God establishes a covenant with Noah and his descendants, promising never to destroy the earth with a flood again. He grants authority over living creatures and specifies dietary restrictions, emphasizing the sanctity of life. The rainbow serves as a sign of this covenant for all future generations.

1. New Beginnings
Genesis 8:1-17
The Covenant to Noah

2. Genesis 9:1–17 (NET)
1 Then God blessed Noah and his sons and said to
them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the
earth. 2 Every living creature of the earth and
every bird of the sky will be terrified of you.
Everything that creeps on the ground and all
the fish of the sea are under your authority. 3
You may eat any moving thing that lives. As I
gave you the green plants, I now give you
everything.4 But you must not eat meat with its
life (that is, its blood) in it.

3. Genesis 9:1–17 (NET)
5 For your lifeblood I will surely exact
punishment, from every living creature I will
exact punishment. From each person I will
exact punishment for the life of the individual
since the man was his relative.6 “Whoever
sheds human blood, by other humans must his
blood be shed; for in God’s image God has
made humankind.”7 But as for you, be fruitful
and multiply; increase abundantly on the earth
and multiply on it.”

4. Genesis 9:1–17 (cont.)
8 God said to Noah and his sons, 9 “Look! I now
confirm my covenant with you and your
descendants after you 10 and with every living
creature that is with you, including the birds, the
domestic animals, and every living creature of
the earth with you, all those that came out of
the ark with you – every living creature of the
earth. 11 I confirm my covenant with you: Never
again will all living things be wiped out by the
waters of a flood; never again will a flood
destroy the earth.”12 And God said, “This is the
guarantee of the covenant I am making with you
and every living creature with you, a covenant
for all subsequent generations:

5. Genesis 9:1–17 (cont.)
13 I will place my rainbow in the clouds, and it will
become a guarantee of the covenant between
me and the earth. 14 Whenever I bring clouds
over the earth and the rainbow appears in the
clouds, 15 then I will remember my covenant
with you and with all living creatures of all kinds.
Never again will the waters become a flood and
destroy all living things. 16 When the rainbow is
in the clouds, I will notice it and remember the
perpetual covenant between God and all living
creatures of all kinds that are on the earth.” 17 So
God said to Noah, “This is the guarantee of the
covenant that I am confirming between me and
all living things that are on the earth.”

7. Before the Flood
Gen. 9:1 Then God blessed
Noah and his sons and
said to them, “Be fruitful
and multiply and fill the
earth.
After the Flood
Gen. 1:28 God blessed
them and said to them,
“Be fruitful and multiply!
Fill the earth and subdue
it! Rule over the fish of
the sea and the birds of
the air and every creature
that moves on the
ground.”

8. Before the Flood
Genesis 9:2–3 2 Every living
creature of the earth and
every bird of the sky will be
terrified of you. Everything
that creeps on the ground and
all the fish of the sea are
under your authority. 3 You
may eat any moving thing
that lives. As I gave you the
green plants, I now give you
everything.
After the Flood
Genesis 1:29 Then God
said, “I now give you
every seed-bearing plant
on the face of the entire
earth and every tree that
has fruit with seed in it.
They will be yours for
food.

9. Before the Fall
Genesis 9:4 But you must not
eat meat with its life (that is,
its blood) in it.
After the Flood
Genesis 2:16–17 16 …, “You may
freely eat fruit from every
tree of the orchard, 17 but you
must not eat from the tree of
the knowledge of good and
evil, for when you eat from it
you will surely die.”

10. Universal Command
Genesis 9:4 But you must not eat
meat with its life (that is, its
blood) in it.
In the Jewish Law
Leviticus 17:10–12 10 “‘Any man from
the house of Israel or from the
foreigners who reside in their midst
who eats any blood, I will set my face
against that person who eats the
blood, and I will cut him off from the
midst of his people, 11 for the life of
every living thing is in the blood. So I
myself have assigned it to you on the
altar to make atonement for your
lives, for the blood makes atonement
by means of the life. 12 Therefore, I
have said to the Israelites: No person
among you is to eat blood, and no
resident foreigner who lives among
you is to eat blood.

11. Universal Command
Genesis 9:4 But you must not eat
meat with its life (that is, its
blood) in it.
Stated by Apostles for Gentiles
Acts 15:29 29 that you abstain
from meat that has been
sacrificed to idols and from
blood and from what has been
strangled and from sexual
immorality. If you keep
yourselves from doing these
things, you will do well.
Farewell.

12. Before the Flood
Genesis 9:5 5 For your lifeblood I
will surely exact punishment,
from every living creature I will
exact punishment. From each
person I will exact punishment
for the life of the individual
since the man was his relative.
After the Flood
Gen. 4:15 But the Lord said to him,
“All right then, if anyone kills Cain,
Cain will be avenged seven times
as much.” Then the Lord put a
special mark on Cain so that no
one who found him would strike
him down.
Gen. 4:23–24 23 Lamech said to his
wives, “Adah and Zillah! Listen to
me! You wives of Lamech, hear my
words! I have killed a man for
wounding me, a young man for
hurting me. 24 If Cain is to be
avenged seven times as much,
then Lamech seventy-seven
times!”

13. Before the Flood
Genesis 9:6 “Whoever sheds
human blood, by other humans
must his blood be shed; for in
God’s image God has made
humankind.”
Romans 13:4 for it is God’s
servant for your good. But if
you do wrong, be in fear, for it
does not bear the sword in
vain. It is God’s servant to
administer retribution on the
wrongdoer.
After the Flood
Gen. 1:27 God created
humankind in his own image,
in the image of God he
created them, male and
female he created them.
dam adam

14. Before the Flood
Gen. 9:7 But as for you, be
fruitful and multiply;
increase abundantly on
the earth and multiply on
it.”
After the Flood
Gen. 1:28 God blessed
them and said to them,
“Be fruitful and multiply!
Fill the earth and subdue
it! Rule over the fish of
the sea and the birds of
the air and every creature
that moves on the
ground.”

15. Gen. 9:8–10 8 God said to Noah and his sons, 9
“Look! I now confirm my covenant with you
and your descendants after you 10 and with
every living creature that is with you,
including the birds, the domestic animals,
and every living creature of the earth with
you, all those that came out of the ark with
you – every living creature of the earth.

16. Genesis 9:11 11 I confirm my covenant with you:
Never again will all living things be wiped out by
the waters of a flood; never again will a flood
destroy the earth.”

17. Before the Flood
Genesis 9:12–15 12 And God said,
“This is the guarantee of the
covenant I am making with
you and every living creature
with you, a covenant for all
subsequent generations: 13 I
will place my rainbow in the
clouds, and it will become a
guarantee of the covenant
between me and the earth. 14
Whenever I bring clouds over
the earth and the rainbow
appears in the clouds, 15 then I
will remember my covenant
with you and with all living
creatures of all kinds. Never
again will the waters become a
flood and destroy all living
things.
After the Flood
Genesis 2:5–6 5 Now no shrub of
the field had yet grown on the
earth, and no plant of the field
had yet sprouted, for the Lord
God had not caused it to rain
on the earth, and there was
no man to cultivate the
ground. 6 Springs would well
up from the earth and water
the whole surface of the
ground.

18. Genesis 9:16–17 16 When the rainbow is in the
clouds, I will notice it and remember the
perpetual covenant between God and all living
creatures of all kinds that are on the earth.” 17
So God said to Noah, “This is the guarantee of
the covenant that I am confirming between me
and all living things that are on the earth.”