KJV ORIGINAL
And he said, Blessed be the LORD God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.
Close to the original. Clear modern English.
✦ MADE SIMPLE
And Noah said, 'Praise the LORD, the God of Shem, and let Canaan be Shem's servant.'
⚡ THE BOTTOM LINE
Noah is blessing God as the special God of his son Shem, while declaring that Canaan (another son) will serve Shem's descendants.
📚 Historical Context
This verse comes after Noah's sons saw him naked when he was drunk, and Ham (Canaan's father) dishonored him while Shem and Japheth covered him respectfully. Noah's prophetic blessing and curse would shape the future relationships between these family lines. Shem's descendants became the Hebrew people, while this pronouncement foreshadowed later conflicts between Israel and the Canaanite nations.
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