Genesis 9 · Verse 21

Genesis 9:21

And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent.

Genesis 9:21, King James Version

Genesis 9:21 in other translations

BSB	But when he drank some of its wine, he became drunk and uncovered himself inside his tent.
WEB	He drank of the wine and got drunk. He was uncovered within his tent.
ASV	and he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent.
YLT	and drinketh of the wine, and is drunken, and uncovereth himself in the midst of the tent.
DARBY	And he drank of the wine, and was drunken, and he uncovered himself in his tent.
BBE	And he took of the wine of it and was overcome by drink; and he was uncovered in his tent.
Webster	And he drank the wine, and was drunken, and he was uncovered within his tent.

What does Genesis 9:21 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown

21. And he drank of the wine, and was drunken--perhaps at the festivities of the vintage season. This solitary stain on the character of so eminently pious a man must, it is believed, have been the result of age or inadvertency.

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary

Verse 21 He drank of the wine, etc. - It is very probable that this was the first time the wine was cultivated; and it is as probable that the strength or intoxicating power of the expressed juice was never before known. Noah, therefore, might have drunk it at this time without the least blame, as he knew not till this trial the effects it would produce. I once knew a case which I believe to be perfectly parallel. A person who had scarcely ever heard of cider, and whose beverage through his whole life had been only milk or water, coming wet and very much fatigued to a farmer's house in Somersetshire, begged for a little water or milk. The good woman of the house, seeing him very much exhausted, kindly said, "I will give you a little cider, which will do you more good." The honest man, understanding no more of cider than merely that it was the simple juice of apples, after some hesitation drank about a half pint of it; the consequence was, that in less than half an hour he was perfectly intoxicated, and could neither speak plain nor walk! This case I myself witnessed. A stranger to the circumstances, seeing this person, would pronounce him drunk; and perhaps at a third hand he might be represented as a drunkard, and thus his character be blasted; while of the crime of drunkenness he was as innocent as an infant. This I presume to have been precisely the case with Noah; and no person without an absolute breach of every rule of charity and candour, can attach any blame to the character of Noah on this ground, unless from a subsequent account they were well assured that, knowing the power and effects of the liquor, he had repeated the act. Some expositors seem to be glad to fix on a fact like this, which by their distortion becomes a crime; and then, in a strain of sympathetic tenderness, affect to deplore "the failings and imperfections of the best of men;" when, from the interpretation that should be given of the place, neither failing nor imperfection can possibly appear.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Genesis 9:18-23

The drunkenness of Noah is recorded in the Bible, with that fairness which is found only in the Scripture, as a case and proof of human weakness and imperfection, even though he may have been surprised into the sin; and to show that the best of men cannot stand upright, unless they depend upon Divine grace, and are upheld thereby. Ham appears to have been a bad man, and probably rejoiced to find his father in an…

Read the full comment on Genesis 9:18-23 →

Genesis 9:21 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

וַיֵּ֥שְׁתְּvai.Ye.shetand he drankH8354

מִן\־min-some ofH4480

הַיַּ֖יִןhai.Ya.yinthe wineH3196

וַיִּשְׁכָּ֑רvai.yish.Karand he became drunkH7937

וַיִּתְגַּ֖לvai.yit.Galand he uncovered himselfH1540

בְּת֥וֹךְbe.Tokhin [the] middle ofH8432

אָהֳלֽוֹ\׃'o.ho.Lotent hisH168

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Genesis 9:21

Habakkuk 2:15-16
Woe unto him that giveth his neighbour drink, that puttest thy bottle to him, and makest him drunken also, that thou mayest look on their nakedness! Thou art filled with shame for glory: drink thou also, and let thy foreskin be uncovered: the cup of the Lord’s right hand shall be turned unto thee, and shameful spewing shall be on thy glory.
Proverbs 20:1
Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise.
Proverbs 23:31-32
Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright. At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder.
Galatians 5:21
Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
Titus 2:2
That the aged men be sober, grave, temperate, sound in faith, in charity, in patience.
Romans 13:13
Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying.
Ecclesiastes 7:20
For there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not.
Genesis 6:9
These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God.
Genesis 19:32-36
Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father. And they made their father drink wine that night: and the firstborn went in, and lay with her father; and he perceived not when she lay down, nor when she arose. And it came to pass on the morrow, that the firstborn said unto the younger, Behold, I lay yesternight with my father: let us make him drink wine this night also; and go thou in, and lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father. And they made their father drink wine that night also: and the younger arose, and lay with him; and he perceived not when she lay down, nor when she arose. …
1 Corinthians 10:12
Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.
Luke 22:3-4
Then entered Satan into Judas surnamed Iscariot, being of the number of the twelve. And he went his way, and communed with the chief priests and captains, how he might betray him unto them.
Revelation 3:18
I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

and was.
6:9; 19:32-36; Pr 20:1; 23:31,32; Ec 7:20; Lu 22:3,4; Ro 13:13
1Co 10:12; Ga 5:21; Tit 2:2
and he.
Hab 2:15,16; Re 3:18

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

Genesis 9:20
And Noah began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard:
Genesis 9:21
And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent.
Genesis 9:22
And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without.

Read all of Genesis 9

Genesis 9:21 in other languages

Spanish Reina-Valera 1909	Y bebió del vino, y se embriagó, y estaba descubierto en medio de su tienda.
French Bible J.N. Darby 1885	et il but du vin, et il s’enivra et se découvrit au milieu de la tente.
German Elberfelder 1871	Und er trank von dem Weine und ward trunken, und er entblößte sich in seinem Zelte.
Latin Clementine Vulgate	Bibensque vinum inebriatus est, et nudatus in tabernaculo suo.