The rainbow first appears in Genesis 9, after the flood, as the sign of God's promise never again to destroy the earth with a flood: "I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth" (Genesis 9:13). God says, "I will remember my covenant" (Genesis 9:15). Later Ezekiel and John saw a rainbow-like glory around God's throne (Ezekiel 1:28; Revelation 4:3).
A rainbow after a storm still makes people stop and point. In the Bible it is much more than a pretty sight. It is one of Scripture's great covenant signs, God's own reminder of a promise He made to Noah, to his family and to every living creature after the flood. The King James Version calls it the bow in Genesis and uses the word rainbow only twice, both times in Revelation. These twelve verses walk through the rainbow's story: the promise in Genesis 9, what God says the bow means, and the rainbow-like glory the prophets saw around His throne. For more on God keeping His word, see God's promises and the faithfulness of God.
The first rainbow: God's covenant after the flood
1. Genesis 9:11
"And I will establish my covenant with you; neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth."
After the flood, Noah built an altar and worshipped (Genesis 8:20), and God answered with a promise: neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth. A covenant is a binding commitment. This one asks nothing of Noah in return. It rests entirely on God's faithfulness, which is why Christians often call it an unconditional covenant, and why it has held for every generation since.
2. Genesis 9:12
"And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations:"
A token is a sign or pledge. God gives the rainbow as the visible sign of His covenant, and notice how wide the promise is: between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations. It covers every person alive today, believer or not, and the whole created world. Every rainbow is a reminder that God's mercy reaches further than we tend to think.
3. Genesis 9:14
"And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud:"
God ties the sign to the very thing that once brought destruction: clouds. when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud. You only see a rainbow when sunlight shines through rain, usually as a storm is passing or the sun breaks through. The sign of mercy appears in the middle of the clouds, not after every cloud is gone, and many people hold on to that picture in hard seasons.
4. Genesis 9:15
"And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh."
I will remember my covenant. In the Bible, God remembering does not mean He had forgotten; it means He acts on His promise. Earlier, God remembered Noah in the ark and sent a wind to dry the waters (Genesis 8:1). The rainbow is God's sign that He will keep acting on what He has promised. When you see one, you can pray: Lord, remember Your promises to me today.
What the bow in the cloud means
5. Genesis 9:16
"And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth."
Here God says He Himself will look at the bow: I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant. We usually think of the rainbow as a sign for us, but Genesis presents it as a sign God looks at too. It is a picture of God binding Himself to His word. The covenant is called everlasting: it does not wear out, expire or depend on how well we keep our side of things.
6. Genesis 9:17
"And God said unto Noah, This is the token of the covenant, which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth."
God repeats Himself for emphasis: this is the token of the covenant. In Genesis 9:9-17 the word covenant appears seven times, underlining how certain the promise is. Noah and his family stepped out into a washed and empty world, and God's words to them included this reassurance. New beginnings are easier to face when God's promise stands over them. See new beginnings.
7. Genesis 8:21
"And the LORD smelled a sweet savour; and the LORD said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake; for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done."
Before the rainbow appears, Genesis shows what God decided in his heart: I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake. Remarkably, the reason given is not that people have become good. God says plainly that the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth. The promise is pure grace. God holds back judgment and keeps the seasons turning (Genesis 8:22) so that His plan of rescue can unfold.
8. Isaiah 54:9
"For this is as the waters of Noah unto me: for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth; so have I sworn that I would not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee."
Centuries later, God pointed back to Noah to comfort His people in a time of exile: as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth; so have I sworn that I would not be wroth with thee. The next verse adds, "the mountains shall depart... but my kindness shall not depart from thee" (Isaiah 54:10). The rainbow's promise became a pattern for how faithful God would be to His people.
The rainbow around God's throne, and a promise that lasts
9. 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 appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. And when I saw it, I fell upon my face, and I heard a voice of one that spake."
