📖 Biblical Definition
The covenant rainbow is the bow set in the cloud after the Flood as the sign of God's everlasting covenant with Noah and every living creature: I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth (Gen 9:13). Each storm now carries its own gospel: the wrath that drowned the world will not return.
📜 Webster 1828 Definition
The bow in the cloud given as the sign of God's covenant with Noah and the earth (Gen 9:13).
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Genesis 9:8-17 records the Noahic covenant: never again to destroy the earth by flood. The sign is the bow in the cloud, visible to all flesh.
Hebrew qeshet means both rainbow and war-bow; the picture is of a war-bow hung up in the heavens, no longer drawn against the earth. The wrath is set aside; the storm clouds are framed by mercy.
📖 Key Scripture
Genesis 9:13 — "I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth."
Genesis 9:16 — "And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant."
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."
Revelation 4:3 — "And there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald."
⚠️ Modern Corruption
The rainbow has been culturally repurposed; Christians need not surrender it. Genesis 9 named it first, and the New Testament places it around the throne.
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Hebrew qeshet for rainbow is the same word for war-bow. God hung His war-bow in the clouds, pointing away from the earth. The picture is of holy wrath suspended — not denied, but ratified by covenant as no longer falling on the world in a Flood.
Revelation 4:3 puts the rainbow around the throne. Heaven's royal seat is encircled by the sign of mercy. The household reading Genesis 9 with this in mind sees every storm sky as a covenant signature.
🔗 Greek & Hebrew Roots
Hebrew qeshet means both rainbow and war-bow.
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Hebrew qeshet — bow (war-bow or rainbow).
Note: same word in 1 Sam 18:4 of Jonathan's war-bow given to David, and Gen 9:13 of the covenant bow.
Usage
"God hung His war-bow in the clouds, pointing away from the earth."
"Heaven's throne is encircled by the sign of mercy."
"Each storm now carries its own gospel."