Who is included in God’s covenant with Noe, and what does the bow in the clouds signify?

Atlas of Saints · Chapter summary

The covenant includes Noe, his sons, their descendants and living creatures. The bow is its enduring sign: God says he will remember the covenant and that floodwaters will no longer destroy all flesh.

Chapter breakdown

God blesses Noe and his sons and tells them to increase, multiply and fill the earth. Beasts, birds and moving creatures are to fear and dread them, and the fish of the sea are delivered into their hands. Moving living things are given to them as food, as green herbs have been given. One restriction is stated: they must not eat flesh with blood.

God says that he will require the blood of human lives at the hand of every beast and every man, including a man’s brother. He states that whoever sheds man’s blood will have his own blood shed, because man was made in God’s image. He again tells Noe and his sons to increase, multiply, go upon the earth and fill it.

God speaks to Noe and his sons and promises to establish his covenant, a solemn bond, with them and their descendants. It includes living creatures with them: birds, cattle and beasts that have come out of the ark, and the beasts of the earth. God says that all flesh will no longer be destroyed by floodwaters and that there will no longer be a flood to waste the earth.

God gives a sign of the covenant between himself, Noe’s household and the living creatures for continuing generations. He sets his bow, the rainbow, in the clouds as the sign between himself and the earth. When clouds cover the sky, the bow will appear. God says that he will remember the covenant with them and every living soul bearing flesh, and floodwaters will not destroy all flesh. He will see the bow and remember the everlasting covenant with living flesh on earth. He repeats to Noe that this is the covenant’s sign.

The sons of Noe who came out of the ark are Sem, Cham and Japheth. Cham is the father of Chanaan. The account states that mankind spreads over the whole earth from these three sons.

Noe begins to cultivate the ground and plants a vineyard. He drinks wine, becomes drunk, and is uncovered in his tent. Challoner reports the Fathers’ judgment that Noe is not guilty of sin in being overcome by wine because he does not know its strength.

Cham sees his father’s nakedness and tells his two brothers outside. Sem and Japheth put a cloak on their shoulders and go backward to cover their father. Their faces are turned away, and they do not see his nakedness. Challoner cites Saint Gregory, Book 35, chapter 22 of the Morals, as applying the covering of nakedness to covering the sins of spiritual parents and superiors.

Noe awakes from the wine and learns what his younger son has done. He curses Chanaan to be a servant of servants to his brethren. Challoner explains the patriarchal curses and blessings as prophetic and says that Moses records this one for the children of Israel who are to possess Chanaan’s land. The note reports a Hebrew answer to why Chanaan is cursed: as a boy, he first sees his grandfather’s nakedness, tells Cham, and joins him in laughing, drawing the curse on himself rather than Cham’s other children. Noe blesses the Lord God of Sem and says Chanaan is to be Sem’s servant. He asks God to enlarge Japheth and let him dwell in Sem’s tents, with Chanaan as his servant. Noe lives 350 years after the flood. His total life is 950 years, and he dies.

The story inside

The covenant is explained through its recipients, promise and sign. It is spoken to Noe and his sons but extends to their descendants and the creatures that came from the ark. The promised limit concerns a flood destroying all flesh and wasting the earth. The bow in the clouds is then repeatedly connected with God remembering that covenant. Reading those repetitions together keeps the sign attached to the actual promise and its stated recipients. The later family incident is also part of the chapter, but it should not replace the covenant’s broad scope with a promise only to one son’s line.

Lessons worth keeping

1
Human blood is treated differently from the food permission. Moving living things are given as food, but flesh with blood is forbidden. God then requires human life at the hand of beast and man and connects the bloodshed statement to humanity being made in God’s image (9:3–6).
2
The covenant’s reach is stated more than once. Noe’s descendants and the living creatures are included, and the bow is a sign for continuing generations. These repetitions explain why the promise concerns all flesh on earth rather than only the immediate household (9:8–17).
3
The family incident must keep action and interpretation distinct. Cham reports his father’s exposure; Sem and Japheth cover him with averted faces. Challoner separately reports the Fathers’ judgment about Noe, Gregory’s application, and a Hebrew explanation concerning Chanaan. The verse does not itself narrate the boy’s participation (9:20–27).

Test your recall

How do the named recipients and repeated statements about the bow establish the covenant’s scope, and what destruction does God promise not to repeat?

Show answer

God names Noe, his sons, their descendants, and every living creature as recipients of the covenant. The repeated statements about the bow extend the sign to all flesh and future generations. God promises not to destroy all flesh or lay waste the earth by a flood again. The promise does not say that no local flood can ever occur.

Quotes from Scripture

Exact Scripture quotations from the Douay–Rheims Bible, revised by Bishop Richard Challoner (1749–1752), the same edition used for these chapters. Source: Project Gutenberg no. 1581.

