal, almost word-for-word, renderings:

The Amplified Bible                And God pronounced a blessing upon Noah and his sons and said to them, Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.

Concordant Literal Version    And blessing is the Elohim Noah and his sons. And saying is He to them, "Be fruitful and increase and fill the earth and subdue it.

Context Group Version          And God esteemed Noah and his sons, and said to them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the land { or earth }.

The Geneva Bible                  And God blessed [God increased them with fruit, and declared to them his counsel as concerning the replenishing of the earth. ] Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.

Syndein/Thieme                     {Divine Commands to Re-populate the Whole Earth}

And 'Elohiym/Godhead blessed {barak - means He provided all they needed} Noah and his sons, and said {'amar} unto them, "Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the whole earth {'erets}.".

World English Bible                God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them, "Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.

Young’s Updated LT             And God blesses Noah, and his sons, and says to them, “Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the earth.

The gist of this verse:          God encourages Noah and his sons to have lots of children.

Translation: Then Elohim blessed Noah... When this word is applied with God as the subject and man as the recipient, the idea is, God is causing man to prosper in some way; or God wants man to be happy; or God is saluting these men with a blessing.

We do not know if this is all that God said, but it does seem to be fairly thorough, as what God says will be found in the better part of the next 15 or 16 verses (it is not clear whether these blessings were given at different times because, several times to follow, it will be noted against that God is speaking to Noah and his sons. This suggests to me not that the human author thinks his readers are A.D.D. (“Now, let me remind you just one more time, that this was God speaking to Noah and his sons.”), but it suggests, rather, that God spoke to Noah and his sons on several occasions after they got out of the ark and began to live on the earth. Noah is going to live for another 350 years after this flood, so it makes little sense for all of this to take place, and then for God to disappear again from Noah’s life.

Because this is a covenant that God makes with Noah, then we understand that this is a blessing from God to Noah and his family.

Translation: ...and his sons,... God does not speak only to Noah, but He speaks to Noah and his sons. Now, we do not know exactly how this was done or in what form that God came. I tend to opt for God appearing as a man and to just show up and begin talking to Noah and his family at pivotal times.

Translation: ...saying to them,... This passage emphasizes over and over again that this arrangement is between God and Noah’s family. This verse tells us that God is addressing Noah and his family; then it uses the 3^rd person masculine singular suffix here; and then all of the commands will be 2^nd person masculine plural suffix. In other words, even if you just skim this passage, you know that it is directed toward Noah and his sons.

Translation:...“Be fruitful and multiply [your numbers]... There will be 3 verbs here, all of which are different but related. Furthermore, these words are associated with blessing. Furthermore, these verbs indicate that God is principally speaking to Noah’s sons, since Noah is, at this point in time, 601 years old, and probably unable to sire children at his age.

God tells Noah and his 3 sons to be fruitful and multiply, which means to have a lot of children. Noah is apparently out of that business now, but his 3 sons will propagate the human race.

The verb to be fruitful is the Qal imperative of pârâh (פָּרָה) [pronounced paw-RAW], which means to bear fruit, to be fruitful; to bear young, to have lots of children. Strong’s #6509 BDB #826. This word is used more often for humans and for animals than it is for plants. God is ordering Noah’s sons to have a lot of children.

The second Qal imperative is râbâh (רָבָה) [pronounced raw^b-VAWH], which means to become much, to become many, to multiply, to increase in population and in whatever else. Strong’s #7235 BDB #915. So God is telling them to have a lot of children and to continue to increase the number of people on the earth.

The second verb mandates that they increase in population, which means that it will be up to the sons of Noah’s sons to carry on the tradition to marry and to have plenty of children themselves.

Translation: ...and replenish the earth. Now, the verb here replenish, was not taken from Gesenius or from BDB, but it seems to be apropos. The population of the earth, which must have been significant, is wiped out. So God is telling these young men (they are 100, which is probably the equivalent of 30 today) to have lots of children, for those children to have children, and to fill up the earth with tons of children.

The third verb is the Qal imperative of mâlêʾ (מָלֵא) [pronounced maw-LAY], which means to fill, to make full, to be full. Strong's #4390 BDB #569. The earth is to be made full of people.

The command to bear a lot of children simply indicates that Noah’s 3 sons should impregnate their wives again and again and again.

It is of the utmost importance when studying God's Word and the various commands within it to note who is giving a command and who is receiving the command. It is important to examine whether this command is designed to be carried out by a specific person, generation, epoch or whether it holds for all time. God gave this specific command to Adam and Eve, to Noah and his sons and to the animals. This command is not repeated nor is it repealed in the New Testament. At that point in time there were but eight people alive on the earth and God had intended for them to repopulate the earth. This in no way invalidates birth control nor does it mean that population control is the order of the day. Today, those are non issues to be determined by individuals. Some families should be large and other married people should not have any children whatsoever. When it comes to that sort of thing, it is up to the individuals involved to act according to how God guides them. Further; if you do not know God's Word then just how exactly do you expect to be guided? It is possible that there is no real divine guidance apart from God's Word in our souls. Any other guidance is the result of repeated discipline.

Gen 9:1 And God blessed Noah and his sons. And He said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth.

This parallels another verse which we have studied: And God blessed them. And God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth." (Gen. 1:28). The difference in these commandments is, Adam and the woman were without sin natures when God told them to be fruitful and multiply. God told Noah’s son to be fruitful and multiply, and they possessed one each, a sin nature.

This is a fascinating command, as God does not abrogate this command nor does He restate it in the New Testament. For most of my lifetime, I have heard dire warnings of human overpopulation—that there would not be enough food to go around, that there would not be enough energy to power everything, but, throughout my lifetime, I have also observed population growth without out-of-control hunger (there are areas of the world where starvation occurs, but there is no indication that the percentages of starving people have increased when populations increase).

There are about 6 billion people in this world today, and if they all decided to move to Texas, that would put them on 268,600 sq. miles of land, that would make our population density here around 22,000 people/sq. mile, leaving the rest of the world unpopulated. In the year 2000, the population density of New York City was 26,000 people/sq. mile, and there are about 20 other cities in the world today with a population density greater than New York City. Therefore, it ought to be obvious that we can add a few more people to the earth and still be okay.

