Genesis 9 — Hebrew and Greek compared
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Same 4 Similar 6 Different 12 Divergent 4 Disparate 3
Disparate in this chapter: 9:6, 9:21, 9:25
Each verse is rendered independently from the Hebrew (Rabbinic reading tradition) and from the Greek (Saints reading tradition). The badge classifies the relationship between the two readings; the note beneath records the source document’s comparison and attributed interpretation. Each column retains its own verse references where numbering differs.
The Laws of Blood
9:1 Divergent
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
9:1 God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth.
Greek · Saints priority
9:1 God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Increase, multiply, fill the earth, and exercise dominion over it.
G adds the command to exercise dominion over the earth.
9:2 Different
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
9:2 The fear and dread of you shall be upon every wild animal of the earth and every bird of the sky, upon everything that moves on the ground and all the fish of the sea. They have been given into your hand.
Greek · Saints priority
9:2 The dread and fear of you shall be upon all the wild animals of the earth, all the birds of the sky, everything that moves on the earth, and all the fish of the sea. I have given them under your hands.
G makes God the explicit giver; H uses a passive construction. The creatures and human authority correspond.
9:3 Similar
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
9:3 Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. As with the green plants, I have given you everything.
Greek · Saints priority
9:3 Every creeping thing that lives shall be food for you. As with the green plants, I have given you everything.
The permission and comparison with plants agree; the movement vocabulary differs slightly.
9:4 Different
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
9:4 Only flesh with its life, its blood, you shall not eat.
Greek · Saints priority
9:4 But flesh with blood of life you shall not eat.
H places its blood in apposition to its life; G speaks of blood of life. Both prohibit the specified eating.
9:5 Different
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
9:5 And surely I will require your blood for your lives. From every animal I will require it; and from a human, from each one's brother, I will require human life.
Greek · Saints priority
9:5 For I will require your blood for your lives. From all the wild animals I will require it, and from a human brother I will require human life.
G compresses H's human and brother clauses into a human brother. Both require accountability for life.
9:6 Disparate
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
9:6 Whoever sheds human blood, by humans his blood shall be shed, for in the image of God he made humankind.
Greek · Saints priority
9:6 The one who sheds human blood—in return for his blood it shall be shed, because in the image of God I made humankind.
H specifies human agency in the shedding of the offender's blood. G uses an exchange formula without that agent and changes he made to I made. G's compressed blood clause remains syntactically awkward.
9:7 Different
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
9:7 And you, be fruitful and multiply; swarm on the earth and multiply in it.”
Greek · Saints priority
9:7 And you, increase and multiply; fill the earth and multiply upon it.”
H commands swarming; G commands filling. The shared command to multiply remains.
The Rainbow Covenant
9:8 Same
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
9:8 God said to Noah and to his sons with him,
Greek · Saints priority
9:8 God said to Noah and to his sons with him,
The speaker and recipients agree.
9:9 Similar
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
9:9 “As for Me, behold, I am establishing My covenant with you and with your offspring after you,
Greek · Saints priority
9:9 “As for Me, behold, I establish My covenant with you and with your offspring after you,
Both establish the covenant with Noah's household and descendants.
9:10 Divergent
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
9:10 and with every living creature with you: the birds, the livestock, and every wild animal of the earth with you, all that came out of the ark, every wild animal of the earth.
Greek · Saints priority
9:10 and with every living creature with you: the birds, the livestock, and all the wild animals of the earth with you, all that came out of the ark.
H's final repetition of every wild animal of the earth has no corresponding clause in G.
9:11 Different
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
9:11 I establish My covenant with you: never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.”
Greek · Saints priority
9:11 I establish My covenant with you: never again shall all flesh die by the water of the flood, and never again shall there be a flood of water to destroy all the earth.”
H has be cut off; G has die and expressly qualifies the flood as water and the earth as all.
9:12 Divergent
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
9:12 God said, “This is the sign of the covenant that I give between Me and you and every living creature with you, for perpetual generations:
Greek · Saints priority
9:12 The Lord God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant that I give between Me and you and every living creature with you, for perpetual generations:
G expressly adds Noah as recipient and expands God to Lord God.
9:13 Similar
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
9:13 I have set My bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of a covenant between Me and the earth.
Greek · Saints priority
9:13 I set My bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of a covenant between Me and the earth.
The sign and covenant partners agree; G uses a present verb where H uses a completed-action form.
9:14 Different
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
9:14 When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the cloud,
Greek · Saints priority
9:14 When I bring clouds over the earth, My bow shall be seen in the cloud,
G explicitly calls it my bow and presents its appearance as the following assertion.