I will set my bow in the clouds, and it shall be the sign of a covenant between me and between the earth.

Genesis 9:13 · Douay–Rheims / Challonerpg1581.txt · lines 1063–1064

And I will remember my covenant with you, and with every living soul that beareth flesh: and there shall no more be waters of a flood to destroy all flesh.

Genesis 9:15 · Douay–Rheims / Challonerpg1581.txt · lines 1069–1071

Source edition and notes

Douay–Rheims, revised by Richard Challoner (1749–1752). Project Gutenberg no. 1581. Locators refer to lines in the admitted pg1581.txt edition. Source notes may include Challoner commentary.

Lines 1020–1036
Genesis Chapter 9 God blesseth Noe: forbiddeth blood, and promiseth never more to destroy the world by water. The blessing of Sem and Japheth. 9:1. And God blessed Noe and his sons. And he said to them: Increase, and multiply, and fill the earth. 9:2. And let the fear and dread of you be upon all the beasts of the earth, and upon all the fowls of the air, and all that move upon the earth: all the fishes of the sea are delivered into your hand. 9:3. And every thing that moveth, and liveth shall be meat for you: even as the green herbs have I delivered them all to you: 9:4. Saving that flesh with blood you shall not eat.
Lines 1037–1045
9:5. For I will require the blood of your lives at the hand of every beast, and at the hand of man, at the hand of every man, and of his brother, will I require the life of man. 9:6. Whosoever shall shed man’s blood, his blood shall be shed: for man was made to the image of God. 9:7. But increase you and multiply, and go upon the earth and fill it.
Lines 1046–1058
9:8. Thus also said God to Noe, and to his sons with him: 9:9. Behold I will establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you: 9:10. And with every living soul that is with you, as well in all birds, as in cattle and beasts of the earth, that are come forth out of the ark, and in all the beasts of the earth. 9:11. I will establish my covenant with you, and all flesh shall be no more destroyed with the waters of a flood, neither shall there be from henceforth a flood to waste the earth.
Lines 1059–1079
9:12. And God said: This is the sign of the covenant which I give between me and you, and to every living soul that is with you, for perpetual generations. 9:13. I will set my bow in the clouds, and it shall be the sign of a covenant between me and between the earth. 9:14. And when I shall cover the sky with clouds, my bow shall appear in the clouds: 9:15. And I will remember my covenant with you, and with every living soul that beareth flesh: and there shall no more be waters of a flood to destroy all flesh. 9:16. And the bow shall be in the clouds, and I shall see it, and shall remember the everlasting covenant, that was made between God and every living soul of all flesh which is upon the earth. 9:17. And God said to Noe: This shall be the sign of the covenant, which I have established, between me and all flesh upon the earth.
Lines 1080–1085
9:18. And the sons of Noe, who came out of the ark, were Sem, Cham, and Japheth: and Cham is the father of Chanaan. 9:19. These three are the sons of Noe: and from these was all mankind spread over the whole earth.
Lines 1086–1094
9:20. And Noe a husbandman began to till the ground, and planted a vineyard. 9:21. And drinking of the wine was made drunk, and was uncovered in his tent. Drunk.... Noe by the judgment of the fathers was not guilty of sin, in being overcome by wine: because he knew not the strength of it.
Lines 1095–1106
9:22. Which when Cham the father of Chanaan had seen, to wit, that his father’s nakedness was uncovered, he told it to his two brethren without. 9:23. But Sem and Japheth put a cloak upon their shoulders, and going backward, covered the nakedness of their father: and their faces were turned away, and they saw not their father’s nakedness. Covered the nakedness.... Thus, as St. Gregory takes notice L. 35; Moral. c. 22, we ought to cover the nakedness, that is, the sins, of our spiritual parents and superiors.
Lines 1107–1133
9:24. And Noe awaking from the wine, when he had learned what his younger son had done to him, 9:25. He said: Cursed be Chanaan, a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren. Cursed be Chanaan.... The curses, as well as the blessings, of the patriarchs, were prophetical: And this in particular is here recorded by Moses, for the children of Israel, who were to possess the land of Chanaan. But why should Chanaan be cursed for his father’s faults? The Hebrews answer, that he being then a boy, was the first that saw his grandfather’s nakedness, and told his father Cham of it; and joined with him in laughing at it: which drew upon him, rather than upon the rest of the children of Cham, this prophetical curse. 9:26. And he said: Blessed be the Lord God of Sem, be Chanaan his servant. 9:27. May God enlarge Japheth, and may he dwell in the tents of Sem, and Chanaan be his servant. 9:28. And Noe lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years. 9:29. And all his days were in the whole nine hundred and fifty years: and he died.