Limitless Word
Noah began to be a farmer, and planted a vineyard.
Genesis 9:20 · World English Bible
Parallel translations
  • KJV And Noah began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard:
  • BSB Now Noah, a man of the soil, proceeded to plant a vineyard.
  • NKJV And Noah began to be a farmer, and he planted a vineyard.
  • NASB Then Noah began farming and planted a vineyard.
  • NLT After the flood, Noah began to cultivate the ground, and he planted a vineyard.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org

Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Quick answer

Noah became a farmer and planted a vineyard. He returns to the ordinary work of cultivating the ground.

Overview

After the flood, Noah takes up agriculture, a sign of life resuming and the ground being worked again. The planting of a vineyard sets the stage for the sobering account that follows. Even a righteous man like Noah remains a fallen son of Adam, reminding us that the world still awaits a deliverer who does not fail.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 13

  • Gen 5:29He named him Noah, saying, “This one will comfort us in our work and in the toil of our hands, caused by the ground which Yahweh has cursed.”
  • Eccl 5:9Moreover the profit of the earth is for all. The king profits from the field.
  • Prov 12:11He who tills his land shall have plenty of bread, but he who chases fantasies is void of understanding.
  • Gen 4:2Again she gave birth, to Cain’s brother Abel. Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground.
  • Deut 28:30You will betroth a wife, and another man shall lie with her. You will build a house, and you won’t dwell in it. You will plant a vineyard, and not use its fruit.
  • Gen 3:23Therefore Yahweh God sent him out from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from which he was taken.
  • Isa 28:24–26Does he who plows to sow plow continually? Does he keep turning the soil and breaking the clods?
  • Gen 3:18–19It will yield thorns and thistles to you; and you will eat the herb of the field.
  • Prov 10:11The mouth of the righteous is a spring of life, but violence covers the mouth of the wicked.
  • Deut 20:6What man is there who has planted a vineyard, and has not used its fruit? Let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man use its fruit.
  • Song 1:6Don’t stare at me because I am dark, because the sun has scorched me. My mother’s sons were angry with me. They made me keeper of the vineyards. I haven’t kept my own vineyard.
  • Prov 24:30I went by the field of the sluggard, by the vineyard of the man void of understanding;
  • 1 Cor 9:7What soldier ever serves at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard, and doesn’t eat of its fruit? Or who feeds a flock, and doesn’t drink from the flock’s milk?

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (5)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Genesis videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Genesis 9:20YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on GenesisMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

Christ at the center

From the first promise that the seed of the woman would crush the serpent (3:15), through Abraham's blessing to all nations and Judah's coming ruler, Genesis sows every seed that flowers in Christ — the true offspring, the better Adam, the ram caught for Isaac.

How Genesis 9:20 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.

Original language

Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.