Author(s) of the Book of
Genesis, Chapters 9 and 10

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Continued from Chapter 8

Background (Repeated):

According to Jewish and Christian tradition, the first five books of the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament) were written by Moses under the inspiration of God. God inspired Moses to write the truth and prevented him from making any errors.  Many conservative Christians and Jews continue with this belief.

However, mainline & liberal theologians and secularists generally accept the "Documentary Hypothesis" which asserts that the Pentateuch was written by five authors or groups of authors, from diverse locations, over a period of centuries. Each wrote with the goal of promoting his/her own religious views. In Genesis:

	J: a writer who used Yahweh/Jehovah as the divine name.
	P: a writer who added material of major interest to the priesthood.
	R: a redactor who welded the contributions of J and P together into the present Pentateuch.

Chapters 9 & 10 of the book of Genesis are reprinted below. ₁ The original authors, according to the Documentary Hypothesis, are indicated in color: J, P, and R. We follow the identification by R.E. Friedman. _2,3

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CHAPTER 9:

1    (P) And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.
2    And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moveth upon the earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea; into your hand are they delivered.
3    Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things.
4    But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat.
5    And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man's brother will I require the life of man.
6    Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man.
7    And you, be ye fruitful, and multiply; bring forth abundantly in the earth, and multiply therein.
8    And God spake unto Noah, and to his sons with him, saying,
9    And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you;
10    And with every living creature that is with you, of the fowl, of the cattle, and of every beast of the earth with you; from all that go out of the ark, to every beast of the earth.
11    And I will establish my covenant with you; neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth.
12    And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations:
13    I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth.
14    And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud:
15    And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh.
16    And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth.
17    And God said unto Noah, This is the token of the covenant, which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth.
18    (J) And the sons of Noah, that went forth of the ark, were Shem, and Ham, and Japheth: and Ham is the father of Canaan.
19    These are the three sons of Noah: and of them was the whole earth overspread.
20    And Noah began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard:
21    And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent.
22    And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without.
23    And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were backward, and they saw not their father's nakedness.
24    And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him.
25    And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren.
26    And he said, Blessed be the LORD God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.
27    God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.
28    (R) And Noah lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years.
29    And all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years: and he died.

CHAPTER 10

1    (R) Now these are the generations of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth: (P) and unto them were sons born after the flood.
2    The sons of Japheth; Gomer, and Magog, and Madai, and Javan, and Tubal, and Meshech, and Tiras.
3    And the sons of Gomer; Ashkenaz, and Riphath, and Togarmah.
4    And the sons of Javan; Elishah, and Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim.
5    By these were the isles of the Gentiles divided in their lands; every one after his tongue, after their families, in their nations.
6    And the sons of Ham; Cush, and Mizraim, and Phut, and Canaan.
7    And the sons of Cush; Seba, and Havilah, and Sabtah, and Raamah, and Sabtecha: and the sons of Raamah; Sheba, and Dedan.
8    (J) And Cush begat Nimrod: he began to be a mighty one in the earth.
9    He was a mighty hunter before the LORD: wherefore it is said, Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the LORD.
10    And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.
11    Out of that land went forth Asshur, and builded Nineveh, and the city Rehoboth, and Calah,
12    And Resen between Nineveh and Calah: the same is a great city.
13    And Mizraim begat Ludim, and Anamim, and Lehabim, and Naphtuhim,
14    And Pathrusim, and Casluhim, (out of whom came Philistim,) and Caphtorim.
15    And Canaan begat Sidon his firstborn, and Heth,
16    And the Jebusite, and the Amorite, and the Girgasite,
17    And the Hivite, and the Arkite, and the Sinite,
18    And the Arvadite, and the Zemarite, and the Hamathite: and afterward were the families of the Canaanites spread abroad.
19    And the border of the Canaanites was from Sidon, as thou comest to Gerar, unto Gaza; as thou goest, unto Sodom, and Gomorrah, and Admah, and Zeboim, even unto Lasha.
20   (P) These are the sons of Ham, after their families, after their tongues, in their countries, and in their nations.
21    (J) Unto Shem also, the father of all the children of Eber, the brother of Japheth the elder, even to him were children born.
22    (P) The children of Shem; Elam, and Asshur, and Arphaxad, and Lud, and Aram.
23    And the children of Aram; Uz, and Hul, and Gether, and Mash.
24    (J) And Arphaxad begat Salah; and Salah begat Eber.
25    And unto Eber were born two sons: the name of one was Peleg; for in his days was the earth divided; and his brother's name was Joktan.
26    And Joktan begat Almodad, and Sheleph, and Hazar-maveth, and Jerah,
27    And Hadoram, and Uzal, and Diklah,
28    And Obal, and Abimael, and Sheba,
29    And Ophir, and Havilah, and Jobab: all these were the sons of Joktan.
30    And their dwelling was from Mesha, as thou goest unto Sephar a mount of the east.
31    (P) These are the sons of Shem, after their families, after their tongues, in their lands, after their nations.
32    These are the families of the sons of Noah, after their generations, in their nations: and by these were the nations divided in the earth after the flood.

Related essays on this website

	Comparison of the Babylonian and Hebrew flood stories
	Who wrote the 5 books of Moses?
	A possible source for the flood stories

References used:

1. The book of Genesis from the King James Version of the Bible.
2. R.E. Friedman, "Who Wrote the Bible?" HarperCollins, (1997), Pages 246-247. Read reviews or order this book safely from Amazon.com online book store
3. R.E. Friedman, "The hidden book in the Bible: The discovery of the first prose masterpiece," Haper San Francisco. Review/order this book. The author traces the "J" component of the first four books of the Bible. He writes:  "Readers have an opportunity to see the first great prose writer's full achievement; an epic work of the struggle between God and humans. and between good and bad.

Copyright 1998 to 2001 incl. by Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance.
Latest update: 2011-JAN-31
Author: B.A. Robinson, J, P, & R

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