But as for you, be fruitful and multiply; spread out across the earth and multiply upon it.”
Parallel translations
- WEB Be fruitful and multiply. Increase abundantly in the earth, and multiply in it.”
- KJV And you, be ye fruitful, and multiply; bring forth abundantly in the earth, and multiply therein.
- NKJV And as for you, be fruitful and multiply; Bring forth abundantly in the earth And multiply in it.”
- NASB “As for you, be fruitful and multiply; Populate the earth abundantly and multiply in it.”
- NLT Now be fruitful and multiply, and repopulate the earth.”
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
God repeats His blessing to Noah's family: be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth. The mandate given at creation is renewed after the flood.
Overview
Echoing the original command to Adam, God commissions Noah's household to repopulate the cleansed earth, signaling a fresh beginning for humanity. Life and fruitfulness are gifts and callings from God, not accidents. This renewal of the creation mandate points forward to the greater multiplication of God's people through the gospel, as Christ's followers go and make disciples of all nations.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 4
- Gen 9:1And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.
- Gen 1:28God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and every creature that crawls upon the earth.”
- Gen 9:19These three were the sons of Noah, and from them the whole earth was populated.
- Gen 8:17Bring out all the living creatures that are with you—birds, livestock, and everything that crawls upon the ground—so that they can spread out over the earth and be fruitful and multiply upon it.”
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 9:7 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
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