to give · verb, qal perfect, 1st person common singular
bow
קַשְׁתִּ֕יkash.Ti
H7198
a bow · noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix
cloud
בֶּֽעָנָ֑ןbe.'a.Nan
H6051
a cloud (as covering the sky) · preposition with the article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
token
לְא֣וֹתle.'ot
H226
a signal (literally or figuratively) · preposition + noun, common feminine singular construct
covenant
בְּרִ֔יתbe.Rit
H1285
a compact (because made by passing between pieces of fl… · noun, common feminine singular absolute
earth
הָאָֽרֶץha.'A.retz
H776
the earth (at large · definite article + noun, common feminine singular absolute
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Ezekiel 1:28 As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness round about. This was the appe…
Revelation 4:3 And he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone: and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an em…
Revelation 10:1 And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud: and a rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as it were the…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Genesis 9:12-17
Articles of agreement among men are usually sealed, that the covenants may be the more solemn, and the performances of the covenants the more sure, to mutual satisfaction. God therefore, being willing more abundantly to show to the heirs of promise the immutability of his councils, has confirmed his covenant by a seal (Heb 6:17), which makes the foundations we build on stand sure, Ti2 2:19. The seal of this covenant of nature was natural enough; it was the rainbow, which, it is likely, was seen in the clouds before, when second causes concurred, but was never a seal of the covenant till now that it was made so by a divine institution. Now, concerning this seal of the covenant, observe, 1. Th…
RAINBOW. (Gen. 9:8-29)
I do set my bow in the cloud--set, that is, constitute or appoint. This common and familiar phenomenon being made the pledge of peace, its appearance when showers began to fall would be welcomed with the liveliest feelings of joy.
Adam Clarke on Genesis 9:13
I do set my bow in the cloud - On the origin and nature of the rainbow there had been a great variety of conjectures, till Anthony de Dominis, bishop of Spalatro, in a treatise of his published by Bartholus in 1611, partly suggested the true cause of this phenomenon, which was afterwards fully explained and demonstrated by Sir Isaac Newton. To enter into this subject here in detail would be improper; and therefore the less informed reader must have recourse to treatises on Optics for its full explanation. To readers in general it may be sufficient to say that the rainbow is a mere natural effect of a natural cause:
1. It is never seen but in showery weather.
2. Nor then unless the sun shines…
I do set my bow in the cloud,.... Or "I have given", or "have set it" (p); which seems as if it was at that instant set; this is the same we call the "rainbow": and so Horace (q) calls it "arcus pluvius": it is called a "bow", because of its form, being a semicircle, and a "rainbow", because it is seen in a day of rain, and is a sign of it, or of its being quickly over, Ezekiel 1:28 and this appears in a moist dewy cloud, neither very thick nor very thin, and is occasioned by the rays of the sun opposite to it, refracted on it: and this God calls "his bow", not only because made by him, for, notwithstanding the natural causes of it, the cloud and sun, the disposition of these to produce it,…
The Church Fathers
I will place my bow in the clouds, and it will be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth; and when I cover the sky with clouds, my bow will appear, and I will remember my covenant with you and with every living soul that is alive in the flesh, and the waters will no longer become a flood to destroy all flesh. The bow in the sky, whenever it is seen even today, reminds us of the divine covenant that the earth will no longer be lost in a flood; but if it is well considered, it also shows us a sign of future judgment that will come upon the world by fire. For indeed, it shines with both blue and red color not without reason, except because the blue color testifies about the waters that have passed, and the red color testifies about the flames that are to come. Fittingly, the celestial bow, which they call Iris, is placed as a sign of divine propitiation; for that bow tends to shine in the clouds, and responds in a somewhat grateful confession to the rays of the sun that illuminate the dewy darkness. Therefore, Christ is the Sun of righteousness, the clouds illuminated by Him are the saints, whose names are written in heaven, and the Psalmist speaks of them: Lord, your mercy is in heaven, and your truth reaches to the clouds (Psalm 35:6). And when the bow appears in the clouds, the Lord remembers His promise not to destroy the earth with a flood, because through the intercessions of the saints, who know how to shine not by themselves, but through Him, He is propitiated towards the faithful when they lift up the eyes of their minds to desire heavenly things, and they recognize His glory in the deeds and words or even the rest of the preceding just ones, as if in His clouds, there will be a bow in the clouds, and I will see it and remember the eternal covenant that was made between God and every living soul of all flesh that is upon the earth. It is said in a human manner that God remembers His covenant when He sees the bow in the clouds, which by the merits of the saints, glorified and heavenly through His illumination, He spares and has mercy on our frailty; but He does not newly remember anything since He can never forget anything. He has been mindful of His covenant forever, but He seems to remember the covenant He made with us when He extends the help of His protection to those in tribulation; hence, it is well said in the psalm from the persona of…
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Church — Derived probably from the Greek kuriakon (i.e., “the Lord’s house”), which was used by ancient authors for the place of worship. In the New Testament it is the translation of the Greek word ecclesia,…
Covenant — A contract or agreement between two parties. In the Old Testament the Hebrew word berith is always thus translated. Berith is derived from a root which means “to cut,” and hence a covenant is a…
Rainbow — Caused by the reflection and refraction of the rays of the sun shining on falling rain. It was appointed as a witness of the divine faithfulness (Gen. 9:12-17). It existed indeed before, but it was…
Bow · 2. A TOKEN IN THE CLOUDS — 2. A TOKEN IN THE CLOUDS
Clouds · The rainbow appears in — The rainbow appears in
Deception · General references — General references
Deluge, The · That it shall never again occur: The rainbow a token — That it shall never again occur: The rainbow a token
Noah · General references — General references
Rain · The earth will never again be — The earth will never again be
Rainbow · A sign that the earth will no longer be — A sign that the earth will no longer be
Symbols And Similitudes · Rainbow — Rainbow
Token · Rainbow, that the earth would never be — Rainbow, that the earth would never be
I do set my bow in the cloud. From these words certain eminent theologians have been induced to deny, that there was any rainbow before the deluge: which is frivolous. For the words of Moses do not signify, that a bow was then formed which did not previously exist; but that a mark was engraven upon it, which should give a sign of the divine favor towards men. That this may the more evidently appear, it will be well to recall to memory what we have elsewhere said, that some signs are natural, and some preternatural. And although there are many examples of this second class of signs in the Scriptures; yet they are peculiar, and do not belong to the common and perpetual use of the Church. For,…
To give Noah and his sons a firm assurance of the prosperous continuance of the human race, God condescended to establish a covenant with them and their descendants, and to confirm this covenant by a visible sign for all generations. בּרית הקים is not equivalent to בּרית כּרת; it does not denote the formal conclusion of an actual covenant, but the "setting up of a covenant," or the giving of a promise possessing the nature of a covenant. In summing up the animals in Gen 9:10, the prepositions are accumulated: first בּ embracing the whole, then the partitive מן restricting the enumeration to those which went out of the ark, and lastly ל yl, "with regard to," extending it again to every indivi…
God brought cataclysmic judgment through the rainstorm; now, the rainbow, a meteorological phenomenon associated with the rainstorm, would be an image of peace for all the earth (see 9:17). • The same Hebrew term denotes both “rainbow” and “bow.” Since God is sometimes pictured as a warrior who shoots arrows of judgment (see Deut 32:42; Pss 7:12; 18:13-14; Hab 3:9-11), some think that the imagery in Gen 9:13-17 is of the Divine Warrior hanging up his bow of judgment.
Water · The world not to be again destroyed by — The world not to be again destroyed by
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
