Genesis 8:20-Genesis 9:17 - God's Covenant With Noah

²⁰ And Noah built an altar to the Lord, and took of every [ceremonially] clean animal and of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar. ²¹ The Lord smelled the pleasing aroma [a soothing, satisfying scent] and the Lord said to Himself, “I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intent (strong inclination, desire) of man’s heart is wicked from his youth; and I will never again destroy every living thing, as I have done.

²²
“While the earth remains,
Seedtime and harvest,
Cold and heat,
Winter and summer,
And day and night
Shall not cease.”

¹ And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth. ² The fear and the terror of you shall be [instinctive] in every animal of the land and in every bird of the air; and together with everything that moves on the ground, and with all the fish of the sea; they are given into your hand. ³ Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you; I give you everything, as I gave you the green plants and vegetables. ⁴ But you shall not eat meat along with its life, that is, its blood. ⁵ For your lifeblood I will most certainly require an accounting; from every animal [that kills a person] I will require it. And from man, from every man’s brother [that is, anyone who murders] I will require the life of man.

⁶
“Whoever sheds man’s blood [unlawfully],
By man (judicial government) shall his blood be shed,
For in the image of God
He made man.

⁷
“As for you, be fruitful and multiply;
Populate the earth abundantly and multiply in it.”

⁸ Then God spoke to Noah and to his sons with him, saying, ⁹ “Now behold, I am establishing My covenant (binding agreement, solemn promise) with you and with your descendants after you ¹⁰ and with every living creature that is with you—the birds, the livestock, and the wild animals of the earth along with you, of everything that comes out of the ark—every living creature of the earth. ¹¹ I will establish My covenant with you: Never again shall all flesh be cut off by the water of a flood, nor shall there ever again be a flood to destroy and ruin the earth.”

¹² And God said, “This is the token (visible symbol, memorial) of the [solemn] covenant which I am making between Me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations; ¹³ I set My rainbow in the clouds, and it shall be a sign of a covenant between Me and the earth. ¹⁴ It shall come about, when I bring clouds over the earth, that the rainbow shall be seen in the clouds, ¹⁵ and I will [compassionately] remember My covenant, which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and never again will the water become a flood to destroy all flesh. ¹⁶ When the rainbow is in the clouds and I look at it, I will [solemnly] remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” ¹⁷ And God said to Noah, “This [rainbow] is the sign of the covenant (solemn pledge, binding agreement) which I have established between Me and all living things on the earth.”