◄ Genesis 9:13 ►
I have set My rainbow in the clouds, and it will be a sign of the covenant between Me and the earth.
Study Bible
I have set My rainbow in the clouds
This phrase introduces the rainbow as a divine creation and symbol. The rainbow is not merely a natural phenomenon but is presented as a deliberate act of God. In the biblical context, the rainbow appears after the flood, symbolizing God's mercy and the end of His judgment upon the earth. The rainbow's appearance in the clouds signifies God's presence and His control over creation. Theologically, it represents God's promise and faithfulness, as He sets it in the sky as a reminder of His covenant. The rainbow's arch, reaching from earth to heaven, can be seen as a type of Christ, who bridges the gap between God and humanity.

and it will be a sign of the covenant
The term "sign" indicates that the rainbow is a visible reminder of an invisible promise. In biblical terms, a covenant is a solemn agreement between God and His people. This particular covenant is unconditional, meaning it does not depend on human actions but solely on God's promise. The rainbow as a sign is a recurring theme in Scripture, where God often uses physical symbols to represent spiritual truths. For example, circumcision is a sign of the Abrahamic covenant, and the Sabbath is a sign of the Mosaic covenant. The rainbow, therefore, serves as a perpetual reminder of God's grace and His commitment to never again destroy the earth with a flood.

between Me and the earth
This phrase emphasizes the universal scope of the covenant. Unlike other covenants in the Bible that are made with specific individuals or nations, this covenant is made with the entire earth and all its inhabitants. It underscores God's sovereignty over all creation and His care for the world He has made. The covenant is not just with humanity but with every living creature, highlighting the interconnectedness of all life. This universal aspect of the covenant points forward to the New Testament, where the gospel is extended to all nations, fulfilling God's plan for redemption through Jesus Christ. The phrase also reflects the biblical theme of God's ongoing relationship with His creation, which He sustains and preserves.

Persons / Places / Events
1. God
The Creator who establishes the covenant with Noah and all living creatures, signifying His promise with the rainbow.

2. Noah
The righteous man chosen by God to survive the flood and repopulate the earth.

3. The Rainbow
A divine sign set in the clouds as a reminder of God's covenant with the earth.

4. The Covenant
A solemn agreement initiated by God, promising never to destroy all life with a flood again.

5. The Earth
The recipient of God's covenant, representing all living creatures and the natural world.
Teaching Points
God's Faithfulness
The rainbow is a perpetual reminder of God's faithfulness and His promises. Just as He kept His promise to Noah, He remains faithful to His promises today.

Covenant Relationship
God's covenant with Noah is a precursor to the new covenant through Jesus Christ. It highlights God's desire for a relationship with humanity based on His terms and promises.

Symbolism of the Rainbow
The rainbow serves as a symbol of hope and assurance. In times of trouble, believers can look to God's promises for comfort and strength.

Environmental Stewardship
The covenant includes the earth, reminding us of our responsibility to care for God's creation as stewards of His world.

Remembrance and Reflection
The rainbow encourages believers to remember God's past acts of salvation and reflect on His ongoing work in their lives.
Bible Study Questions
1. How does the rainbow as a sign of God's covenant with Noah encourage you in your faith today?

2. In what ways can the account of Noah and the flood deepen your understanding of God's justice and mercy?

3. How does the concept of covenant in Genesis 9:13 relate to the new covenant established through Jesus Christ?

4. What practical steps can you take to fulfill your role as a steward of God's creation, in light of His covenant with the earth?

5. How can you use the symbol of the rainbow to share the message of God's faithfulness and hope with others?
Connections to Other Scriptures
Genesis 6-8
These chapters provide the background of the flood account, detailing why God chose to flood the earth and how Noah found favor in God's eyes.

Isaiah 54:9-10
This passage references the covenant with Noah, emphasizing God's enduring promise and compassion.

Revelation 4:3
The rainbow is seen around the throne of God, symbolizing His glory and faithfulness.

