In Genesis’s Noah’s Ark story, the rainbow represents God’s covenant after the Flood.
Genesis 9:13 says that God placed a bow in the clouds as the sign of the covenant with Noah, his descendants, and every living creature. The covenant follows the Flood and includes a promise that a flood will not again destroy all life on earth.
The passage uses the image of a bow, commonly understood in English translations as a rainbow. It connects a visible natural phenomenon with a theological promise in the story. Genesis 9:16 says the bow will be remembered whenever it appears in the clouds.
The rainbow should not be confused with the dove or olive leaf earlier in the narrative. The dove and leaf signal that land is becoming accessible, while the rainbow is the later covenant sign. The account also presents the covenant as extending beyond Noah’s family to animals and the earth.