Part 11

9:17. And God said to Noe: This shall be the sign of the covenant, which I have established, between me and all flesh upon the earth.

9:18. And the sons of Noe, who came out of the ark, were Sem, Cham, and Japheth: and Cham is the father of Chanaan.

9:19. These three are the sons of Noe: and from these was all mankind spread over the whole earth.

9:20. And Noe a husbandman began to till the ground, and planted a vineyard.

9:21. And drinking of the wine was made drunk, and was uncovered in his tent.

Drunk.... Noe by the judgment of the fathers was not guilty of sin, in being overcome by wine: because he knew not the strength of it.

9:22. Which when Cham the father of Chanaan had seen, to wit, that his father’s nakedness was uncovered, he told it to his two brethren without.

9:23. But Sem and Japheth put a cloak upon their shoulders, and going backward, covered the nakedness of their father: and their faces were turned away, and they saw not their father’s nakedness.

Covered the nakedness.... Thus, as St. Gregory takes notice L. 35; Moral. c. 22, we ought to cover the nakedness, that is, the sins, of our spiritual parents and superiors.

9:24. And Noe awaking from the wine, when he had learned what his younger son had done to him,

9:25. He said: Cursed be Chanaan, a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren.

Cursed be Chanaan.... The curses, as well as the blessings, of the patriarchs, were prophetical: And this in particular is here recorded by Moses, for the children of Israel, who were to possess the land of Chanaan. But why should Chanaan be cursed for his father’s faults? The Hebrews answer, that he being then a boy, was the first that saw his grandfather’s nakedness, and told his father Cham of it; and joined with him in laughing at it: which drew upon him, rather than upon the rest of the children of Cham, this prophetical curse.

9:26. And he said: Blessed be the Lord God of Sem, be Chanaan his servant.

9:27. May God enlarge Japheth, and may he dwell in the tents of Sem, and Chanaan be his servant.

9:28. And Noe lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years.

9:29. And all his days were in the whole nine hundred and fifty years: and he died.

Genesis Chapter 10

The genealogy of the children of Noe, by whom the world was peopled after the flood.

10:1. These are the generations of the sons of Noe: Sem, Cham, and Japheth: and unto them sons were born after the flood.

10:2. The sons of Japheth: Gomer, and Magog, and Madai, and Javan, and Thubal, and Mosoch, and Thiras.

10:3. And the sons of Gomer: Ascenez and Riphath and Thogorma.

10:4. And the sons of Javan: Elisa and Tharsis, Cetthim and Dodanim.

10:5. By these were divided the islands of the Gentiles in their lands, every one according to his tongue and their families in their nations.

The islands.... So the Hebrews called all the remote countries, to which they went by ships from Judea, to Greece, Italy, Spain, etc.

10:6. And the Sons of Cham: Chus, and Mesram, and Phuth, and Chanaan.

10:7. And the sons of Chus: Saba, and Hevila, and Sabatha, and Regma, and Sabatacha. The sons of Regma: Saba, and Dadan.

10:8. Now Chus begot Nemrod: he began to be mighty on the earth.

10:9. And he was a stout hunter before the Lord. Hence came a proverb: Even as Nemrod the stout hunter before the Lord.