Click
here to show/hide instructions.
Instructions on how to use the page:
The commentary for the selected verse is is displayed below.
All commentary was produced against the King James, so the same verse from that translation may appear as well. Hovering your mouse over a commentary's scripture reference attempts to show those verses.
Use the browser's back button to return to the previous page.
Or you can also select a feature from the Just Verses menu appearing at the top of the page.
Selected Verse: Genesis 9:8 - Strong Concordance
Verse |
Translation |
Text |
Ge 9:8 |
Strong Concordance |
And God [0430] spake [0559] unto Noah [05146], and to his sons [01121] with him, saying [0559], |
|
King James |
And God spake unto Noah, and to his sons with him, saying, |
Summary Of Commentaries Associated With The Selected Verse
Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834] |
- XXIX. The Covenant with Noah
13. קשׁת qeshet, "bow; related: be bent."
14. ענן ‛ānan, "cover, cast over; noun: cloud."
The covenant made with Noah Gen 6:18 is now formally confirmed. The purpose conceived in the heart Gen 8:21 now receives significant expression. Not only a new blessing is bestowed, but also a new covenant is formed with Noah. For he that has offered an acceptable sacrifice is not only at peace with God, but renewed in mind after the image of God. He is therefore a fit subject for entering into a covenant.
Gen 9:8-11
Unto Noah and to his sons. - God addresses the sons of Noah as the progenitors of the future race. "I establish." He not merely makes כרת kārat, but ratifies, his covenant with them. "My covenant." The covenant which was before mentioned to Noah in the directions concerning the making of the ark, and which was really, though tacitly, formed with Adam in the garden.
Gen 9:9-10
The party with whom God now enters into covenant is here fully described. "You and your seed after you, and every breathing living thing;" the latter merely "on account of the former." The animals are specially mentioned because they partake in the special benefit of preservation from a flood, which is guaranteed in this covenant. There is a remarkable expression employed here - "From all that come out of the ark, to every beast of the land." It seems to imply that the beast of the land, or the wild beast, was not among those that came out of the ark, and, therefore, not among those that went in. This coincides with the view we have given of the inmates of the ark.
Gen 9:11
The benefits conferred by this form of God's covenant are here specified. First, all flesh shall no more be cut off by a flood; secondly, the land shall no more be destroyed by this means. The Lord has been true to his promise in saving Noah and his family from the flood of waters. He now perpetuates his promise by assuring him that the land would not again be overwhelmed with water. This is the new and present blessing of the covenant. Its former blessings are not abrogated, but only confirmed and augmented by the present. Other and higher benefits will flow out of this to those who rightly receive it, even throughout the ages of eternity. The present benefit is shared by the whole race descended from Noah.
Gen 9:12-16
The token of the covenant is now pointed out. "For perpetual ages." This stability of sea and land is to last during the remainder of the human period. What is to happen when the race of man is completed, is not the question at present. "My bow." As God's covenant is the well-known and still remembered compact formed with man when the command was issued in the Garden of Eden, so God's bow is the primeval arch, coexistent with the rays of light and the drops of rain. It is caused by the rays of the sun reflected from the falling raindrops at a particular angle to the eye of the spectator. A beautiful arch of reflected and refracted light is in this way formed for every eye. The rainbow is thus an index that the sky is not wholly overcast, since the sun is shining through the shower, and thereby demonstrating its partial extent. There could not, therefore, be a more beautiful or fitting token that there shall be no more a flood to sweep away all flesh and destroy the land.
It comes with its mild radiance only when the cloud condenses into a shower. It consists of heavenly light, variegated in hue, and mellowed in lustre, filling the beholder with an involuntary pleasure. It forms a perfect arch, extends as far as the shower extends, connects heaven and earth, and spans the horizon. In these respects it is a beautiful emblem of mercy rejoicing against judgment, of light from heaven irradiating and beatifying the soul, of grace always sufficient for the need of the reunion of earth and heaven, and of the universality of the offer of salvation. "Have I given." The rainbow existed as long as the present laws of light and air. But it is now mentioned for the first time, because it now becomes the fitting sign of security from another universal deluge, which is the special blessing of the covenant in its present form. "In the cloud." When a shower-cloud is spread over the sky, the bow appears, if the sun, the cloud, and the spectator are in the proper relation to one another. 16. "And I will look upon it to remember." The Scripture is most unhesitating and frank in ascribing to God all the attributes and exercises of personal freedom. While man looks on the bow to recall the promise of God, God himself looks on it to remember and perform this promise. Here freedom and immutability of purpose meet.
