Genesis 9:11 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Genesis 9:11
And I will establish my covenant with you, neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth.
to rise (in various applications · conjunction + verb, hiphil sequential perfect, 1st person common singular
covenant
בְּרִיתִי֙be.ri.Ti
H1285
a compact (because made by passing between pieces of fl… · noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix
flesh
בָּשָׂ֛רba.Sar
H1320
flesh (from its freshness) · noun, common masculine singular absolute
off
יִכָּרֵ֧תyi.ka.Ret
H3772
to cut (off · verb, niphal imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
waters
מִמֵּ֣יmi.Mei
H4325
water · preposition + noun, common masculine plural construct
flood
הַמַּבּ֑וּלha.ma.Bul
H3999
a deluge · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
flood
מַבּ֖וּלma.Bul
H3999
a deluge · noun, common masculine singular absolute
destroy
לְשַׁחֵ֥תle.sha.Chet
H7843
to decay · preposition + verb, piel infinitive construct
earth
הָאָֽרֶץha.'A.retz
H776
the earth (at large · definite article + noun, common feminine singular absolute
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Isaiah 54:9 For this is as the waters of Noah unto me: for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth; so have I sworn tha…
Genesis 8:21-22 And the LORD smelled a sweet savour; and the LORD said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man’s sake; for the imag…
2 Peter 3:7 But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perditi…
Genesis 7:21-23 And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of beast, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the…
2 Peter 3:11 Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness,
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Genesis 9:8-11
Here is, I. The general establishment of God's covenant with this new world, and the extent of that covenant, Gen 9:9, Gen 9:10. Here observe, 1. That God is graciously pleased to deal with man in the way of a covenant, wherein God greatly magnifies his condescending favour, and greatly encourages man's duty and obedience, as a reasonable and gainful service. 2. That all God's covenants with man are of his own making: I, behold, I. It is thus expressed both to raise our admiration - "Behold, and wonder, that though God be high yet he has this respect to man," and to confirm our assurances of the validity of the covenant - "Behold and see, I make it; I that am faithful and able to make it goo…
Whoso sheddeth man's blood . . . for in the image of God made he man--It is true that image has been injured by the fall, but it is not lost. In this view, a high value is attached to the life of every man, even the poorest and humblest, and an awful criminality is involved in the destruction of it.
Adam Clarke on Genesis 9:6
Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood - Hence it appears that whoever kills a man, unless unwittingly, as the Scripture expresses it, shall forfeit his own life.
A man is accused of the crime of murder; of this crime he is guilty or he is not: if he be guilty of murder he should die; if not, let him be punished according to the demerit of his crime; but for no offense but murder should he lose his life. Taking away the life of another is the highest offense that can be committed against the individual, and against society; and the highest punishment that a man can suffer for such a crime is the loss of his own life. As punishment should be ever proportioned to crimes, so the hig…
And I will establish my covenant with you,.... This is repeated to denote the certainty of it, as well as to lead on to the particulars of it:
neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither man nor beast, at least not all of them, and especially by water:
neither shall there be any more a flood to destroy the earth; not a general deluge, otherwise notwithstanding this promise there might be, as there have been, particular inundations, which have overflowed particular countries and places, but not the whole earth; and this hinders not but that the whole earth may be destroyed by fire, as it will be at the last day, only not by water any more; and this is the s…
The Church Fathers
God also said to Noah and to his sons with him: Behold, I will establish my covenant with you, and with your offspring after you, and continuing until he says: Never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood; nor shall there ever again be a flood to destroy the earth. The meaning of the letter is clear, because the world need no longer fear the judgment of water, but of fire, and the frequent repetition rebukes and condemns the heresy of Origen, who presumed to dogmatize the cycles of infinite ages always running in the same order. Mystically, however, the water of the flood not returning to the earth signifies that the water of baptism, once received, cannot be repeated; for he who has been washed does not need to wash again, as the Lord himself testifies (John 13:10), and those who have been washed once in the waters of tribulations and reached eternal salvation are no longer to be cleansed in the same waters, but will joyfully sing to their Redeemer forever: We went through fire and water, and you brought us to a place of abundance (Psalm 66:12). Nor indeed should the meaning of the saving bath seem contrary to what is said about the waters of the flood above: Never again will I curse the ground because of man; or what is said here: Never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth, since the water of baptism is not accustomed to bring a curse or destruction to our mind or body, but rather blessing and health; but it is to be understood that the Lord in baptism in a certain way curses our old conduct, and destroys it when he commands us to renounce the devil and all his works and pomps; and thus, having been cleansed with a new confession, we may be worthy to attain the grace of eternal blessing.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Church — Derived probably from the Greek kuriakon (i.e., “the Lord’s house”), which was used by ancient authors for the place of worship. In the New Testament it is the translation of the Greek word ecclesia,…
Covenant — A contract or agreement between two parties. In the Old Testament the Hebrew word berith is always thus translated. Berith is derived from a root which means “to cut,” and hence a covenant is a…
Works, Covenant of — Entered into by God with Adam as the representative of the human race (comp. Gen. 9:11, 12; 17:1-21), so styled because perfect obedience was its condition, thus distinguishing it from the covenant…
Bow · 2. A TOKEN IN THE CLOUDS — 2. A TOKEN IN THE CLOUDS
Covenants · Illustrative: Of God’s promises to man — Illustrative: Of God’s promises to man
Deception · General references — General references
Deluge, The · That it shall never again occur: Confirmed by covenant — That it shall never again occur: Confirmed by covenant
Noah · General references — General references
Rain · The earth will never again be — The earth will never again be
Rainbow · A sign that the earth will no longer be — A sign that the earth will no longer be
Water · The world not to be again destroyed by — The world not to be again destroyed by
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
And with every living creature. Although the favor which the Lord promises extends also to animals, yet it is not in vain that he addresses himself only to men, who, by the sense of faith, are able to perceive this benefit. We enjoy the heaven and the air in common with the beasts, and draw the same vital breath; but it is no common privilege, that God directs his word to us; whence we may learn with what paternal love he pursues us. And here three distinct steps are to be traced. First, God, as in a matter of present concern, makes a covenant with Noah and his family, lest they should be afraid of a deluge for themselves. Secondly, he transmits his covenant to posterity, not only that, as b…
To give Noah and his sons a firm assurance of the prosperous continuance of the human race, God condescended to establish a covenant with them and their descendants, and to confirm this covenant by a visible sign for all generations. בּרית הקים is not equivalent to בּרית כּרת; it does not denote the formal conclusion of an actual covenant, but the "setting up of a covenant," or the giving of a promise possessing the nature of a covenant. In summing up the animals in Gen 9:10, the prepositions are accumulated: first בּ embracing the whole, then the partitive מן restricting the enumeration to those which went out of the ark, and lastly ל yl, "with regard to," extending it again to every indivi…
