Genesis 9:27
New International Version
May God extend Japheth’s territory; may Japheth live in the tents of Shem, and may Canaan be the slave of Japheth.”

New Living Translation
May God expand the territory of Japheth! May Japheth share the prosperity of Shem, and may Canaan be his servant.”

English Standard Version
May God enlarge Japheth, and let him dwell in the tents of Shem, and let Canaan be his servant.”

Berean Standard Bible
May God expand the territory of Japheth; may he dwell in the tents of Shem, and may Canaan be his servant.”

King James Bible
God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.

New King James Version
May God enlarge Japheth, And may he dwell in the tents of Shem; And may Canaan be his servant.”

New American Standard Bible
“May God enlarge Japheth, And may he live in the tents of Shem; And may Canaan be his servant.”

NASB 1995
“May God enlarge Japheth, And let him dwell in the tents of Shem; And let Canaan be his servant.”

NASB 1977
“May God enlarge Japheth, And let him dwell in the tents of Shem; And let Canaan be his servant.”

Legacy Standard Bible
May God enlarge Japheth, And let him dwell in the tents of Shem; And let Canaan be his servant.”

Amplified Bible
“May God enlarge [the land of] Japheth, And let him dwell in the tents of Shem; And let Canaan be his servant.”

Christian Standard Bible
Let God extend Japheth; let Japheth dwell in the tents of Shem; let Canaan be Shem’s slave.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
God will extend Japheth; he will dwell in the tents of Shem; Canaan will be his slave.

American Standard Version
God enlarge Japheth, And let him dwell in the tents of Shem; And let Canaan be his servant.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
God will enlarge Yapheth and he will dwell in the tabernacle of Sheem and Canaan will be a Servant to them.”

Brenton Septuagint Translation
May God make room for Japheth, and let him dwell in the habitations of Sem, and let Chanaan be his servant.

Contemporary English Version
I pray God will give Japheth more and more land and let him take over the territory of Shem. May Canaan be his slave."

Douay-Rheims Bible
May God enlarge Japheth, and may he dwell in the tents of Sem, and Chanaan be his servant.

English Revised Version
God enlarge Japheth, And let him dwell in the tents of Shem; And let Canaan be his servant.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
May God expand the territory of Japheth. May he live in the tents of Shem. Canaan will be his slave."

Good News Translation
May God cause Japheth to increase! May his descendants live with the people of Shem! Canaan will be the slave of Japheth."

International Standard Version
May God make room for Japheth; may God live in Shem's tents, and may Canaan serve him."

JPS Tanakh 1917
God enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; And let Canaan be their servant.

Literal Standard Version
God gives beauty to Japheth, | And he dwells in tents of Shem, | And Canaan is servant to him.”

Majority Standard Bible
May God expand the territory of Japheth; may he dwell in the tents of Shem, and may Canaan be his servant.”

New American Bible
May God expand Japheth, and may he dwell among the tents of Shem; and let Canaan be his slave.”

NET Bible
May God enlarge Japheth's territory and numbers! May he live in the tents of Shem and may Canaan be his slave!"

New Revised Standard Version
May God make space for Japheth, and let him live in the tents of Shem; and let Canaan be his slave.”

New Heart English Bible
May God enlarge Japheth. Let him dwell in the tents of Shem. Let Canaan be his servant."

Webster's Bible Translation
God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.

World English Bible
May God enlarge Japheth. Let him dwell in the tents of Shem. Let Canaan be his servant.”

Young's Literal Translation
God doth give beauty to Japheth, And he dwelleth in tents of Shem, And Canaan is servant to him.'

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Shem's Blessing and Noah's Death
26He also declared: “Blessed be the LORD, the God of Shem! May Canaan be the servant of Shem. 27May God expand the territory of Japheth; may he dwell in the tents of Shem, and may Canaan be his servant.” 28After the flood, Noah lived 350 years.…

Cross References
Genesis 9:28
After the flood, Noah lived 350 years.

Genesis 10:2
The sons of Japheth: Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras.