There is something which is not revealed here: how did God reveal Himself to Noah? In what form was God? It is reasonable to assume that He took upon the form of a man or an angel. Whatever form God takes, this is called a theophany when God appears to man in some form (like the burning bush to Moses; as angels to Abraham). Many theologians believe that this is a Christophany; that is, an appearance of Jesus Christ in some form before the incarnation.

I personally believe that all theophanies are Christophanies; that is, every appearance of God to man is actually the revealed member of the Trinity, Jesus Christ, in a pre-incarnate form. In most cases, I would guess that Jesus takes the form of a man, and, for this reason, the writer of Scripture does not go on and on and on about how Jesus looks (even in the New Testament, the only physical description of Jesus is when He is in His glorified state).

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Here is how others have translated this verse:

Ancient texts:

Targum of Onkelos                And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and on every fowl of the heavens; of all that the earth swarmeth forth, and all the fishes of the sea, into your hand are they delivered.

Latin Vulgate                          And let the fear and dread of you be upon all the beasts of the earth, and upon all the fowls of the air, and all that move upon the earth: all the fishes of the sea are delivered into your hand.

Masoretic Text (Hebrew)        And your dread and your fear is upon all life of the earth and upon every bird of the [two] heavens and upon all that creeps [upon] the ground and all fishes of the sea—into your hand they are given.

Peshitta (Syriac)                    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 moves upon the earth, and all the fish of the sea; into your hand they are delivered.

Septuagint (Greek)                And the dread and the fear of you shall be upon all the wild beasts of the earth, on all the birds of the sky, and on all things moving upon the earth, and upon all the fish of the sea, I have placed them under your power.

Significant differences: 

Thought-for-thought translations; paraphrases:

Common English Bible           All of the animals on the earth will fear you and dread you-all the birds in the skies, everything crawling on the ground, and all of the sea's fish. They are in your power.

Contemporary English V.       All animals, birds, reptiles, and fish will be afraid of you. I have placed them under your control,,,.

Easy English                          Every *creature that lives will be afraid of you. That includes every animal on the earth. It includes every bird that flies in the air. It includes all *creatures that crawl on the ground. And it includes the fish in the sea. I have given everything to you.

Easy-to-Read Version            Every animal on earth, every bird in the air, every animal that crawls on the ground, and every fish in the sea will be afraid of you. All of them will be under your control.

Good News Bible (TEV)         All the animals, birds, and fish will live in fear of you. They are all placed under your power.

The Message                         Every living creature--birds, animals, fish--will fall under your spell and be afraid of you. You're responsible for them.

New Century Version             Every animal on earth, every bird in the sky, every animal that crawls on the ground, and every fish in the sea will respect and fear you. I have given them to you.

New Living Translation           All the animals of the earth, all the birds of the sky, all the small animals that scurry along the ground, and all the fish in the sea will look on you with fear and terror. I have placed them in your power.

Partially literal and partially paraphrased translations:

American English Bible          All the wild animals of the earth, the winged creatures in the sky, and everything that moves on the earth - including the creatures in the sea - will dread and fear you. And I have put you in charge over all of them.

Beck’s American Translation “All the animals on earth and all the birds in the air, that is, everything that moves on the ground, as well as all the fish in the sea, will fear you and be terrified by you. You are given control over them.

God’s Word™                         All the wild animals and all the birds will fear you and be terrified of you. Every creature that crawls on the ground and all the fish in the sea have been put under your control.

New American Bible              Fear and dread of you shall come upon all the animals of the earth and all the birds of the air, upon all the creatures that move about on the ground and all the fishes of the sea; into your power they are delivered. [9:2-3] Pre-flood creatures, including human beings, are depicted as vegetarians (1:29-30). In view of the human propensity to violence, God changes the original prohibition against eating meat.

NIRV                                      "All of the land animals will be afraid of you. All of the birds of the air will fear you. Every creature that moves along the ground will fear you. Every fish in the oceans will also be afraid of you. Every living thing is put under your control.

New Jerusalem Bible             Be the terror and the dread of all the animals on land and all the birds of heaven, of everything that moves on land and all the fish of the sea; they are placed in your hands.

Mostly literal renderings (with some occasional paraphrasing):

Ancient Roots Translinear      The fear of you and the dismay of you is over all the life of the land, over all the birds of the heavens, over all creeping on the earth, and over all the fish of the sea. To your hand they are given.

Bible in Basic English             And the fear of you will be strong in every beast of the earth and every bird of the air; everything which goes on the land, and all the fishes of the sea, are given into your hands.

Complete Jewish Bible           The fear and dread of you will be upon every wild animal, every bird in the air, every creature populating the ground, and all the fish in the sea; they have been handed over to you.

HCSB                                     The fear and terror of you will be in every living creature on the earth, every bird of the sky, every creature that crawls on the ground, and all the fish of the sea. They are placed under your authority.

NET Bible®                             Every living creature of the earth and every bird of the sky will be terrified of you [Heb "and fear of you and dread of you will be upon every living creature of the earth and upon every bird of the sky." The suffixes on the nouns "fear" and "dread" are objective genitives. The animals will fear humans from this time forward.]. Everything that creeps on the ground and all the fish of the sea are under your authority [Heb "into your hand are given." The "hand" signifies power. To say the animals have been given into the hands of humans means humans have been given authority over them.].

NIV – UK                                The fear and dread of you will fall on all the beasts of the earth, and on all the birds in the sky, on every creature that moves along the ground, and on all the fish in the sea; they are given into your hands.

Limited Vocabulary Translations:

International Standard V        .

Catholic Bibles (those having the Imprimatur):

The Heritage Bible                 .

Jewish/Hebrew Names Bibles:

Kaplan Translation                 .

Expanded/Embellished Bibles:

Kretzmann’s Commentary    .

Lexham English Bible            .

Translation for Translators     .

The Voice                               .

Literal, almost word-for-word, renderings:

Concordant Literal Version    And the fear of you and dismay due to you shall come on every living animal of the earth, even on every flyer of the heavens, and in all which is moving on the ground, and in all the fishes of the sea. Into your hand are they given.

Context Group Version          And the fear of you { pl } and the dread of you { pl } shall be on every beast of the land { or earth }, and on every bird of the skies { or heavens }; With all by which the ground teems, and all the fish of the sea, into your { pl } hand they are delivered.

