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Genesis 8:20-9:17
The Message
Genesis 8:20-9:17
The Message
20-21 Noah built an altar to God. He selected clean animals and birds from every species and offered them as burnt offerings on the altar. God smelled the sweet fragrance and thought to himself, “I’ll never again curse the ground because of people. I know they have this bent toward evil from an early age, but I’ll never again kill off everything living as I’ve just done.
22 For as long as Earth lasts,
planting and harvest, cold and heat,
Summer and winter, day and night
will never stop.”
9 1-4 God blessed Noah and his sons: He said, “Prosper! Reproduce! Fill the Earth! Every living creature—birds, animals, fish—will fall under your spell and be afraid of you. You’re responsible for them. All living creatures are yours for food; just as I gave you the plants, now I give you everything else. Except for meat with its lifeblood still in it—don’t eat that.
5 “But your own lifeblood I will avenge; I will avenge it against both animals and other humans.
6-7 Whoever sheds human blood,
by humans let his blood be shed,
Because God made humans in his image
reflecting God’s very nature.
You’re here to bear fruit, reproduce,
lavish life on the Earth, live bountifully!”
8-11 Then God spoke to Noah and his sons: “I’m setting up my covenant with you including your children who will come after you, along with everything alive around you—birds, farm animals, wild animals—that came out of the ship with you. I’m setting up my covenant with you that never again will everything living be destroyed by floodwaters; no, never again will a flood destroy the Earth.”
12-16 God continued, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and everything living around you and everyone living after you. I’m putting my rainbow in the clouds, a sign of the covenant between me and the Earth. From now on, when I form a cloud over the Earth and the rainbow appears in the cloud, I’ll remember my covenant between me and you and everything living, that never again will floodwaters destroy all life. When the rainbow appears in the cloud, I’ll see it and remember the eternal covenant between God and everything living, every last living creature on Earth.”
17 And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant that I’ve set up between me and everything living on the Earth.”
Genesis 8:20-9:17
New International Version
Genesis 8:20-9:17
New International Version
20 Then Noah built an altar to the Lord(A) and, taking some of all the clean animals and clean(B) birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings(C) on it. 21 The Lord smelled the pleasing aroma(D) and said in his heart: “Never again will I curse the ground(E) because of humans, even though[a] every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood.(F) And never again will I destroy(G) all living creatures,(H) as I have done.
22 “As long as the earth endures,
seedtime and harvest,(I)
cold and heat,
summer and winter,(J)
day and night
will never cease.”(K)
God’s Covenant With Noah
9 Then God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth.(L) 2 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.(M) 3 Everything that lives and moves about will be food for you.(N) Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything.(O)
4 “But you must not eat meat that has its lifeblood still in it.(P) 5 And for your lifeblood I will surely demand an accounting.(Q) I will demand an accounting from every animal.(R) And from each human being, too, I will demand an accounting for the life of another human being.(S)
6 “Whoever sheds human blood,
by humans shall their blood be shed;(T)
for in the image of God(U)
has God made mankind.
7 As for you, be fruitful and increase in number; multiply on the earth and increase upon it.”(V)
8 Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him: 9 “I now establish my covenant with you(W) and with your descendants after you 10 and with every living creature that was with you—the birds, the livestock and all the wild animals, all those that came out of the ark with you—every living creature on earth. 11 I establish my covenant(X) with you:(Y) Never again will all life be destroyed by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.(Z)”
12 And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant(AA) I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come:(AB) 13 I have set my rainbow(AC) 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(AD) appears in the clouds, 15 I will remember my covenant(AE) between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life.(AF) 16 Whenever the rainbow(AG) appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant(AH) 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(AI) I have established between me and all life on the earth.”
Footnotes
- Genesis 8:21 Or humans, for
The Message (MSG)
Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson
New International Version (NIV) 
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NIV Reverse Interlinear Bible: English to Hebrew and English to Greek. Copyright © 2019 by Zondervan.