Genesis 27:29
May peoples serve you and nations bow down to you. May you be the master of your brothers, and may the sons of your mother bow down to you. May those who curse you be cursed, and those who bless you be blessed."

Isaiah 66:19
I will establish a sign among them, and I will send survivors from among them to the nations--to Tarshish, Put, and the archers of Lud; to Tubal, Javan, and the islands far away who have not heard of My fame or seen My glory. So they will proclaim My glory among the nations.


Treasury of Scripture

God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.

enlarge.

he shall dwell.

dwell.

Isaiah 11:10
And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek: and his rest shall be glorious.

Hosea 2:14
Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her.

Malachi 1:11
For from the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same my name shall be great among the Gentiles; and in every place incense shall be offered unto my name, and a pure offering: for my name shall be great among the heathen, saith the LORD of hosts.

Jump to Previous
Beauty Bondman Canaan Dwell Dwelleth Enlarge Extend Great Japheth Live Servant Shem Slave Tents Territory
Jump to Next
Beauty Bondman Canaan Dwell Dwelleth Enlarge Extend Great Japheth Live Servant Shem Slave Tents Territory
Genesis 9
1. God blesses Noah and his sons, and grants them flesh for food.
4. Blood and murder are forbidden.
8. God's covenant, of which the rainbow was constituted a pledge.
18. Noah's family replenishes the world.
20. Noah plants a vineyard,
21. Is drunken, and mocked by his son;
25. Curses Canaan;
26. Blesses Shem;
27. Prays for Japheth, and dies.














(27) God shall enlarge Japheth.--First, the Deity is here Elohim, following upon Jehovah in the preceding verse, and that with extraordinary exactness. Jehovah has never been the special name of the Deity worshipped by the race of Japheth, though doubtless it is the Greek Zeus and the Latin Jove. But it soon became the proper title of God in covenant with the race of Shem. It is plainly impossible to divide this most ancient poem into Elohistic and Jehovistic sections, and the theory, however plausible occasionally, fails in a crucial place like this. Next, there is a play upon the name of Japheth, or rather, Yepheth, our translators having made the same mistake as in changing Hebel into Abel. The Hebrew is Yapheth Elohim l'Yepheth, "God enlarge the enlarger" (not "God shall enlarge"). While, then, it is the special blessing of Shem that through him the voice of thanksgiving is to ascend to Jehovah, the God of grace; it is Elohim, the God of nature and of the universe, who gives to Japheth wide extension and the most numerous posterity. If the most ancient civilisation and the earliest empires in Egypt and on the Tigris were Hamite, the great world- powers of history, the Chaldean, the Medo-Persian, the Greek and Roman, the Hindoo, were all of Japhetic origin, as are also the modern rulers of mankind.

He shall dwell in the tents of Shem.--(Rather, let him dwell). In one sense Shem now dwells in the tents of Japheth: for the Jews, the noblest representatives of Shem, dwell dispersed in Aryan countries; and except in the Arabian peninsula, once Cushite, the Shemites have no home of their own. But the religious privileges of their race now belong to the family of Japheth. Carried by Jewish missionaries, like St. Paul, throughout the Roman world, they have become the property of the leading members of the Aryan race; and thus Japheth takes possession of the tents which by right of primogeniture belonged to Shem. For "to dwell in the tents of Shem" is not so much to share them as to own them; and if the Jews retain some degree of faith, it has lost with them all expansive power; while the right interpretation of their Scriptures, and as well the maintenance as the propagation of the religion of their Messiah, are now in the hands of the descendants of Japheth. Yet Shem does not lose all pre-eminence: for again we read--

Canaan shall be his servant (rather, their).--If Shem lose the foremost place of primogeniture, he is still a brother, and Canaan but a slave.