The updated Geneva Bible    And the fear [By the virtue of this commandment, beasts do not rage as much against man as they would, yea and many serve his purposes by it. ] of you and the dread of you will be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moves [upon] the earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea; into your hand are they delivered.

LTHB                                     And your fear and your dread shall be on all the animals of the earth, and on every bird of the heavens, on all that moves on the earth, and on all the fish of the sea. They are given into your hands.

Syndein/Thieme                     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 moves upon the whole earth {'erets}, and upon all the fishes of the sea. Into your hand are they given {nathan - a grace of God word}. {Note: Before the fall, animals voluntarily subjected themselves to Adam's authority. After the flood, Adam will need to use weapons to control animals.}.

A Voice in the Wilderness      And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every living thing of the earth, upon every flying creature of the heavens, upon everything that moves on the earth, and upon all the fish of the sea. They have been entrusted into your hand.

World English Bible                The fear of you and the dread of you will be on every animal of the earth, and on every bird of the sky. Everything that the ground teems with, and all the fish of the sea are delivered into your hand.

Young’s Updated LT             And your fear and your dread is on every beast of the earth, and on every fowl of the heavens, on all that creeps on the ground, and on all fishes of the sea—into your hand they have been given.

The gist of this verse:          God promises that animal life will fear and dread man, and that man is given control over the animal kingdom.

Translation: Furthermore, your dread and your fear will be upon all life on the earth... God continues His blessing, which is given to Noah and his three sons. These sons were named in every chapter dealing with the flood except for Gen. 8; and they will not be named until v. 18 of this chapter.

God tells the sons and Noah that there will be a dread of them from all life on this earth. Although I do not have a clear distinction between the two terms for fear found here, neither one is the common word for fear used when speaking of man’s fear of the Lord. That is fear/respect; and animals do not, insofar as I know, have that ability to respect. A dog and love and be obedient; and animals can be taught to be obedient, but I do not see that as a matter of respect.

Translation: ...and upon every bird of the heavens... It is common for birds to fear mankind as well (with the exception of a very few, who can certainly respond to fear of mankind).

Translation: ...and upon all that creeps along the ground... This appears to be a reference to the smaller animals who scamper along the ground.

Translation: ...and all the fishes of the sea... Unless a fish learns to be accepting of man, most fear man. Even when it comes to sharks and men, it is a rare shark who will actually attack a man, the movie Jaws notwithstanding.

So far, this is what we have in v. 2: Furthermore, your dread and your fear will be upon all life on the earth and upon every bird of the heavens and upon all that creeps along the ground and all the fishes of the sea—... This represents certainly a change from the garden, where there was no animosity or fear between man and the animal kingdom. After the garden, we are not told about the relationship between man and animal other than it is implied by this chapter and by the early chapters of Genesis, that man originally was a vegetarian and this changed after the flood. We are not told when animals began to eat other animals for food, but my educated guess would be at this point in time. We have developed over time the ability to kill any animal that lives and we do this for sport as well as for food. These are animals which are clearly faster, more agile and stronger than we are. The deciding difference is our intelligence. This represents a change from the ark certainly where Noah preserved the animals on the ark and they came to him by twos (although that was a miracle). V. 2 is best understood in conjunction with v. 3:

This is a new thing, for the animals to be afraid of man. We do not really have many details of man and animal relationships before the flood. This would suggest that there was not a natural timidness in the animals with respect to man in the antediluvian state.

However, Noah and his family brought these animals aboard the ark and they were under Noah’s watch for these past several months. Just as a certain breeds of dogs inherit specific personalities (the personality of a black lab is much different than that of a wire haired terrier), the animals which Noah brought upon board would have a fear of man, to some degree. That is, for the most part, these animals would not view man as food and many would come to view man as their natural enemy, or, at least something to be afraid of. Domesticated animals would view man as their superior, which is a different form of fear.

There are many dogs capable of killing men—German shepherds and pit bulls come to mind. What restrains them is often a fear of man. I have a cousin who loves big dogs, and she is able to control animals who are capable of killing a man twice her size. These dogs learn respect and fear for her, which becomes the basis of their love for her (and why she has some control over them).

My point in all of this is, wild and domesticated animals both have a fear of man. It is when this fear/respect is diminished that our lives are in danger.

Translation:...—they have [all] been placed under your control [lit., given into your hand]. For these animals to be placed into the hand of man indicates that mankind can determine how to use these animals for his own benefit. So, if we want a dog for company, a horse to ride and a cow to milk, this is given God’s stamp of approval in this passage.

Giving all of these animals into the hand of Noah and his sons (your is the 2^nd person masculine plural suffix), simply means that they are given to Noah and his sons. Animals can be eaten, they can be tamed, they can be used as beasts of burden, they can be preserved—man has authority over these animals.

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Here is how others have translated this verse:

Ancient texts:

Targum of Onkelos                Every moving thing which liveth to you shall be for food: as the green herb have I given to you the whole.

Latin Vulgate                          And every thing that moves, and lives shall be meat for you: even as the green herbs have I delivered them all to you.

Masoretic Text (Hebrew)        All active life forms which that [are] alive, to you [all], are for food, as green herbage I had given to you [all] everything.

Peshitta (Syriac)                    Every moving thing that is alive shall be food for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things.

Septuagint (Greek)                And every reptile which is living shall be to you for food, I have given all things to you as the green herbs.

Significant differences: 

Thought-for-thought translations; paraphrases:

Common English Bible           Everything that lives and moves will be your food. Just as I gave you the green grasses, I now give you everything.

Contemporary English V.       ...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.

Easy English                          Every thing that lives shall be food for you. That is, every thing that also moves. I gave the green plants to you for food. Now I give everything to you.'

Easy-to-Read Version            {In the past,} I gave you the green plants to eat. Now, every animal will also be food for you. I give you everything on earth—it is yours.

Good News Bible (TEV)         Now you can eat them, as well as green plants; I give them all to you for food.

The Message                         All living creatures are yours for food; just as I gave you the plants, now I give you everything else.

New Berkeley Version           Every living, moving thing shall be yours for food; I have given it all to you like the vegetables.

New Century Version             "Everything that moves, everything that is alive, is yours for food. Earlier I gave you the green plants, but now I give you everything for food.

