Genesis 9:1

God’s Covenant with Humankind through Noah

9:1 Then God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.

Genesis 9:7

9:7 But as for you, ¹  be fruitful and multiply; increase abundantly on the earth and multiply on it.”

Genesis 9:19

9:19 These were the sons of Noah, and from them the whole earth was populated. ² 

¹ sn The disjunctive clause (conjunction + pronominal subject + verb) here indicates a strong contrast to what has preceded. Against the backdrop of the warnings about taking life, God now instructs the people to produce life, using terms reminiscent of the mandate given to Adam (Gen 1:28).

² tn Heb “was scattered.” The verb פָּצָה (patsah, “to scatter” [Niphal, “to be scattered”]) figures prominently in story of the dispersion of humankind in chap. 11.