Genesis 9 · Verse 3

Genesis 9:3

Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things.

Genesis 9:3, King James Version

Genesis 9:3 in other translations

BSB	Everything that lives and moves will be food for you; just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you all things.
WEB	Every moving thing that lives will be food for you. As I gave you the green herb, I have given everything to you.
ASV	Every moving thing that liveth shall be food for you; as the green herb have I given you all.
YLT	Every creeping thing that is alive, to you it is for food; as the green herb I have given to you the whole;
DARBY	Every moving thing that liveth shall be food for you: as the green herb I give you everything.
BBE	Every living and moving thing will be food for you; I give them all to you as before I gave you all green things.
Webster	Every moving thing that liveth shall be food for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things:

What does Genesis 9:3 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown

3. Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you--The third part concerns the means of sustaining life; man was for the first time, it would seem, allowed the use of animal food, but the grant was accompanied with one restriction.

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

Adam Clarke's Commentary

Verse 3 Every moving thing - shall be meat - There is no positive evidence that animal food was ever used before the flood. Noah had the first grant of this kind, and it has been continued to all his posterity ever since. It is not likely that this grant would have been now made if some extraordinary alteration had not taken place in the vegetable world, so as to render its productions less nutritive than they were before; and probably such a change in the constitution of man as to render a grosser and higher diet necessary. We may therefore safely infer that the earth was less productive after the flood than it was before, and that the human constitution was greatly impaired by the alterations which had taken place through the whole economy of nature. Morbid debility, induced by an often unfriendly state of the atmosphere, with sore and long-continued labor, would necessarily require a higher nutriment than vegetables could supply. That this was the case appears sufficiently clear from the grant of animal food, which, had it not been indispensably necessary, had not been made. That the constitution of man was then much altered appears in the greatly contracted lives of the postdiluvians; yet from the deluge to the day of Abraham the lives of several of the patriarchs amounted to some hundreds of years; but this was the effect of a peculiar providence, that the new world might be the more speedily repeopled.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Genesis 9:1-3

The blessing of God is the cause of our doing well. On him we depend, to him we should be thankful. Let us not forget the advantage and pleasure we have from the labour of beasts, and which their flesh affords. Nor ought we to be less thankful for the security we enjoy from the savage and hurtful beasts, through the fear of man which God has fixed deep in them. We see the fulfilment of this promise every day, and on…

Read the full comment on Genesis 9:1-3 →

Genesis 9:3 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.

כָּל\־kol-everyH3605

רֶ֙מֶשׂ֙Re.mescreeping thingH7431

אֲשֶׁ֣ר'a.SherwhichH834

הוּא\־hu'-itH1931

חַ֔יChai[is] aliveH2416

לָכֶ֥םla.Khemfor <the> you

יִהְיֶ֖הyih.Yehit will becomeH1961

לְאָכְלָ֑הle.'okh.Lah<into> foodH402

כְּיֶ֣רֶקke.Ye.reklike [the] greenery ofH3418

עֵ֔שֶׂב'E.sevplant[s]H6212

נָתַ֥תִּיna.Ta.tiI giveH5414

לָכֶ֖םla.Khemto <the> you

אֶת\־'et-<obj.>H853

כֹּֽל\׃KoleverythingH3605

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

Cross references for Genesis 9:3

Romans 14:14
I know, and am persuaded by the Lord Jesus, that there is nothing unclean of itself: but to him that esteemeth any thing to be unclean, to him it is unclean.
1 Timothy 4:3-5
Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth. For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving: For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.
Colossians 2:21-22
(Touch not; taste not; handle not; Which all are to perish with the using;) after the commandments and doctrines of men?
Deuteronomy 12:15
Notwithstanding thou mayest kill and eat flesh in all thy gates, whatsoever thy soul lusteth after, according to the blessing of the Lord thy God which he hath given thee: the unclean and the clean may eat thereof, as of the roebuck, and as of the hart.
1 Corinthians 10:31
Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.
Colossians 2:16
Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days:
1 Corinthians 10:25-26
Whatsoever is sold in the shambles, that eat, asking no question for conscience sake: For the earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof.
Acts 10:12-15
Wherein were all manner of fourfooted beasts of the earth, and wild beasts, and creeping things, and fowls of the air. And there came a voice to him, Rise, Peter; kill, and eat. But Peter said, Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten any thing that is common or unclean. And the voice spake unto him again the second time, What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common.
Psalms 104:14-15
He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service of man: that he may bring forth food out of the earth; And wine that maketh glad the heart of man, and oil to make his face to shine, and bread which strengtheneth man’s heart.
1 Corinthians 10:23
All things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but all things edify not.
Leviticus 11:1-47
And the Lord spake unto Moses and to Aaron, saying unto them, Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, These are the beasts which ye shall eat among all the beasts that are on the earth. Whatsoever parteth the hoof, and is clovenfooted, and cheweth the cud, among the beasts, that shall ye eat. Nevertheless these shall ye not eat of them that chew the cud, or of them that divide the hoof: as the camel, because he cheweth the cud, but divideth not the hoof; he is unclean unto you. …
Romans 14:17
For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.

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

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

Every.
Le 11:1-47; 22:8; De 12:15; 14:3-21; Ac 10:12-15; 1Ti 4:3-5
even.
1:29,30; Ps 104:14,15; Ro 14:3,14,17,20; 1Co 10:23,25,26,31
Col 2:16,21,22; 1Ti 4:3,4

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

Context

Genesis 9:2
And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moveth upon the earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea; into your hand are they delivered.
Genesis 9:3
Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things.
Genesis 9:4
But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat.

Read all of Genesis 9

Genesis 9:3 in other languages

Spanish Reina-Valera 1909	Todo lo que se mueve y vive, os será para mantenimiento: así como las legumbres y hierbas, os lo he dado todo.
French Bible J.N. Darby 1885	Tout ce qui se meut et qui est vivant vous sera pour nourriture; comme l’herbe verte, je vous donne tout.
German Elberfelder 1871	alles, was sich regt, was da lebt, soll euch zur Speise sein; wie das grüne Kraut gebe ich es euch alles.
Latin Clementine Vulgate	Et omne, quod movetur et vivit, erit vobis in cibum: quasi olera virentia tradidi vobis omnia.