Genesis gives a rainbow as the symbol of God’s covenant after the Noah’s Ark flood.
In Genesis 9, God establishes a covenant with Noah, his descendants, and every living creature after the flood. The rainbow is described as the sign placed in the clouds to remind God of this covenant and the promise that waters would not again become a flood destroying all life.
The covenant is broader than Noah’s immediate family: the text explicitly includes animals and the earth. This makes the rainbow a sign associated with the whole living world in the narrative.
The story is also why the rainbow became a major symbol in later Jewish and Christian interpretation. In the biblical account, it is not presented merely as a weather explanation; it functions as a visible covenant sign following the flood.