9:15 Similar
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
9:15 I will remember My covenant between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh. Never again shall the waters become a flood to destroy all flesh.
Greek · Saints priority
9:15 I will remember My covenant between Me and you and every living creature among all flesh. Never again shall the water become a flood to wipe out all flesh.
Both promise remembrance and exclude another flood destroying all flesh.
9:16 Different
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
9:16 The bow shall be in the cloud, and I will see it, to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh upon the earth.”
Greek · Saints priority
9:16 My bow shall be in the cloud, and I will see it, to remember the everlasting covenant between Me and every living creature among all flesh upon the earth.”
G has my bow and between me; H has the bow and between God. G does not say between me, God.
9:17 Similar
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
9:17 God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between Me and all flesh upon the earth.”
Greek · Saints priority
9:17 God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant that I have made between Me and all flesh upon the earth.”
The concluding covenant declaration agrees in substance.
Noah's Vineyard
9:18 Same
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
9:18 The sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Ham was the father of Canaan.
Greek · Saints priority
9:18 The sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Ham was the father of Canaan.
The names and parentage agree.
9:19 Similar
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
9:19 These three were Noah's sons, and from these the whole earth was dispersed.
Greek · Saints priority
9:19 These three were Noah's sons; from these they dispersed over all the earth.
H uses the whole earth for its population; G describes their dispersal over the earth.
9:20 Different
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
9:20 Noah, a man of the ground, began and planted a vineyard.
Greek · Saints priority
9:20 Noah began to be a farmer of the earth, and he planted a vineyard.
G explicitly makes farming the activity he began. H's compressed began construction permits more than one syntactic explanation.
9:21 Disparate
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
9:21 He drank some of the wine and became drunk, and he uncovered himself inside his tent.
Greek · Saints priority
9:21 He drank some of the wine and became drunk, and he was uncovered in his house.
H depicts Noah uncovering himself in his tent; G describes his exposed state in his house. The dwelling term and presentation of agency differ.
9:22 Divergent
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
9:22 Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father's nakedness and told his two brothers outside.
Greek · Saints priority
9:22 Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father's nakedness; he went out and told his two brothers outside.
G adds an explicit departure before Ham's report.
9:23 Different
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
9:23 Shem and Japheth took the garment and laid it on both their shoulders. They walked backward and covered their father's nakedness. Their faces were turned backward, and they did not see their father's nakedness.
Greek · Saints priority
9:23 Shem and Japheth took the garment and laid it on both their backs. They walked backward and covered their father's nakedness. Their faces were turned backward, and they did not see their father's nakedness.
H locates the garment on their shoulders; G uses backs. The protective action agrees.
Noah's Blessing and Curse
9:24 Different
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
9:24 Noah awoke from his wine and knew what his younger son had done to him.
Greek · Saints priority
9:24 Noah sobered up from his wine and knew what his younger son had done to him.
H describes awakening; G describes recovery from intoxication. Neither verse specifies an additional act beyond the preceding account.
9:25 Disparate
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
9:25 He said, “Cursed be Canaan! A slave of slaves shall he be to his brothers.”
Greek · Saints priority
9:25 He said, “Cursed be Canaan! A household slave shall he be to his brothers.”
H intensifies servitude as slave of slaves; G uses pais oiketēs, a household slave. The curse names Canaan, not every descendant of Ham.
9:26 Different
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
9:26 He said, “Blessed be YHWH, the God of Shem! Let Canaan be a slave to them.
Greek · Saints priority
9:26 He said, “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Shem! Canaan shall be his slave.
H has the poetic suffix lamo, rendered to them here; G has an explicitly singular his. The Hebrew suffix can also be understood with singular reference in poetry.
9:27 Different
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
9:27 May God enlarge Japheth, and may he dwell in the tents of Shem; let Canaan be a slave to them.”
Greek · Saints priority
9:27 May God enlarge Japheth, and may he dwell in the houses of Shem; let Canaan be their slave.”
Tents and houses differ. Both leave the subject of may he dwell open to interpretation; G's final their is plural.
9:28 Same
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
9:28 Noah lived three hundred and fifty years after the flood.
Greek · Saints priority
9:28 Noah lived three hundred and fifty years after the flood.
Both give 350 years after the flood.
9:29 Same
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
9:29 All the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years, and he died.
Greek · Saints priority
9:29 All the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years, and he died.
Both give a lifespan of 950 years and record his death.
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Saints Translation · Companion comparison edition · working draft awaiting specialist review.