New Living Translation           I have given them to you for food, just as I have given you grain and vegetables.

Partially literal and partially paraphrased translations:

American English Bible          'All living and slithering animals can serve as meat for you. I have given them all to you as though they were green vegetation.

Christian Community Bible     Everything that moves and lives shall be food for you; as I gave you the green plants, I have now given you everything.

God’s Word™                         Everything that lives and moves will be your food. I gave you green plants as food; I now give you everything else.

New American Bible              Any living creature that moves about shall be yours to eat; I give them all to you as I did the green plants. Gn 1:29-30; Dt 12:15.

NIRV                                      "Everything that lives and moves will be food for you. I have already given you the green plants for food. Now I am giving you everything.

New Jerusalem Bible             Every living thing that moves will be yours to eat, no less than the foliage of the plants. I give you everything.

New Simplified Bible              »Everything that lives and moves will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything.

Today’s NIV                          Everything that lives and moves will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything.

Mostly literal renderings (with some occasional paraphrasing):

Ancient Roots Translinear      Any reptile that lives is food for you. I give you all the cereals and vegetation.

Bible in Basic English             Every living and moving thing will be food for you; I give them all to you as before I gave you all green things.

Ferar-Fenton Bible                 Every living animal that moves shall be food for you. I have given the whole to you like the green herbage.

HCSB                                     Every living creature will be food for you; as I gave the green plants, I have given you everything.

New Advent Bible                  And everything that moves and lives shall be food for you: even as the green herbs have I delivered them all to you:

NET Bible®                              You may eat any moving thing that lives [Heb "every moving thing that lives for you will be for food."]. As I gave you [The words "I gave you" are not in the Hebrew text, but are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.] the green plants, I now give [The perfect verb form describes the action that accompanies the declaration.] you everything.

The Scriptures 1998               “Every moving creature that lives is food for you. I have given you all, as I gave the green plants.

Limited Vocabulary Translations:

International Standard V        .

Catholic Bibles (those having the Imprimatur):

The Heritage Bible                 .

Jewish/Hebrew Names Bibles:

Kaplan Translation                 .

Expanded/Embellished Bibles:

Kretzmann’s Commentary    .

Lexham English Bible            .

Translation for Translators     .

The Voice                               .

Literal, almost word-for-word, renderings:

The Amplified Bible                Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you; and as I gave you the green vegetables and plants, I give you everything.

Concordant Literal Version    Into your hand are they given. "And every moving animal which is living is coming to be food for you. As the green herbage I give to you al.

Context Group Version          Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you { pl }; As the green herb I have given you { pl } all.

English Standard Version      Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. And as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything.

The Geneva Bible                  Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you [By this permission man may with a good conscience use the creatures of God for his needs. ]; even as the green herb have I given you all things.

Green’s Literal Translation    Every creeping thing which is alive shall be food for you. I have given you all things, even as the green plant.

LTHB                                     Every creeping thing which is alive shall be food for you. I have given you all things, even as the green plant.

Syndein/Thieme                     {Verses 3-4: New set of Dietary Laws}

Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. Even as the green herb {vegetables} have I {God} given {nathan} you all things. {Note: Only Cain and his prodigy as outlaws ate meat to survive (farming out for Cain was one of his punishments for murder). Now God is saying it is ok for everyone to eat meat.}.

Third Millennium Bible            Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things.

A Voice in the Wilderness      Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. I have designated all things for you, even as the green plants.

World English Bible                Every moving thing that lives will be food for you. As the green herb, I have given everything to you.

Young’s Updated LT             Every creeping thing that is alive, to you it is for food; as the green herb I have given to you the whole;...

The gist of this verse:          God gives the animals over to man as food.

Translation: All animals that [are] living are for you [all] for food,... I am uncomfortable with the translation here. There are difficulties with the first word that refers to animals of some sort (often to reptiles but not only); and there are two pronouns together which are difficult to translate together (however, this is not the only place that these pronouns are found together).

What this is usually understood to mean is, God is giving animals to Noah and his sons (and their descendants) to eat, although this is done is a somewhat confusing way.

Translation: ...as the green herbage [that] I had given to you [all] everything. The second half of this verse is easier to translate, although the green herbage may not be the proper way to translate this.

The verb I have given is in the perfect tense, which suggests a past event. Since the other verb is in the imperfect tense, the gist is, the animals for food is a new thing; and the green herbage for food was given in the past.

The final word all, everything suggest that mankind is now given clear permission to eat whatever he wants to eat. The limitations will be given in the next verse.

Prior to all of this taking place, before the flood, the produce of trees and the ground were given to man to eat. It is very likely that, with the fall, men began to eat other things, but without expressed permission from God.

This is also a change: man is allowed to be a carnivore at this point. Before the flood, man was not given permission to eat meat, even that of an animal sacrifice. It is possible that some of the half-men/half-angels in the pre-deluvian (pre-flood) civilization ate meat. However, this is not something which we can state with any dogmatism one way or the other.

V. 3 reads: All animals that [are] living are for you [all] for food, as the green herbage [that] I had given to you [all] everything.

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Here is how others have translated this verse:

Ancient texts:

Targum of Onkelos                But flesh which is torn of the living beast, what time the life is in it, or that torn from a slaughtered animal before all the breath has gone forth, you shall not eat.

Latin Vulgate                          Saving that flesh with blood you shall not eat.

Masoretic Text (Hebrew)        Only flesh in his soul, his blood, you [all] will not eat.

Peshitta (Syriac)                    Only flesh with the life thereof, that is, the blood thereof, you shall not eat.

Septuagint (Greek)                But flesh with its lifeblood you shall not eat.

Significant differences: 

Thought-for-thought translations; paraphrases:

Contemporary English V.       But life is in the blood, and you must not eat any meat that still has blood in it....

Easy English                          However, you must not eat meat that still has its life in it. That is, it still has its blood in it.

Easy-to-Read Version            But I give you one command. You must not eat meat that still has its life (blood) in it.

Good News Bible (TEV)         The one thing you must not eat is meat with blood still in it; I forbid this because the life is in the blood.

The Message                         Except for meat with its lifeblood still in it--don't eat that.

New Berkeley Version           However, you must not eat flesh with its life — that is, it blood — in it [This prohibition was carried over into the Christian Church at the Jerusalem Council, Acts 15:20, 29.].

