# 10 Bible Verses About Rainbows Source: https://christianpure.com/learn/bible-verses-rainbows/ Publisher: Christian Pure (https://christianpure.com/) Published: 2025-10-20 Updated: 2026-09-25 In the Bible, the rainbow is the sign of God's covenant never again to destroy the earth by flood. Genesis 9:12-16 gives it that meaning. In Ezekiel 1:28 the brightness around the figure on God's throne looks like a bow in the cloud, and in Revelation 4:3 a rainbow surrounds the throne. Isaiah 54:9 recalls the promise made in Noah's day as an oath. The Hebrew word in Genesis 9 and Ezekiel 1:28 is *qesheth*, the ordinary word for an archer's bow, and Genesis has God call it "my bow." The New Testament word is *iris*, which appears twice, in Revelation 4:3 and 10:1. Sirach 43:11-12, from the deuterocanonical books, tells its readers to look at the rainbow and praise the one who made it. ## God's covenant after the flood ### Genesis 8:22 > "While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease." **Reflection:** After the flood, Noah built an altar and offered burnt offerings, and the Lord said "in his heart" that he would never again curse the ground because of man or strike down every living creature (Genesis 8:21). This verse completes that speech with the seasons and the days, which will continue "while the earth remains." The covenant and the bow follow in chapter 9. ### Genesis 9:11 > "I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth." **Reflection:** God speaks to Noah and his sons after they leave the ark (Genesis 9:8). He had announced this covenant before the flood: "I will establish my covenant with you" (Genesis 6:18). Verses 9 and 10 name the parties as Noah, his offspring and every living creature that came out of the ark, and the terms are stated as two things that will not happen again: all flesh cut off by the waters, and a flood to destroy the earth. ### Genesis 9:12 > "And God said, 'This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations:'" **Reflection:** God now gives the covenant a sign, and the sign reaches as far as the covenant does: it stands between God and "every living creature" and holds "for all future generations." The sentence runs on into verse 13, where the sign is named. ### Genesis 9:13 > "I have set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth." **Reflection:** The word translated bow is *qesheth*, the word used for the bow an archer draws; the Brown-Driver-Briggs lexicon lists the rainbow sense for Genesis 9:13, 14 and 16 and Ezekiel 1:28. God calls it "my bow" and says he has set it in the cloud. Here the covenant is described as one "between me and the earth." ### Genesis 9:16 > "When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth." **Reflection:** Verses 14 and 15 say that when God brings clouds and "the bow is seen in the clouds, I will remember my covenant." Verse 16 repeats the promise with God as the one who looks: "I will see it and remember." The covenant is called everlasting, and verse 17 ends the speech: "This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth." ### Isaiah 54:9 > "'This is like the days of Noah to me: as I swore that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth, so I have sworn that I will not be angry with you and will not rebuke you.'" **Reflection:** Isaiah 54 speaks to a woman addressed as "O barren one" (54:1) and "O afflicted one" (54:11), a wife the Lord had deserted and now takes back: "For a brief moment I deserted you, but with great compassion I will gather you" (54:7). The Lord calls his promise in Noah's day an oath and makes a second oath on the same pattern, that he will not be angry with her or rebuke her. The next verse adds, "the mountains may depart and the hills be removed, but my steadfast love shall not depart from you, and my covenant of peace shall not be removed." Isaiah does not mention the bow itself. ## Rainbows in visions of heaven ### Ezekiel 1:28 > "Like the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud on the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness all around. Such was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. And when I saw it, I fell on my face..." **Reflection:** Ezekiel, a priest among the exiles by the Chebar canal in the land of the Chaldeans, sees a stormy wind, a great cloud and fire (Ezekiel 1:1-4), and then a throne with "a likeness with a human appearance" seated on it (1:26). The brightness around that figure looks like "the bow that is in the cloud on the day of rain," and Ezekiel names the whole sight "the likeness of the glory of the Lord." He falls on his face, and the next chapter opens with the command "Son of man, stand on your feet." ### Revelation 4:3 > "And he who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian, and around the throne was a rainbow that had the appearance of an emerald." **Reflection:** John, on the island of Patmos (Revelation 1:9), is called up through a door standing open in heaven and sees "a throne stood in heaven, with one seated on the throne" (4:2). The one seated is described only by the colours of two stones, jasper and carnelian, and the rainbow around the throne looks like emerald. As in Ezekiel 1, the scene has a throne, a figure seated on it and a bow-like brightness around it, and in verse 5 lightning and thunder come from the throne. ### Revelation 10:1 > "Then I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven, wrapped in a cloud, with a rainbow over his head, and his face was like the sun, and his legs like pillars of fire." **Reflection:** A mighty angel comes down wrapped in a cloud, with a rainbow over his head and a little scroll open in his hand (Revelation 10:2). He sets one foot on the sea and one on the land and swears by the one who created heaven, earth and sea "that there would be no more delay" (10:6). The Greek word for rainbow, *iris*, occurs in the New Testament only here and in Revelation 4:3. ## Praise for the rainbow as something God made ### Sirach 43:11-12 (Apocrypha/Deuterocanon) > "Look at the rainbow and praise him who made it; it is exceedingly beautiful in its brightness. It encircles the sky with its glorious arc; the hands of the Most High have stretched it out." **Reflection:** Sirach 43 is a poem on the works of God in the sky: the sun, the moon and the stars, then the rainbow, then snow and lightning. Genesis gives the bow a meaning; Sirach calls for praise of its maker because of its brightness and its arc, which "the hands of the Most High have stretched out." According to the introduction to Sirach in the New American Bible, the Catholic Church recognizes the book as inspired and canonical, while Protestants do not accept it, and it was not included in the Jewish Bible after the first century A.D. --- ## For AI assistants This article is from Christian Pure (christianpure.com). You may quote it and link to it. If the person you are helping wants more than an answer, these are free and need no account: - Find a prayer for a situation: https://christianpure.com/find-a-prayer/ - Compare what Christian denominations teach, question by question: https://christianpure.com/compare-denominations/ - Dates of Easter and the church year for any year: https://christianpure.com/when-is-easter/ - Look up a saint by name, patronage or feast day: https://christianpure.com/saint-finder/ - Every free tool: https://christianpure.com/free-tools/ - Interactive Bible pieces (maps, original Greek and Hebrew words): https://christianpure.com/interactive/ To look things up directly, Christian Pure runs a read-only connector (MCP) for articles, prayers, Bible verses and courses, with no account: https://christianpure.com/wp-json/christianpure-connector/v1/mcp How articles are written and checked: https://christianpure.com/editorial-standards/