Verse 27. - God. Elohim. If vers. 18-27 are Jehovistic (Tuch, Bleek, Colenso, et alii), why Elohim? Is this a proof that the Jehovistic document was revised by the Elohistic author, as the presence of Jehovah in any so-called Elohistic section is regarded as an interpolation by the supplementer? To obviate this inference Davidson assigns vers. 20-27 to his redactor. But the change of name is sufficiently explained when we remember that "Jehovah, as such, never was the God of Japheth's descendants, and that the expression would have been as manifestly improper if applied to him as it is in its proper place applied to Shem" (Quarry, p. 393). Shall enlarge Japheth. יַפְתְּ לְיֶפֶת; literally, shall enlarge or make room for the one that spreads abroad; or, "may God concede an ample space to Japheth" (Gesenius). "Wide let God make it for Japheth" (Keil). "God give enlargement to Japheth" (Lange). So LXX., Vulgate, Chaldee, Syriac, Arabic. The words form a paronomasia, both the verb and the noun being connected with the root פָתָה, to spread abroad; Hiph., to cause to lie open, hence to make room for, - and refer to the widespread diffusion and remarkable prosperity of the Japhetic nations. The familiar interpretation which renders "God will persuade Japheth, the persuadable," i.e. incline his heart by the gospel so that he may dwell in the tents of Shem (Junins, Vatablus, Calvin, Willet, Ainsworth), is discredited by the facts

(1) that the verb never means to persuade, except in a bad sense (cf. 1 Kings 22:20), and

(2) that in this sense it is never followed by לְ, but always by the accusative (vide Gesenius, sub. nom.; cf. Bush, p. 109). The fulfillment of the prophecy is apparent from the circumstance that "praeter Europam (εὐρώκη - wide, extensive) "maximam Asiae pattern, totum demique novum orbem, veluti immensae maguitudinis auctarium, Japheto posterique ejus in perpetuam possessionem obtigisse" (Fuller, ' Sac. Miscel., lib. 2. c. 4, quoted by Glass); cf. Genesis 10:2-5, in which Japheth is given as the progenitor of fourteen peoples, to which are added the inhabitants of the lands washed by the sea. The expansive power of Japheth "refem not only to the territory and the multitude of the Japhethites, but also to their intellectual and active faculties. The metaphysics of the Hindoos, the philosophy of the Greeks, the military prowess of the Romans, and the modern science and civilization of the world are due to the race of Japheth" (Murphy). And he - not Elohim (Philo., Theodoret, Onkelos, Dathe, Baumgarten, et alii), which

(1) substantially repeats the blessing already given to Shem, and . . .

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
{May} God
אֱלֹהִים֙ (’ĕ·lō·hîm)
Noun - masculine plural
Strong's 430: gods -- the supreme God, magistrates, a superlative

expand the territory
יַ֤פְתְּ (yap̄t)
Verb - Hifil - Imperfect Jussive - third person masculine singular
Strong's 6601: To open, be, roomy, to be, simple, delude

of Japheth,
לְיֶ֔פֶת (lə·ye·p̄eṯ)
Preposition-l | Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 3315: Japheth -- a son of Noah

may he dwell
וְיִשְׁכֹּ֖ן (wə·yiš·kōn)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Conjunctive imperfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 7931: To settle down, abide, dwell

in the tents
בְּאָֽהֳלֵי־ (bə·’ā·ho·lê-)
Preposition-b | Noun - masculine plural construct
Strong's 168: A tent

of Shem,
שֵׁ֑ם (šêm)
Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 8035: Shem -- 'name', oldest son of Noah

and may Canaan
כְנַ֖עַן (ḵə·na·‘an)
Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 3667: Canaan -- a son of Ham, also his descendants and their land West of the Jordan

be
וִיהִ֥י (wî·hî)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Conjunctive imperfect Jussive - third person masculine singular
Strong's 1961: To fall out, come to pass, become, be

his servant.”
עֶ֥בֶד (‘e·ḇeḏ)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 5650: Slave, servant


Links
Genesis 9:27 NIV
Genesis 9:27 NLT
Genesis 9:27 ESV
Genesis 9:27 NASB
Genesis 9:27 KJV

Genesis 9:27 BibleApps.com
Genesis 9:27 Biblia Paralela
Genesis 9:27 Chinese Bible
Genesis 9:27 French Bible
Genesis 9:27 Catholic Bible

OT Law: Genesis 9:27 May God enlarge Japheth (Gen. Ge Gn)
Genesis 9:26
Top of Page
Top of Page