New Century Version             But you must not eat meat that still has blood in it, because blood gives life.

New Life Bible                        But you must not eat meat with blood in it because that is its life.

New Living Translation           But you must never eat any meat that still has the lifeblood in it.

Partially literal and partially paraphrased translations:

American English Bible          But you must not eat flesh with its blood of life.

Christian Community Bible     Only you shall not eat flesh with its life that is its blood.

God’s Word™                         "But you are not to eat meat with blood in it. (Blood is life.)

New American Bible              Only meat with its lifeblood still in it you shall not eat. Because a living being dies when it loses most of its blood, the ancients regarded blood as the seat of life, and therefore as sacred. Jewish tradition considered the prohibition against eating meat with blood to be binding on all, because it was given by God to Noah, the new ancestor of all humankind; therefore the early Christian Church retained it for a time (Acts 15:20, 29). Lv 7:26-27; 17:4; Dt 12:16, 23; 1 Sm 14:33; Acts 15:20.

New Jerusalem Bible             ...with this exception: you must not eat flesh with life, that is to say blood, in it.

New Simplified Bible              »You must not eat meat that has its lifeblood still in it.

Revised English Bible            But yiou must never eat flesh with its lief still in it, that is the blood.

Mostly literal renderings (with some occasional paraphrasing):

Ancient Roots Translinear      However, never eat the blood of flesh with a soul, for...

Bible in Basic English             But flesh with the life-blood in it you may not take for food.

HCSB                                     However, you must not eat meat with its lifeblood in it.

New Advent Bible                  Saving that flesh with blood you shall not eat.

NET Bible®                             But [Heb "only."] you must not eat meat [Or "flesh."] with its life (that is [Heb "its life, its blood." The second word is in apposition to the first, explaining what is meant by "its life." Since the blood is equated with life, meat that had the blood in it was not to be eaten], its blood) in it [The words "in it" are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.].

NIV – UK                                `But you must not eat meat that has its lifeblood still in it..

Limited Vocabulary Translations:

International Standard V        .

Catholic Bibles (those having the Imprimatur):

The Heritage Bible                 .

Jewish/Hebrew Names Bibles:

Kaplan Translation                 .

Expanded/Embellished Bibles:

Kretzmann’s Commentary    .

Lexham English Bible            .

Translation for Translators     .

The Voice                               .

Literal, almost word-for-word, renderings:

Concordant Literal Version    Yea, only flesh with its soul, its blood, you shall not eat.

Context Group Version          But flesh with the life { soul }, [ which is ] the blood, you { pl } shall not eat.

English Standard Version      But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood.

The updated Geneva Bible    But flesh with the life thereof, [which is] the blood thereof, you will not eat. That is, living creatures, and the flesh of beasts that are strangled: and by this all cruelty is forbidden.

Green’s Literal Translation    But you shall not eat flesh in its life, its blood.

LTHB                                     But you shall not eat flesh in its life, its blood.

Modern KJV                           But you shall not eat of flesh with the life in it, or the blood of it.

New RSV                               Only, you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood.

Syndein/Thieme                     {Two Prohibitions - A Live Animal and the Blood of an Animal}

Only 'living flesh' thereof {idiom: literally 'flesh in its soul' (nephesh) meaning while animal is still alive}, and the blood {dam - no drinking of blood of animals - blood should be drained first - and no cup of blood type thing}, you shall not devour. {Note: The soul/life of the animal is in its blood. We are ordered not to eat animals while they are still alive as some animals will do.}

Updated Bible Version 2.11   But flesh with its life, [which is] its blood, you+ will not eat.

A Voice in the Wilderness      But you shall not eat flesh with its soul, that is, its blood.

World English Bible                But flesh with the life of it, the blood of it, you shall not eat.

Young’s Updated LT             Only flesh in its life—its blood—you do not eat.

The gist of this verse:          Flesh with the blood was not to be eaten.

Translation: Only flesh with its life,... The adverb used here limits what can be eaten. The word usually translated soul also means life; so we are not to eat live animals (or, perhaps, we are not to keep them alive and cut off pieces of them to eat). Or, this may not be a complete thought, the rest of this verse completing that thought.

Translation: ...its blood, you [all] will not eat. Nor are we to eat the blood which is in the animal. However, I would have thought that, for this to mean two different things for mankind to avoid, there should be a wâw conjunction here, but there is not.

The second interpretation, which is probably more accurate is, we are not to eat animals with the blood still in the animal. There appear to be two reasons for this: (1) the blood often carries diseases which would not be found in the flesh of the animal and (2) the animal rots much more quickly with the blood in it. Now, it is possible that God simply had these considerations in mind with this prohibition, as there are dietary laws in the Mosaic Law which serve only to keep the Jews healthy as a race.

I did not carefully read this verse in the Hebrew, and misinterpreted it the first time through. Literally, this reads, Only flesh in its life—its blood—you will not eat. This prohibits us from eating the blood of an animal or eating an animal with its blood remaining in it.

One of the things which can be noted in God’s instructions to man about foods is, often, the result preserves the human race. A lot of diseases are carried in the blood, as well as in the live flesh of animals. Cooking the meat without the blood reduces the chances of man becoming ill.

A symbolic reason for this prohibition does not occur to me.

Vv. 3–4 read: All animals that [are] living are for you [all] for food, as the green herbage [that] I had given to you [all] everything. Only flesh with its life, its blood, you [all] will not eat. This is a mini Mount Sinai. God is giving Noah instructions on what law will be in the new post-diluvian era. God will cover some dietary laws and one prohibition. Here is where man began to be a meat eater. Prior to this, sacrifices were not eaten. I don't know if sacrifices to the true God were ever eaten, but meat sacrificed to idols was. I wouldn't be surprised if meat-eating in general did not occur, particularly in the first millennium of the antediluvian era; but I would venture to guess that the part man/part angelic beings did engage in meat-eating. This is certainly conjecture on my part; but this does not appear to be something which is unthinkable to Noah; he was probably aware of meat-eating and he just probably did not engage in it. This is why God tells him how to be a meat-eater—you do not eat the animal's blood.

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Here is how others have translated this verse:

Ancient texts:

Targum of Onkelos                But the blood of your lives I will I require of every animal which hath killed a man, I will require that it be put to death on his account. And from the hand of the human being, from the hand of the man who hath shed the blood of his brother, will I require the life of man.

