16. When the bow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature—every mortal being that is on earth.
17. God told Noah: This is the sign of the covenant I have established between me and every mortal being that is on earth.
18. The sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham and Japheth. Ham was the father of Canaan.
19. These three were the sons of Noah, and from them the whole earth was populated.
20. Noah, a man of the soil, was the first to plant a vineyard.
21. He drank some of the wine, became drunk, and lay naked inside his tent.
22. Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father’s nakedness, and he told his two brothers outside.
23. Shem and Japheth, however, took a robe, and holding it on their shoulders, they walked backward and covered their father’s nakedness; since their faces were turned the other way, they did not see their father’s nakedness.
24. When Noah woke up from his wine and learned what his youngest son had done to him,
25. he said:“Cursed be Caanan!The lowest of slavesshall he be to his brothers.”
26. He also said:“Blessed be the Lord, the God of Shem!Let Canaan be his slave.
27. May God expand Japheth,and may he dwell among the tents of Shem;and let Canaan be his slave.”