In the Noah’s Ark story, the rainbow is the sign of God’s covenant.
Genesis 9 describes a covenant made after Noah and his family leave the ark. The covenant extends beyond Noah to every living creature and promises that a flood will not again destroy all life on earth. The rainbow is presented as the visible reminder of that promise.
The passage calls the sign a “bow” in the clouds. In context, this is generally understood as a rainbow, though the word can also evoke the image of a weapon’s bow being set aside. That literary association connects the natural sign with the covenant’s promise of restraint.
The rainbow in Genesis is therefore not merely a weather detail. It functions as a recurring memorial of the relationship established after the Flood. The story does not identify a particular color pattern or scientific mechanism; those belong to later interpretation and modern meteorology rather than the biblical narrative itself.