Latin Vulgate                          For I will require the blood of your lives at the hand of every beast, and at the hand of man, at the hand of every man, and of his brother, will I require the life of man.

Masoretic Text (Hebrew)        And surely your blood for your soul I require; from a hand of every living thing, I require him; and from a hand of the man—from the hand of each one his brother—I require the soul of the man.

Peshitta (Syriac)                    And surely your lifeblood will I f avenge; of every beast will I avenge it, and at the hand of man; and at the hand of a man and his brother will I avenge the life of man.

Septuagint (Greek)                For your lifeblood shall I require at the hand of all wild beasts, and I shall require a man's life at the hand of his fellow man.

Significant differences: 

Thought-for-thought translations; paraphrases:

Common English Bible           I will surely demand your blood for a human life,

from every living thing I will demand it.

From humans, from a man for his brother,

I will demand something for a human life.

Contemporary English V.       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.

Easy English                          When somebody kills someone, there must be punishment. Someone will kill any animal that kills a person. Someone will kill any person that kills another person. Every person that kills his brother will die.

Easy-to-Read Version            I will demand your blood for your lives. That is, I will demand the life of any animal that kills a person. And I will demand the life of any person who takes another person’s life.

Good News Bible (TEV)         If anyone takes human life, he will be punished. I will punish with death any animal that takes a human life.

The Message                         "But your own lifeblood I will avenge; I will avenge it against both animals and other humans.

New Century Version             I will demand blood for life. I will demand the life of any animal that kills a person, and I will demand the life of anyone who takes another person's life.

New Life Bible                        For sure, I will take the life of every animal and every person for taking a life. I will punish every man's brother for taking the life of man.

New Living Translation           "And I will require the blood of anyone who takes another person's life. If a wild animal kills a person, it must die. And anyone who murders a fellow human must die.

Partially literal and partially paraphrased translations:

American English Bible          Otherwise, I will require your blood at the hand of all the wild animals. I will also require a man's life at the hands of his brothers.

Beck’s American Translation And I will certainly punish anyone, animal or man, who pours out your blood and kills you; I will punish anyone who kills another.

Christian Community Bible     But I will also demand a reckoning for your lifeblood. I will demand it from every animal; and from man, too, I will demand a reckoning for the life of his fellow man.

God’s Word™                         In addition, I will demand your blood for your life. I will demand it from any animal or from any person. I will demand the life of any person who kills another person.

New American Bible              Indeed for your own lifeblood I will demand an accounting: from every animal I will demand it, and from a human being, each one for the blood of another, I will demand an accounting for human life. Gn 4:10-11; Ex 21:12.

NIRV                                      You can be sure that I will hold someone accountable if you are murdered. I will even hold animals accountable if they kill you. I will also hold anyone accountable who murders another person.

New Jerusalem Bible             And I shall demand account of your life-blood, too. I shall demand it of every animal, and of man. Of man as regards his fellow-man, I shall demand account for human life.

New Simplified Bible              »I will require your lifeblood as an accounting. I will demand an accounting from every animal. I will demand an accounting from each man for the life of his fellow man.

Revised English Bible            And further, for your life-blood I shall demand satisfaction; from every animal I shall require it, and from human beings also I shall require satisfaction for the death of their fellows.

Mostly literal renderings (with some occasional paraphrasing):

Ancient Roots Translinear      I surely will request the blood from your souls. I will request it from the hand of anyone living, from the human hand, from the hand of a man's brother: I will request the soul of a human.

Bible in Basic English             And for your blood, which is your life, will I take payment; from every beast I will take it, and from every man will I take payment for the blood of his brother-man.

Complete Jewish Bible           I will certainly demand an accounting for the blood of your lives: I will demand it from every animal and from every human being. I will demand from every human being an accounting for the life of his fellow human being.

JPS (Tanakh—1985)               But for your own life-blood I will require a reckoning: I will require it of every beast; of man, too, will I require a reckoning for human life, of every man for that of his fellow man!

NET Bible®                             For your lifeblood [Again the text uses apposition to clarify what kind of blood is being discussed: "your blood, [that is] for your life." See C. L. Dewar, "The Biblical Use of the Term `Blood,'" JTS 4 (1953): 204-8.] I will surely exact punishment [The word “punishment” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarification. The verb דָּרָש? (darash) means “to require, to seek, to ask for, to exact.” Here it means that God will exact punishment for the taking of a life. See R. Mawdsley, “Capital Punishment in Gen. 9:6,” CentBib 18 (1975): 20-25.], from [Heb “from the hand of,” which means “out of the hand of” or “out of the power of” and is nearly identical in sense to the preposition מִן (min) alone.] every living creature I will exact punishment. From each person [Heb "and from the hand of the man." The article has a generic function, indicating the class, i.e., humankind.] I will exact punishment for the life of the individual [Heb "of the man."] since the man was his relative [Heb "from the hand of a man, his brother." The point is that God will require the blood of someone who kills, since the person killed is a relative ("brother") of the killer. The language reflects Noah's situation (after the flood everyone would be part of Noah's extended family), but also supports the concept of the brotherhood of humankind. According to the Genesis account the entire human race descended from Noah].

NIV – UK                                And for your lifeblood I will surely demand an accounting. I will demand an accounting from every animal. And from each human being, too, I will demand an accounting for the life of another human being.

Limited Vocabulary Translations:

International Standard V        .

Catholic Bibles (those having the Imprimatur):

The Heritage Bible                 .

Jewish/Hebrew Names Bibles:

Kaplan Translation                 .

Expanded/Embellished Bibles:

Kretzmann’s Commentary    .

Lexham English Bible            .

Translation for Translators     .

The Voice                               .

Literal, almost word-for-word, renderings:

The Amplified Bible                And surely for your lifeblood I will require an accounting; from every beast I will require it; and from man, from every man [who spills another's lifeblood] I will require a reckoning.

Concordant Literal Version    Yea, and your blood for your souls I will require. From the hand of every living animal will I require it, and from the hand of humanity. From the hand of a man's brother I will require the soul of a human.

A Conservative Version         And surely your blood, [the blood] of your lives, I will require. At the hand of every beast I will require it. And at the hand of man, even at the hand of every man's brother, I will require the life of man.

