And God blessed Noah and his sons: blessed is the same word as used in 1.22 and 1.28, where God blessed animals and human beings with the gift of reproduction. See there for comments. Now the blessing is given to Noah and his sons for the same purpose, showing that, in spite of destroying all living things on earth, God still willed that human beings should increase in number. Both Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation translate 9.1 as if the act of blessing is a separate event from the command that follows. However, God blesses Noah and his sons through the command to reproduce. Therefore in translation it will be clearer if this linkage is shown. Biblia Dios Habla Hoy says “God blessed Noah and his sons with these words:….” We may also say, for example, “God blessed Noah and his sons by saying to them, ‘Be fruitful…,’ ” or “God was kind to Noah and his sons when he said to them, ‘Be fruitful….’ ” This may sometimes be expressed idiomatically: “God spoke words to make good come to Noah and his sons. He said to them, ‘….’ ”

Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth begins a quotation that continues to the end of Gen 9.7. The same expression is used in 1.28 and is nearly the same in 1.22. A variation of this expression is also used in 8.17. It is well expressed by Good News Translation: “Have many children so that your descendants may live all over the earth.” We may also translate, for example, “Increase in numbers and populate the earth” or “Become many people and live everywhere in the world.” Two examples from existing translations are “Have many children, so that your clans will fill every place in the world” and “Have children and make yourselves plentiful, so that you crowd the world.”

Quoted with permission from Reyburn, William D. and Fry, Euan McG. A Handbook on Genesis. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1997. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .