Genesis 9:25

So he said, “Cursed ¹  be Canaan! ²  The lowest of slaves ³  he will be to his brothers.”

he said, "Cursed be Canaan! The lowest of slaves will he be to his brothers."

So he said, "Cursed be Canaan; A servant of servants He shall be to his brothers."

Then he cursed the descendants of Canaan, the son of Ham: "A curse on the Canaanites! May they be the lowest of servants to the descendants of Shem and Japheth."

He said, Cursed be Canaan! A slave of slaves, a slave to his brothers!

Cursed be Canaan; let him be a servant of servants to his brothers.

he said, "Cursed be Canaan; lowest of slaves shall he be to his brothers."

Then he said: "Cursed be Canaan; A servant of servants He shall be to his brethren."

So he said, “Cursed ¹  be Canaan! ²  The lowest of slaves ³  he will be to his brothers.”

¹ sn For more on the curse, see H. C. Brichto, The Problem of “Curse” in the Hebrew Bible (JBLMS), and J. Scharbert, TDOT 1:405-18.

² sn Cursed be Canaan. The curse is pronounced on Canaan, not Ham. Noah sees a problem in Ham’s character, and on the basis of that he delivers a prophecy about the future descendants who will live in slavery to such things and then be controlled by others. (For more on the idea of slavery in general, see E. M. Yamauchi, “Slaves of God,” BETS 9 [1966]: 31-49). In a similar way Jacob pronounced oracles about his sons based on their revealed character (see Gen 49).

³ tn Heb “a servant of servants” (עֶבֶד עֲבָדִים, ’eved ’avadim), an example of the superlative genitive. It means Canaan will become the most abject of slaves.