Context Group Version          And surely your { pl } blood, [ the blood ] of your { pl } lives { souls }, I will require; At the hand of every beast I will require it. And at the hand of man, even at the hand of every man's brother, I will require the life of man.

Darby Translation                  And indeed your blood, [the blood] of your lives, will I require: at the hand of every animal will I require it, and at the hand of Man, at the hand of each [the blood] of his brother, will I require the life of Man.

English Standard Version      And for your lifeblood I will require a reckoning: from every beast I will require it and from man. From his fellow man I will require a reckoning for the life of man.

Fred Miller’s Revised KJV     And surely your blood of your lives will I require; I will require it at the hand of every animal and at the hand of man; I will require the life of man at the hand of every man's brother.

The Geneva Bible                  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 mans brother will I require the life of man. That is, I will take vengeance for your blood.

LTHB                                     And surely the blood of your lives I will demand. At the hand of every animal I will demand it, and at the hand of man. I will demand the life of man at the hand of every man's brother.

NASB                                     Surely I will require your lifeblood [Lit your blood of your lives]; from [Lit from the hand of] every beast I will require it. And from [Lit from the hand of] every man, from [Lit from the hand of] every man's brother I will require the life of man.

New RSV                               For your own lifeblood I will surely require a reckoning: from every animal I will require it and from human beings, each one for the blood of another, I will require a reckoning for human life.

Syndein/Thieme                     {Verses 5-6: Divine Principal of Capital Punishment}

And surely your blood of your souls {nephesh} will I require. At the hand of every beast will I require it {capital punishment for man-killing animals}, and at the hand of man {capital punishment for man-killing humans}. At the hand of every man's brother will I require the soul {nephesh} of man . . .

Third Millennium Bible            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.

World English Bible                I will surely require your blood of your lives. At the hand of every animal I will require it. At the hand of man, even at the hand of every man's brother, I will require the life of man.

Young’s Updated LT             “And only your blood for your lives do I require; from the hand of every living thing I require it, and from the hand of man, from the hand of every man”s brother I require the life of man.

The gist of this verse:          God will require the life of any man who takes the life of another.

Translation: And surely I will require your blood for your souls. In many cases, when God speaks of man’s blood—particularly here, where He requires man’s blood—it refers to taking the life of that man. This reads, And surely I will require your blood for your souls. This general principle is, if you take souls away from others (that is, if you kill others), then God demands your life. This sets up the general principle for this and the next verse.

This verse begins with a conjunction and an adverb ʾak^e (אַ) [pronounced ahk^e]. ʾAk emphasizes what follows, often in contrast to what precedes it. God is speaking about the blood of animals and then says what He does in v. 5 as a continuation but a contrast to v. 4. The word usually translated require is the Hebrew word dârash dârash (דָּרַש) [pronounced daw-RASH] and it means to search out, to study, to inquire, to investigate. However, it does also mean to require and that is the correct translation in this verse due to what follows in v. 6. Because of Cain and Abel, God requires of one's brother their soul.

Translation: From the hand of every living thing, I will require it;... Hand refers to power, control. In this context, it refers to responsibility. If a living thing is responsible for something, God will require it. So, if any living thing is responsible for the death—removing the soul—of any man, then the blood of that man is what God requires. The masculine singular suffix refers back to blood (which is a masculine plural, but that was stating the principle). So, God is saying, “I require the blood of any living thing that is responsible for the death of another.

So you don’t get too weird about this, this is not requiring the death of an animal which has killed another animal.

Translation: ...from the hand of the man... This applies to any man; if a man is responsible for the death of another man, God will require his blood (i.e., his life).

Translation:...—from the hand of [this] man’s brother—... Although many commentators at this point look back to Cain and Abel, because we have one brother killing another; I think this refers to the blood relative, and God will require the blood relative to exact this punishment.

Now, the words for man are different in vv. 5c and 5d. The man in v. 5c is the killer; the man in v. 5d is the brother of the man killed. Therefore, we would expect these men to be different. Insofar as I know, this is a unique interpretation, but I believe it to be accurate.

Just so you do not think I have gone too far afield with this interpretation, three things need to be noted: (1) when God speaks, the Hebrew tends to be more difficult than when men speak. (2) The next verse will at least partially validate this interpretation. (3) The final portion of this verse will refer back to the man of v. 5c, which is what this interpretation would demand.

Translation: ...I will require the soul of [that] man. Remember, there are two words for man used here; this is the word for man found back in v. 5c—the one who has murdered another. God requires the soul of that man.

V. 5 reads: And surely I will require your blood for your souls. From the hand of every living thing, I will require it; from the hand of the man—from the hand of [this] man’s brother—I will require the soul of [that] man. Blood is a central theme of Scripture, occurring again and again. What is being said here deals with the death penalty for murder, which apparently was not a specified law from God prior to the flood (recall that Cain killed Abel, but then he just left the area in order to stay alive, and God did not command anyone to go after him).

The final verb here is rather difficult; it is: dârash (דָּרַש) [pronounced daw-RAHSH], and in the Qal stem, it means to seek, to make inquiries concerning, to consult, to investigate, to study, to follow, to inquire; to require. Strong’s #1875 BDB #205. This verb is used 3 times in Gen. 9:5.

Verses 5–6 should not have been separated; the entire thought is:

——————————

Here is how others have translated this verse:

Ancient texts:

Targum of Onkelos                Whoever sheds the blood of man, the judges, by witnesses, will condemn him unto death; but he who sheds it without witnesses, the Lord of the world will bring punishment on him in the day of the great judgment; because in the image of the Lord He made man.

Latin Vulgate                          Whosoever shall shed man's blood, his blood shall be shed: for man was made to the image of God.

Masoretic Text (Hebrew)        Shedding the blood of the man, in the man, his blood will be shed; for in an image of Elohim, He made the man.

Peshitta (Syriac)                    Whoever sheds the blood of men, by men shall his blood be shed; for man was made in the image of God.

Septuagint (Greek)                He that sheds man's blood, instead of that blood shall his own be shed, for in the image of God I made man.

Significant differences: 

Thought-for-thought translations; paraphrases:

Common English Bible           Whoever sheds human blood,

by a human his blood will be shed;

for in the divine image

God made human beings.

