Genesis 9, Translation

Sunday, 09 November 2008

And Elohim blessed Noach and his sons,
and said to them:

“Be fruitful, and be many,
     and fill the Land.”
Fear of you and terror of you will be
     upon all the Living Animals of the Land
          and the Flyers of the Skies.
      All that crawls upon the earthen soil
          and all the fish of the sea
     is given into your hand.
Every Creeping Thing that has life,
     to you he will be for food.
Just as the green green plants,
     to you I have given all.

However, flesh with its life-blood you shall not eat. [9.4.1]

Also, your life-blood I will seek,
     from the hand of every Living Animal I will seek it,
     from the hand of the Earthling,
     from the hand of a man’s brother
I will seek the life-force [nephesh] of the Earthling.

The spiller of the blood of the Earthling,
       by the Earthling his blood will be spilled.
For in the image of Elohim he made the Earthling. [9.6.1]

And you, be fruitful and become many,
     and swarm the land and became many in it."

And Elohim said to Noach and to his sons with him, to say:
     "And Look! I cause my convenant to stand with you and with your seed after you.
          and with every Living Being which is with you,
               in the Flyers
   in the Beasts
   and in all the Living of the Land with you.
      From all those coming out of the ark
to all the Living of the Land.

And I cause to stand my covenant with you,
    and all flesh will not be cut off again from the Flooding Waters.
And there will not be again a flood to completely ruin the Land.
And Elohim said this is the sign of the covenant
      which I set between myself, you, and all Living Beings that are with you,
      for everlasting generations.

A bow I have placed in clouds,
and it will be a sign of the covenant between myelf and the Land.
It will be in my clouding clouds upon the Land, the bow will be seen in the clouds. [9.14.1]
And I will remember my covenant
     that is between myself, and you,
     and every Living Being in all flesh,
and there will never be again the Waters to flood and to completely ruin all flesh.

And there will be the bow in the clouds,
     and I will see it to remember the everlasting covenant
     between Elohim and every Living Being of all flesh which is upon the Land.
And Elohim said to Noach,
     “This is the sign of the covenant that I cause to stand
     between myself and between all flesh upon the Land.

The sons of Noach, those coming out of the ark, were Shem, Cham, Yaphet.
And Cham was the father of Canaan.
These are the three son of Noach,
     and from these were scattered all the Land.

And Noach began a man of the earthen soil,
     and he planted a vineyard. [9.20.1]
And he drank from the wine and was drunk,
     and he was uncovered in the middle of his tent.
And Cham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father,
     and he told his two brothers on the outside.
Shem and Yephet took the cloak,
     they placed it on the shoulder of the two of them,
they went backward,
     they covered the nakedness of their father,
their faces were backward,
     the nakedness of their father they did not see.

And Noach woke up from his wine,
     and he knew what his littlest son did to him. [9.24.1]
And he said:
     “Cursed is Kenaan
          a slave of slaves he will be to his brothers.”
And he said:
     “Blessed is YHWH Elohim, the God of Shem
          and Kena’an will be a slave to him.” [9.26.1]
     May Elohim broaden (yaphet) Yephet and may he dwell in the tents of Shem.
         and Kena’an will be a slave to him. [9.27.1]

After the flood Noach lived 350 years.
And all the days of Noach were 950 years
and he died. [9.29.1]

9.29.1 Targum Neofiti: Now all the days of the life of Noah were nine hundred fifty years; then he died and was gathered from the midst of the world.

9.4.1 This is a difficult sentence to translate into English. In Hebrew, everything that breathes is a nephesh, a living being. This is closely tied to breathing as well as blood, so sometimes it is described in the genitive as “it’s soul/life-force/life-breath)”, because when something loses “it’s breath” or “its blood” it dies and ceases to be a living being. This sentence literally in Hebrew reads, “Only flesh in his nephesh his blood you may not eat.” Basically, life is in breath and blood, and humans are forbidden from partaking of anything that still has life (or the remainder of life) in it.

This was also seen as a prohibition against animal cruelty, in that some ancient cultures would remove parts from a living animal in order to eat it. This was sometimes a means of maintaining freshness of meat. Also, the castration of animals was common then as it is now, and eating of removed testicles may have had the practical value of not wasting edible meat. The prohibition against such food can be seen in the modification made in Targum Pseudo-Jonathan of this verse: “But the flesh that is torn from a living animal at the time when its soul is in it, or that is torn from a slaughtered animal when all of its breath has not yet gone out of it, you shall not eat.” This may have been the general understanding of not eating meat “with the blood in it.”

9.6.1 Targum Pseudo-Jonathan: The one who sheds the blood of man, by witnesses the judges shall condemn him to execution, but whoever sheds blood without witnesses, the master of the universe will punish him on the day of the great judgment, for in the image of God he made man.

9.14.1 Targum Pseudo Jonathan adds: . . . that the bow will appear in the daytime before the sun has set in the cloud.

9.20.1 Targum Pseudo Jonathan: Then Noah began to be a man working the land, and he found a vine that the river had drawn from the garden of Eden. And he planted a vineyard, and on that day it sprouted and ripened grapes, and he pressed them.

9.24.1 Targum Pseudo Jonathan: When Noah awoke from his wine, he knew, having been told in a dream, what Ham, his son who was of little worth in merit,20 had done to him, for he caused him to not beget a fourth son.

9.26.1 Targum Pseudo-Jonathan: Then he said, “Blessed is the Lord God of Shem, who made him righteous, and on account of this may Canaan be a slave to him.

9.27.1 The Targums render this in various ways and a development can be seen. Targum Onqelos: “ Then he said, “Blessed is the Lord God of Shem, who made him righteous, and on account of this may Canaan be a slave to him.” Targum Neofiti: May the Lord broaden the border of Japhet, and may the glory of his Shekhinah dwell in the midst of the tents of Shem, and may Canaan be a subdued slave to them.” Targum Pseudo-Jonathan: “May God make beautiful the borders of Japhet, and may his sons become proselytes and dwell in the study house of Shem, and may Canaan be their slave.”

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