Ezekiel, a priest living in exile in Babylon, saw a vision of God's glory by the river Chebar (Ezekiel 1:1-3). Trying to describe it, he reached for the most beautiful thing he knew: the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain. The rainbow became a way to speak about God's own radiance. Ezekiel's response was worship: I fell upon my face.
10. 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 emerald."
In John's vision of heaven, a throne stands at the center, and around it is a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald: a rainbow of green, emerald light. The sign of mercy from Genesis encircles the throne of God near the end of the Bible. The One who rules all things is still the God who keeps His promises.
11. 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 sun, and his feet as pillars of fire:"
John also saw another mighty angel come down from heaven, and a rainbow was upon his head. The angel came with a message from God. Many readers see the rainbow here as a reminder that even when Revelation speaks of judgment, God has not forgotten mercy. This verse and Revelation 4:3 are the only two places where the King James Version uses the word rainbow.
12. Psalms 105:8
"He hath remembered his covenant for ever, the word which he commanded to a thousand generations."
Psalm 105 retells God's faithfulness through Israel's history, praising a God who hath remembered his covenant for ever. A thousand generations is poetry for always. The covenant with Noah, the promises to Abraham (Psalm 105:9) and the new covenant in Jesus all rest on the same faithful God. A rainbow is a small, beautiful reminder of that big truth.
A short prayer
Faithful God, thank You for the rainbow and the promise behind it. Thank You that You keep Your word to every generation, and that Your mercy shines even in the middle of the clouds. When storms come in my life, help me look for the signs of Your faithfulness. Remember Your promises to me and to those I love, and help me keep my own promises too. In Jesus' name, Amen.
Go deeper: a SOAP study prompt
Pick one verse above and write: - Scripture: copy the verse by hand. - Observation: what does it say? Who is speaking, to whom? - Application: what does it mean for you today? - Prayer: turn it into a two-line prayer.
New to this method? See our Bible study guide or pick a Bible reading plan.
Study God's covenant promises with the SOAP Bible Study Journal · Memorize the promises with the Scripture Memory Cards · Print our free Bible verse bookmarks
Frequently asked questions
What does the rainbow mean in the Bible?
In Genesis the rainbow is the sign, or token, of God's covenant with Noah and every living creature that He will never again destroy the earth with a flood (Genesis 9:11-17). It is a reminder of God's mercy and faithfulness. In Ezekiel 1:28 and Revelation 4:3 a rainbow-like radiance surrounds God's throne, linking the sign of His promise with His glory.
What are the 7 colors of the rainbow in the Bible?
The Bible does not list the rainbow's colors or give a meaning to each one. The familiar seven-color list (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet) comes from Isaac Newton's study of light in the late 1600s, not from Scripture. Some devotional and children's materials give each color a spiritual meaning, which can be a helpful teaching tool, but those meanings are not in the Bible. Revelation does describe the rainbow around God's throne as "in sight like unto an emerald" (Revelation 4:3).
Where is the rainbow mentioned in the Bible?
The King James Version speaks of the bow in the cloud in Genesis 9:13-16 and Ezekiel 1:28, and uses the word rainbow in Revelation 4:3 and Revelation 10:1. The Genesis passage is the covenant with Noah after the flood; Ezekiel and Revelation use the rainbow to describe the glory around God's throne. Psalm 105 and Isaiah 54 look back on the covenant with Noah without naming the bow.
How can I teach kids about the rainbow and God's promise?
Read the story of Noah together (Genesis 6-9), then ask what promise God made and who it was for. Point out that God keeps His promises even on days when we do not see a rainbow. A simple craft is to draw a rainbow and write "I will remember my covenant" (Genesis 9:15) across it. See Bible verses for kids and our Bible worksheets for kids.
Sources: All Scripture quotations are from the King James Version (KJV), public domain in the United States. References were checked against the KJV text from bible-api.com.
Related: God's promises · The faithfulness of God · Rain · Storms · New beginnings · Hope · Creation · Mercy
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