The covenant here ostensibly refers to the one point of the absence, for all time to come, of any danger to the human race from a deluge. But it presupposes and supplements the covenant with man subsisting from the very beginning. It is clearly of grace; for the Lord in the very terms affirms the fact that the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth, while at the same time the original transgression belonged to the whole race. The condition by which any man becomes interested in it is not expressed, but easily understood from the nature of a covenant, a promise, and a sign, all of which require of us consenting faith in the party who covenants, promises, and gives the sign. The meritorious condition of the covenant of grace is dimly shadowed forth in the burnt-offerings which Noah presented on coming out of the ark. One thing, however, was surely and clearly revealed to the early saints; namely, the mercy of God. Assured of this, they were prepared humbly to believe that all would rebound to the glory of his holiness, justice, and truth, as well as of his mercy, grace, and love, though they might not yet fully understand how this would be accomplished.
Gen 9:17
God seems here to direct Noah's attention to a rainbow actually existing at the time in the sky, and presenting to the patriarch the assurance of the promise, with all the impressiveness of reality. |
The Scofield Bible Commentary, by Cyrus Ingerson Scofield, [1917] |
saying
(See Scofield) - (Gen 8:21).
(See Scofield) - (Gen 9:1) |
Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78] |
To give Noah and his sons a firm assurance of the prosperous continuance of the human race, God condescended to establish a covenant with them and their descendants, and to confirm this covenant by a visible sign for all generations. בּרית הקים is not equivalent to בּרית כּרת; it does not denote the formal conclusion of an actual covenant, but the "setting up of a covenant," or the giving of a promise possessing the nature of a covenant. In summing up the animals in Gen 9:10, the prepositions are accumulated: first בּ embracing the whole, then the partitive מן restricting the enumeration to those which went out of the ark, and lastly ל yl, "with regard to," extending it again to every individual. There was a correspondence between the covenant (Gen 9:11) and the sign which was to keep it before the sight of men (Gen 9:12): "I give (set) My bow in the cloud" (Gen 9:13). When God gathers (ענן Gen 9:14, lit., clouds) clouds over the earth, "the bow shall be seen in the cloud," and that not for man only, but for God also, who will look at the bow, "to remember His everlasting covenant." An "everlasting covenant" is a covenant "for perpetual generations," i.e., one which shall extend to all ages, even to the end of the world. The fact that God Himself would look at the bow and remember His covenant, was "a glorious and living expression of the great truth, that God's covenant signs, in which He has put His promises, are real vehicles of His grace, that they have power and essential worth not only with men, but also before God" (O. v. Gerlach). The establishment of the rainbow as a covenant sign of the promise that there should be no flood again, presupposes that it appeared then for the first time in the vault and clouds of heaven. From this it may be inferred, not that it did not rain before the flood, which could hardly be reconciled with Gen 2:5, but that the atmosphere was differently constituted; a supposition in perfect harmony with the facts of natural history, which point to differences in the climate of the earth's surface before and after the flood. The fact that the rainbow, that "coloured splendour thrown by the bursting forth of the sun upon the departing clouds," is the result of the reciprocal action of light, and air, and water, is no disproof of the origin and design recorded here. For the laws of nature are ordained by God, and have their ultimate ground and purpose in the divine plan of the universe which links together both nature and grace. "Springing as it does from the effect of the sun upon the dark mass of clouds, it typifies the readiness of the heavenly to pervade the earthly; spread out as it is between heaven and earth, it proclaims peace between God and man; and whilst spanning the whole horizon, it teaches the all-embracing universality of the covenant of grace" (Delitzsch). |
17 And God [0430] said [0559] unto Noah [05146], This is the token [0226] of the covenant [01285], which I have established [06965] between me and all flesh [01320] that is upon the earth [0776].
12 And God [0430] said [0559], This is the token [0226] of the covenant [01285] which I [0589] make [05414] between me and you and every living [02416] creature [05315] that is with you, for perpetual [05769] generations [01755]:
13 I do set [05414] my bow [07198] in the cloud [06051], and it shall be for a token [0226] of a covenant [01285] between me and the earth [0776].