Easy English                          If someone kills a person, then people should kill the killer. That is because God made man like himself.

Easy-to-Read Version            “God made people as a copy of himself.

So any person who kills a person

must be killed by a person.

Good News Bible (TEV)         Human beings were made like God, so whoever murders one of them will be killed by someone else.

The Message                         Whoever sheds human blood, by humans let his blood be shed, Because God made humans in his image reflecting God's very nature.

New Berkeley Version           Whoever sheds a person’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed; because God made man in His likeness [This command has remained the basis for capital punishment, with our likeness to God as the reason back of it. Reverence for blood was strengthened by its use for atoning sacrifices (Lev. 17:11)].

New Century Version             "Whoever kills a human being

will be killed by a human being,

because God made humans

in his own image.

New Living Translation           If anyone takes a human life, that person's life will also be taken by human hands. For God made human beings [Or man; Hebrew reads ha-adam.] in his own image.

Partially literal and partially paraphrased translations:

American English Bible          For, whoever spills the blood of men will also have their blood spilled; because, I made man in the image of God.

Beck’s American Translation If anyone kills a man, he should be killed by a man because God made man like Himself.

Christian Community Bible     He who sheds the blood of man shall have his blood shed by man; for in the image of God has God made man.

New American Bible              Anyone who sheds the blood of a human being,

by a human being shall that one's blood be shed;

For in the image of God

have human beings been made. The image of God, given to the first man and woman and transmitted to every human being, is the reason that no violent attacks can be made upon human beings. That image is the basis of the dignity of every individual who, in some sense, "represents" God in the world. Gn 1:26-27; Lv 24:17; Nm 35:33; Jas 3:9.

NIRV                                      "Anyone who murders man

will be killed by man.

That is because I have made man

in my own likeness.

New Jerusalem Bible             He who sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for in the image of God was man created.

Mostly literal renderings (with some occasional paraphrasing):

Ancient Roots Translinear      Whoever spills human blood, by a human his blood will spill: for humans are made in the image of God.

Bible in Basic English             Whoever takes a man's life, by man will his life be taken; because God made man in his image.

Complete Jewish Bible           Whoever sheds human blood, by a human being will his own blood be shed; for God made human beings in his image.

Ferar-Fenton Bible                 Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man his own blood shall be shed; because I made man under the shadow of God.

NET Bible®                             "Whoever sheds human blood [Heb "the blood of man."],

by other humans [Heb "by man," a generic term here for other human beings.]

must his blood be shed;

for in God's image [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.]

God [Heb "he"; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.] has made humankind."

NIV – UK                                `Whoever sheds human blood,

by humans shall their blood be shed;

for in the image of God

has God made mankind.

Limited Vocabulary Translations:

International Standard V        .

Catholic Bibles (those having the Imprimatur):

The Heritage Bible                 .

Jewish/Hebrew Names Bibles:

Kaplan Translation                 .

Expanded/Embellished Bibles:

Kretzmann’s Commentary    .

Lexham English Bible            .

Translation for Translators     .

The Voice                               .

Literal, almost word-for-word, renderings:

Concordant Literal Version    The shedder of the blood of a human, by a human his blood shall be shed, for in the image of the Elohim has He made humanity.

English Standard Version      "Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image.

The updated Geneva Bible    Whoever sheds man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed [Not only by the magistrate, but often God raises up one murderer to kill another. ]: for in the image of God made he man [Therefore to kill man is to deface Gods image, and so injury is not only done to man, but also to God. ].

New King James Version       "Whoever sheds man's blood,

By man his blood shall be shed;

For in the image of God

He made man.

New RSV                               Whoever sheds the blood of a human,

by a human shall that person's blood be shed;

for in his own image

God made humankind.

Syndein/Thieme                     Who sheds/'pours out' {shaphak} man's blood . . . by man shall his blood be shed/'poured out' {shaphak}. For in the image {tselem} of Elohim/Godhead, He manufactured mankind/Adam {'adam} {'asah - out of the elements of the earth}. {Note: When Cain murdered Abel, capital punishment was NOT the law of the Land. Now God has decreed Capital Punishment required for murder. At this point all man-eating animals are commanded to be killed. And, this command also includes humans that murder other humans. The eating of animal flesh will 'demonstrate' to people that they also can kill each other! So, God prohibits this activity.}.

World English Bible                Whoever sheds man's blood, by man will his blood be shed, for in the image of God made he man.

Young's Updated LT              Whoever sheds man's blood, by man is his blood shed: for in the image of God has He made man.

The gist of this verse:          A man who is a murderer is liable for his crime and should die by the hand of man.

Translation: The one who sheds the blood of man,... God is making a covenant with Noah and his sons. First, God is laying out the privileges and responsibilities of man on this recently-destroyed earth. Our topic is murder, and this is one way of expressing murder. The one who sheds the blood of man... I have translated the Qal active participle as a masculine singular, Qal active participle.

What we are determining here is, what must be done with a man who has shed the blood of another man.

Now, although there was a careful distinction in the previous verse with using the two words that can be translated man, that is not the case in this verse. We use the same word all the way through.

Translation: ...by man, his blood will be shed;... The preposition above can be translated by means of; and that is how it is to be understood here. Some man—perhaps the blood relative—will shed his blood.

We have to always be aware of the time and place. At the time that this is given, there is no concept of groups of men, as in, an organized government with a judicial system. At this point, there are 4 men on this earth. This this provides us with a general principle that works with a small population. However, this principle will be modified in the future so that this verse is not used to justify taking the law into one’s own hands.

Translation: ...for God [lit., He] made man in His [lit., God’s] image. This gives us the rationale behind executing murderers: God made man in His image; therefore, man’s life is sacrosanct.

Literally, this final phrase reads: ...for in an image of Elohim, He made the man. This sounds more like an aside than a quote by God. Quite frankly, this is an odd thing found in this chapter. It is possible that God refers to Himself twice in the 3^rd person. The Revealed Member of the Trinity (Elohim in v. 1; Jesus Christ is how we know Him) is speaking to Noah and his sons and He is God. Then He says that man is made in the image of God (Elohim). The principle is the same, whether this is said by Jehovah or whether the writer of this passage added this as an aside.

When God actually made man back in Gen. 1–2, we looked at what it meant for man to be made in God’s image.