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Genesis 9 General Notes
Structure and formatting
Some translations prefer to set apart extended quotations, prayers or songs. The ULB and many other English translations set the lines of 9:6-7, which is the poetic part of the quotation, farther to the right on the page than the rest of the text. They also set apart 9:25-27, which contains two quotations.
Some translations set poetry farther to the right than the rest of the text to show that it is poetry. The ULB does this with the poetry in 9:6 and 9:25-27.
Special concepts in this chapter
Man's relationship to animals
There is a noticeable shift in man's relationship with the animals on the earth. Before the flood, there apparently was harmony between man and the animals. After the flood, the animals fear man and man is permitted to eat the animals, something he was not allowed to do previously. (See: rc://en/ta/man/jit/figs-explicit)
Life in the blood
This chapter introduces the concept that there is life in the blood of an animal and in man. In Hebrew thought, blood represents the life present in a living thing. This is an image used throughout Scripture. (See: rc://en/tw/dict/bible/kt/life and rc://en/tw/dict/bible/kt/blood)
Covenant with Noah
God made a covenant with Noah. This covenant was an unconditional promise God made to never destroy the whole world with a flood. Rainbows are a perpetual sign of this covenant. (See: rc://en/tw/dict/bible/kt/covenant and rc://en/tw/dict/bible/kt/promise)
A father's nakedness
In Noah's culture, it was unacceptable to see a father's nakedness. It was wrong for Ham to show his brothers their father's nakedness. Ham's actions were insulting or disrespectful. (See: rc://en/ta/man/jit/figs-explicit)
Other possible translation difficulties in this chapter
"Be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth"
This is a command that God gives. He expects Noah to obey him.