14 And it shall come to pass, when I bring [06049] a cloud [06051] over the earth [0776], that the bow [07198] shall be seen [07200] in the cloud [06051]:
15 And I will remember [02142] my covenant [01285], which is between me and you and every living [02416] creature [05315] of all flesh [01320]; and the waters [04325] shall no more [05750] become a flood [03999] to destroy [07843] all flesh [01320].
16 And the bow [07198] shall be in the cloud [06051]; and I will look upon it [07200], that I may remember [02142] the everlasting [05769] covenant [01285] between [0996] God [0430] and [0996] every living [02416] creature [05315] of all flesh [01320] that is upon the earth [0776].
11 And I will establish [06965] my covenant [01285] with you; neither shall all flesh [01320] be cut off [03772] any more by the waters [04325] of a flood [03999]; neither shall there any more be a flood [03999] to destroy [07843] the earth [0776].
9 And I, behold, I establish [06965] my covenant [01285] with you, and with your seed [02233] after you [0310];
10 And with every living [02416] creature [05315] that is with you, of the fowl [05775], of the cattle [0929], and of every beast [02416] of the earth [0776] with you; from all that go out [03318] of the ark [08392], to every beast [02416] of the earth [0776].
8 And God [0430] spake [0559] unto Noah [05146], and to his sons [01121] with him, saying [0559],
9 And I, behold, I establish [06965] my covenant [01285] with you, and with your seed [02233] after you [0310];
10 And with every living [02416] creature [05315] that is with you, of the fowl [05775], of the cattle [0929], and of every beast [02416] of the earth [0776] with you; from all that go out [03318] of the ark [08392], to every beast [02416] of the earth [0776].
11 And I will establish [06965] my covenant [01285] with you; neither shall all flesh [01320] be cut off [03772] any more by the waters [04325] of a flood [03999]; neither shall there any more be a flood [03999] to destroy [07843] the earth [0776].
21 And the LORD [03068] smelled [07306] a sweet [05207] savour [07381]; and the LORD [03068] said [0559] in [0413] his heart [03820], I will not again [03254] curse [07043] the ground [0127] any more for man's [0120] sake [05668]; for the imagination [03336] of man's [0120] heart [03820] is evil [07451] from his youth [05271]; neither will I again [03254] smite [05221] any more every thing living [02416], as I have done [06213].
18 But with thee will I establish [06965] my covenant [01285]; and thou shalt come [0935] into [0413] the ark [08392], thou [0859], and thy sons [01121], and thy wife [0802], and thy sons [01121]' wives [0802] with thee.
1 And God [0430] blessed [01288] Noah [05146] and his sons [01121], and said [0559] unto them, Be fruitful [06509], and multiply [07235], and replenish [04390] the earth [0776].
21 And the LORD [03068] smelled [07306] a sweet [05207] savour [07381]; and the LORD [03068] said [0559] in [0413] his heart [03820], I will not again [03254] curse [07043] the ground [0127] any more for man's [0120] sake [05668]; for the imagination [03336] of man's [0120] heart [03820] is evil [07451] from his youth [05271]; neither will I again [03254] smite [05221] any more every thing living [02416], as I have done [06213].
5 And every plant [07880] of the field [07704] before [02962] it was in the earth [0776], and every herb [06212] of the field [07704] before [02962] it grew [06779]: for [03588] the LORD [03068] God [0430] had not [03808] caused it to rain [04305] upon the earth [0776], and there was not [0369] a man [0120] to till [05647] the ground [0127].
14 And it shall come to pass, when I bring [06049] a cloud [06051] over the earth [0776], that the bow [07198] shall be seen [07200] in the cloud [06051]:
13 I do set [05414] my bow [07198] in the cloud [06051], and it shall be for a token [0226] of a covenant [01285] between me and the earth [0776].
12 And God [0430] said [0559], This is the token [0226] of the covenant [01285] which I [0589] make [05414] between me and you and every living [02416] creature [05315] that is with you, for perpetual [05769] generations [01755]:
11 And I will establish [06965] my covenant [01285] with you; neither shall all flesh [01320] be cut off [03772] any more by the waters [04325] of a flood [03999]; neither shall there any more be a flood [03999] to destroy [07843] the earth [0776].
10 And with every living [02416] creature [05315] that is with you, of the fowl [05775], of the cattle [0929], and of every beast [02416] of the earth [0776] with you; from all that go out [03318] of the ark [08392], to every beast [02416] of the earth [0776].