Genesis 9 - Noah Kicks the Bucket

  


    Once upon a time, God blessed Noah and his kinfolk and said to 'em, "Y'all gotta be fruitful and multiply and fill up this land. All the critters on this earth are gonna fear and dread ya - birds in the sky, critters on the ground, and all the fish in the sea. They're all under your power. Everythin' that moves and lives is now your grub. Just like I gave ya green grasses before, I'm now givin' ya everythin' else. But, y'all gotta make sure you don't eat meat with the blood still in it.

    "I'm gonna hold ya responsible for takin' a life. If someone takes another's life, I'm gonna demand theirs in return. That goes for every critter out there. Y'all need to be fruitful and multiply and fill up this earth."

    God then set up a covenant with Noah, his kin, and all the critters, so that the whole world would never again be destroyed by a flood. The symbol of this covenant was a rainbow in the clouds.

    Noah's sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, came out of the ark, and Ham became the father of Canaan. Noah's descendants went on to populate the whole earth. Noah himself started a vineyard and drank some wine, which made him drunk. Ham saw his father naked and told his brothers, but Shem and Japheth covered him up without looking at him.

    Noah then cursed Canaan to be the lowest servant for his brothers and blessed the Lord, the God of Shem, saying Canaan would be his servant. He also asked God to give space to Japheth, who would live in Shem's tents, and Canaan would be his servant.

    Noah lived for 350 years after the flood and died at the ripe old age of 950.