God’s Covenant with Creation

²⁰ Then Noah built an ^(A)altar to the Lord, and took of ^(B)every clean animal and of every clean bird, and offered ^(C)burnt offerings on the altar. ²¹ And the Lord smelled ^(D)a soothing aroma. Then the Lord said in His heart, “I will never again ^(E)curse the ground for man’s sake, although the ^(F)imagination^[a] of man’s heart is evil from his youth; ^(G)nor will I again destroy every living thing as I have done.

God’s Promise to Noah

9 So God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them: ^(J)“Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth. ^2 (K)And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be on every beast of the earth, on every bird of the air, on all that move on the earth, and on all the fish of the sea. They are given into your hand. ^3 (L)Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. I have given you ^(M)all things, even as the ^(N)green herbs. ^4 (O)But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. ⁵ Surely for your lifeblood I will demand a reckoning; ^(P)from the hand of every beast I will require it, and ^(Q)from the hand of man. From the hand of every ^(R)man’s brother I will require the life of man.

⁸ Then God spoke to Noah and to his sons with him, saying: ⁹ “And as for Me, ^(V)behold, I establish ^(W)My covenant with you and with your ^[b]descendants after you, ^10 (X)and with every living creature that is with you: the birds, the cattle, and every beast of the earth with you, of all that go out of the ark, every beast of the earth. ¹¹ Thus ^(Y)I establish My covenant with you: Never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood; never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.”

¹² And God said: ^(Z)“This is the sign of the covenant which I make between Me and you, and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: ¹³ I set ^(AA)My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be for the sign of the covenant between Me and the earth. ¹⁴ It shall be, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the rainbow shall be seen in the cloud; ¹⁵ and ^(AB)I will remember My covenant which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. ¹⁶ The rainbow shall be in the cloud, and I will look on it to remember ^(AC)the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” ¹⁷ And God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant which I have established between Me and all flesh that is on the earth.”

⁷ And I will ^(A)establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, ^(B)to be God to you and ^(C)your descendants after you.