Genesis 9:23

Shem and Japheth picked up a cloak and, holding it over their shoulders, walked in backwards and covered up their father's privates. They made sure to look the other way so they wouldn't see their father's privates.

Free Bible Version

In The King James Version

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.

In Context

22Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father's private parts and went and told his two brothers who were outside.

24When Noah woke up from his drunken sleep, he discovered what his youngest son had done,

Read all of Genesis 9

Cross References

Exodus 20:12Honor your father and mother, so that you may live a long time in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.

Romans 13:7Pay whatever you owe: taxes to the tax authorities, fees to the fee-collectors; give respect to those who should be respected, honor those who should be honored.

1 Timothy 5:1Don't rebuke a man who is older than you. Instead, encourage him as if he were your father. Treat younger men as brothers,

1 Timothy 5:19Don't entertain any accusation against an elder unless two or three witnesses support it.

1 Peter 4:8Most of all, you should love one another very deeply, for love covers many of the wrong things people do.

Matthew Henry on Genesis 9:19-24

Sin of Ham. ( b. c. 2347.) 18 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 a 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,… Read the whole commentary →

This Verse In Other Editions

Study Genesis 9:23