The Covenant of the Rainbow

1And God blessed Noah and his sons. And he said to them: “Increase, and multiply, and fill the earth. 2And let the fear and trembling of you be upon all the animals of the earth, and upon all the birds of the air, along with all that moves across the earth. All the fish of the sea have been delivered into your hand. 3And everything that moves and lives will be food for you. Just as with the edible plants, I have delivered them all to you, 4except that flesh with blood you shall not eat. 5For I will examine the blood of your lives at the hand of every beast. So also, at the hand of mankind, at the hand of each man and his brother, I will examine the life of mankind.

6Whoever will shed human blood, his blood will be poured out. For man was indeed made to the image of God.

7But as for you: increase and multiply, and go forth upon the earth and fulfill it.”

8To Noah and to his sons with him, God also said this: 9“Behold, I will establish my covenant with you, and with your offspring after you, 10and with every living soul that is with you: as much with the birds as with the cattle and all the animals of the earth that have gone forth from the ark, and with all the wild beasts of the earth. 11I will establish my covenant with you, and no longer will all that is flesh be put to death by the waters of a great flood, and, henceforth, there will not be a great flood to utterly destroy the earth.” 12And God said: “This is the sign of the pact that I grant between me and you, and to every living soul that is with you, for perpetual generations. 13I will place my arc in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the pact between myself and the earth. 14And when I obscure the sky with clouds, my arc will appear in the clouds. 15And I will remember my covenant with you, and with every living soul that enlivens flesh. And there will no longer be waters from a great flood to wipe away all that is flesh. 16And the arc will be in the clouds, and I will see it, and I will remember the everlasting covenant that was enacted between God and every living soul of all that is flesh upon the earth.” 17And God said to Noah, “This will be the sign of the covenant that I have established between myself and all that is flesh upon the earth.”

Noah’s Shame and Canaan’s Curse

18And so the sons of Noah, who came out of the ark, were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Now Ham himself is the father of Canaan. 19These three are the sons of Noah. And from these all the family of mankind was spread over the whole earth.

20And Noah, a good farmer, began to cultivate the land, and he planted a vineyard. 21And by drinking its wine, he became inebriated and was naked in his tent. 22Because of this, when Ham, the father of Canaan, had indeed seen the privates of his father to be naked, he reported it to his two brothers outside. 23And truly, Shem and Japheth put a cloak upon their arms, and, advancing backwards, covered the privates of their father. And their faces were turned away, so that they did not see their father’s manhood. 24Then Noah, awaking from the wine, when he had learned what his younger son had done to him,

25he said, “Cursed be Canaan, a servant of servants will he be to his brothers.”

Shem’s Blessing and Noah’s Death

26And he said: “Blessed be the Lord God of Shem, let Canaan be his servant.

27May God enlarge Japheth, and may he live in the tents of Shem, and let Canaan be his servant.”

28And after the great flood, Noah lived for three hundred and fifty years. 29And all his days were completed in nine hundred and fifty years, and then he died.