Ezekiel 1:28
The appearance of the rainbow in the clouds is likened to the glory of God, reinforcing the divine nature of the covenant.
Sermons
Noah's FloodCharles KingsleyGenesis 9:13
The Bow in the CloudJ.F. Montgomery Genesis 9:13
The New Noachic Covenant EstablishedR.A. Redford Genesis 9:8-17
Everlasting CovenantW. Adamson.Genesis 9:12-17
God Looking At the RainbowG. Gilfillan.Genesis 9:12-17
God's Covenant and its TokenJ. C. Gray.Genesis 9:12-17
Lessons from the RainbowW. Adamson.Genesis 9:12-17
The Bow in the CloudHomilistGenesis 9:12-17
The Bow in the CloudS. Baring-Gould, M. A.Genesis 9:12-17
The Bow in the CloudF. G. MarchantGenesis 9:12-17
The Bow in the CloudThe Preacher's MonthlyGenesis 9:12-17
The Bow in the CloudF. W. Brown.Genesis 9:12-17
The Bow in the CloudThe Evangelical PreacherGenesis 9:12-17
The Bow in the CloudA. F. Barfield.Genesis 9:12-17
The Bow in the CloudM. Rainsford, B. A.Genesis 9:12-17
The Bow in the CloudDean Law.Genesis 9:12-17
The Bow of PromiseW. S. Smith, B. D.Genesis 9:12-17
The Bow of the CovenantG. Gilfillan.Genesis 9:12-17
The Covenant Connection Between the Cloud and the BowR. Newton, D. D.Genesis 9:12-17
The Covenant SignOld Testament AnecdotesGenesis 9:12-17
The Flood and the RainbowC. Kingsley, M. A.Genesis 9:12-17
The RainbowSpurgeon, Charles HaddonGenesis 9:12-17
The RainbowJ. N. Norton, D. D.Genesis 9:12-17
The RainbowC. Burton, LL. D.Genesis 9:12-17
The RainbowG. D. Boardman, D. D.Genesis 9:12-17
The Rainbow and its LessonsM. M. Kalisch, Ph. D.Genesis 9:12-17
The Rainbow Like God's PromisesA. P. Foster.Genesis 9:12-17
The Rainbow the Type of the CovenantE. B. Elliot, M. A.Genesis 9:12-17
The Sign of the CovenantJ. P. Lange, D. D.Genesis 9:12-17
The Token of the CovenantC. Bradley, M. A.Genesis 9:12-17
Was There a Rainbow BeforeJ. Parker, D. D.Genesis 9:12-17
People
Ham, Japheth, Noah, Shem
Places
Tigris-Euphrates Region
Topics
Agreement, Bow, Cloud, Clouds, Covenant, Rainbow, Sign, Token
Dictionary of Bible Themes
Genesis 9:13

     1670   symbols

Genesis 9:1-17

     7203   ark, Noah's

Genesis 9:8-17

     1347   covenant, with Noah
     5467   promises, divine
     7227   flood, the

Genesis 9:12-16

     4007   creation, and God
     8467   reminders

Genesis 9:12-17

     1450   signs, kinds of
     4845   rainbow
     8764   forgetting God

Genesis 9:12-21

     5106   Noah

Genesis 9:13-16

     4805   clouds
     6703   peace, divine OT

Library
Capital Punishment
Eversley. Quinquagesima Sunday, 1872. Genesis ix. 1, 3, 4, 5, 6. "And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth. . . . Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you . . . But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat. And surely your blood of your lives will I require: at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man's brother will I require …
Charles Kingsley—All Saints' Day and Other Sermons

Noah's Flood
(Quinquagesima Sunday.) GENESIS ix. 13. I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth. We all know the history of Noah's flood. What have we learnt from that history? What were we intended to learn from it? What thoughts should we have about it? There are many thoughts which we may have. We may think how the flood came to pass; what means God used to make it rain forty days; what is meant by breaking up the fountains of the great deep. We may …
Charles Kingsley—The Gospel of the Pentateuch

Death.
PSALM CIV. 20, 21. Thou makest darkness, and it is night: wherein all the beasts of the forest do creep forth. The lions roar after their prey, and seek their meat from God. Let me say a few words on this text. It is one which has been a comfort to me again and again. It is one which, if rightly understood, ought to give comfort to pitiful and tender-hearted persons. Have you never been touched by, never been even shocked by, the mystery of pain and death? I do not speak now of pain and death …
Charles Kingsley—Westminster Sermons

Covenanting Enforced by the Grant of Covenant Signs and Seals.
To declare emphatically that the people of God are a covenant people, various signs were in sovereignty vouchsafed. The lights in the firmament of heaven were appointed to be for signs, affording direction to the mariner, the husbandman, and others. Miracles wrought on memorable occasions, were constituted signs or tokens of God's universal government. The gracious grant of covenant signs was made in order to proclaim the truth of the existence of God's covenant with his people, to urge the performance …
John Cunningham—The Ordinance of Covenanting

That the Ruler Should Be, through Humility, a Companion of Good Livers, But, through the Zeal of Righteousness, Rigid against the vices of Evildoers.
The ruler should be, through humility, a companion of good livers, and, through the zeal of righteousness, rigid against the vices of evil-doers; so that in nothing he prefer himself to the good, and yet, when the fault of the bad requires it, he be at once conscious of the power of his priority; to the end that, while among his subordinates who live well he waives his rank and accounts them as his equals, he may not fear to execute the laws of rectitude towards the perverse. For, as I remember to …
Leo the Great—Writings of Leo the Great

The Doctrine of Non-Resistance to Evil by Force Has Been Professed by a Minority of Men from the Very Foundation of Christianity. Of the Book "What
CHAPTER I. THE DOCTRINE OF NON-RESISTANCE TO EVIL BY FORCE HAS BEEN PROFESSED BY A MINORITY OF MEN FROM THE VERY FOUNDATION OF CHRISTIANITY. Of the Book "What I Believe"--The Correspondence Evoked by it-- Letters from Quakers--Garrison's Declaration--Adin Ballou, his Works, his Catechism--Helchitsky's "Net of Faith"--The Attitude of the World to Works Elucidating Christ's Teaching--Dymond's Book "On War"--Musser's "Non-resistance Asserted"--Attitude of the Government in 1818 to Men who Refused to …
Leo Tolstoy—The Kingdom of God is within you

