²⁰Noah built an altar to the Lord; he took one of each kind of ritually clean animal and bird, and burnt them whole as a sacrifice on the altar. ²¹The odour of the sacrifice pleased the Lord, and he said to himself, “Never again will I put the earth under a curse because of what people do; I know that from the time they are young their thoughts are evil. Never again will I destroy all living beings, as I have done this time. ²²As long as the world exists, there will be a time for planting and a time for harvest. There will always be cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night.”

God’s Covenant with Noah

9^*God blessed Noah and his sons and said, “Have many children, so that your descendants will live all over the earth. ²All the animals, birds, and fish will live in fear of you. They are all placed under your power. ³Now you can eat them, as well as green plants; I give them all to you for food. ⁴^*The one thing you must not eat is meat with blood still in it; I forbid this because the life is in the blood. ⁵If anyone takes human life, he will be punished. I will punish with death any animal that takes a human life. ⁶^*Human beings were made like God, so whoever murders one of them will be killed by someone else.

⁷^*“You must have many children, so that your descendants will live all over the earth.”

⁸God said to Noah and his sons, ⁹“I am now making my covenant with you and with your descendants,

Read in Logos

Genesis 8:22: While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease…

Cross references

*9.1: Gn 1:28
*9.4: Lv 7:26, 27; 17:10–14; 19:26; Dt 12:16, 23; 15:23
*9.6: Ex 20:13; Gn 1:26
*9.7: Gn 1:28