Original Righteousness.
"For in Him we live and move, and have our being: as certain also of your own poets have said. For we are also His offspring." --Acts xvii. 28. It is the peculiar characteristic of the Reformed Confession that more than any other it humbles the sinner and exalts the sinless man. To disparage man is unscriptural. Being a sinner, fallen and no longer a real man, he must be humbled, rebuked, and inwardly broken. But the divinely created man, realizing the divine purpose or restored by omnipotent grace …
Abraham Kuyper—The Work of the Holy Spirit

The Sixth Commandment
Thou shalt not kill.' Exod 20: 13. In this commandment is a sin forbidden, which is murder, Thou shalt not kill,' and a duty implied, which is, to preserve our own life, and the life of others. The sin forbidden is murder: Thou shalt not kill.' Here two things are to be understood, the not injuring another, nor ourselves. I. The not injuring another. [1] We must not injure another in his name. A good name is a precious balsam.' It is a great cruelty to murder a man in his name. We injure others in …
Thomas Watson—The Ten Commandments

Being Made Archbishop of Armagh, He Suffers Many Troubles. Peace Being Made, from Being Archbishop of Armagh He Becomes Bishop of Down.
[Sidenote: 1129] 19. (12). Meanwhile[365] it happened that Archbishop Cellach[366] fell sick: he it was who ordained Malachy deacon, presbyter and bishop: and knowing that he was dying he made a sort of testament[367] to the effect that Malachy ought to succeed him,[368] because none seemed worthier to be bishop of the first see. This he gave in charge to those who were present, this he commanded to the absent, this to the two kings of Munster[369] and to the magnates of the land he specially enjoined …
H. J. Lawlor—St. Bernard of Clairvaux's Life of St. Malachy of Armagh

Mosaic Cosmogony.
ON the revival of science in the 16th century, some of the earliest conclusions at which philosophers arrived were found to be at variance with popular and long-established belief. The Ptolemaic system of astronomy, which had then full possession of the minds of men, contemplated the whole visible universe from the earth as the immovable centre of things. Copernicus changed the point of view, and placing the beholder in the sun, at once reduced the earth to an inconspicuous globule, a merely subordinate …
Frederick Temple—Essays and Reviews: The Education of the World

Mount Zion.
"For ye are not come unto a mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, and unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest, and the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which voice they that heard entreated that no word more should be spoken unto them: for they could not endure that which was enjoined, If even a beast touch the mountain, it shall be stoned; and so fearful was the appearance, that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake: but ye are come unto Mount Zion, and unto …
Thomas Charles Edwards—The Expositor's Bible: The Epistle to the Hebrews

Covenanting According to the Purposes of God.
Since every revealed purpose of God, implying that obedience to his law will be given, is a demand of that obedience, the announcement of his Covenant, as in his sovereignty decreed, claims, not less effectively than an explicit law, the fulfilment of its duties. A representation of a system of things pre-determined in order that the obligations of the Covenant might be discharged; various exhibitions of the Covenant as ordained; and a description of the children of the Covenant as predestinated …
John Cunningham—The Ordinance of Covenanting

Covenanting Predicted in Prophecy.
The fact of Covenanting, under the Old Testament dispensations, being approved of God, gives a proof that it was proper then, which is accompanied by the voice of prophecy, affording evidence that even in periods then future it should no less be proper. The argument for the service that is afforded by prophecy is peculiar, and, though corresponding with evidence from other sources, is independent. Because that God willed to make known truth through his servants the prophets, we should receive it …
John Cunningham—The Ordinance of Covenanting

The Promise to the Patriarchs.
A great epoch is, in Genesis, ushered in with the history of the time of the Patriarchs. Luther says: "This is the third period in which Holy Scripture begins the history of the Church with a new family." In a befitting manner, the representation is opened in Gen. xii. 1-3 by an account of the first revelation of God, given to Abraham at Haran, in which the way is opened up for all that follows, and in which the dispensations of God are brought before us in a rapid survey. Abraham is to forsake …
Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament

Discourse on Spiritual Food and True Discipleship. Peter's Confession.
(at the Synagogue in Capernaum.) ^D John VI. 22-71. ^d 22 On the morrow [the morrow after Jesus fed the five thousand] the multitude that stood on the other side of the sea [on the east side, opposite Capernaum] saw that there was no other boat there, save one, and that Jesus went not with his disciples into the boat, but that his disciples went away alone 23 (howbeit there came boats from Tiberias nigh unto the place where they ate the bread after that the Lord had given thanks): 24 when the multitude …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

Genesis
The Old Testament opens very impressively. In measured and dignified language it introduces the story of Israel's origin and settlement upon the land of Canaan (Gen.--Josh.) by the story of creation, i.-ii. 4a, and thus suggests, at the very beginning, the far-reaching purpose and the world-wide significance of the people and religion of Israel. The narrative has not travelled far till it becomes apparent that its dominant interests are to be religious and moral; for, after a pictorial sketch of …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

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