SEV Biblia, Chapter 9:17
Dijo más Dios a Noé: Esta será la señal del pacto que he establecido entre mí y toda carne, que está sobre la tierra.
Clarke's Bible Commentary - Genesis 9:17
Verse 17. This is the token] twa oth, The Divine sign or portent: The bow shall be in the cloud. For the reasons above specified it must be there, when the circumstances already mentioned occur; if therefore it cannot fail because of the reasons before assigned, no more shall my promise; and the bow shall be the proof of its perpetuity. Both the Greeks and Latins, as well as the Hebrews, have ever considered the rainbow as a Divine token or portent; and both of these nations have even deified it, and made it a messenger of the gods.
Homer, Il. xi., ver. 27, speaking of the figures on Agamemnon's breastplate, says there were three dragons, whose colours were irissin eoikotev, av te kronwn.
en nefei sthrixe, terav meropwn anqrwpwn.
""like to the rainbow which the son of Saturn has placed in the cloud as a SIGN to mankind,"" or to men of various languages, for so the meropwn antrwpwn of the poet has been understood. Some have thought that the ancient Greek writers give this epithet to man from some tradition of the confusion and multiplication of tongues at BHebel; hence in this place the words may be understood as implying mankind at large, the whole human race; God having given the rainbow for a sign to all the descendants of Noah, by whom the whole earth was peopled after the flood. Thus the celestial bow speaks a universal language, understood by all the sons and daughters of Adam. Virgil, from some disguised traditionary figure of the truth, considers the rainbow as a messenger of the gods. AEn. v., ver. 606:
IRIM de caelo misit Saturnia Juno.
""Juno, the daughter of Saturn, sent down the rainbow from heaven;"" and again, AEn. ix., ver. 80iii.- aeriam caelo nam Jupiter IRIM Demisit.
""For Jupiter sent down the ethereal rainbow from heaven.""
It is worthy of remark that both these poets understood the rainbow to be a sign, warning, or portent from heaven.""
As I believe the rainbow to have been intended solely for the purpose mentioned in the text, I forbear to make spiritual uses and illustrations of it. Many have done this, and their observations may be very edifying, but they certainly have no foundation in the text.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 8-17 - As the old world was ruined, to be a monument of justice, so this worl remains to this day a monument of mercy. But sin, that drowned the ol world, will burn this. Articles of agreement among men are sealed, tha what is promised may be the more solemn, and the doing of what is covenanted the more sure to mutual satisfaction. The seal of thi covenant was the rainbow, which, it is likely, was seen in the cloud before, but was never a seal of the covenant till now it was made so The rainbow appears when we have most reason to fear the rai prevailing; God then shows this seal of the promise, that it shall no prevail. The thicker the cloud, the brighter the bow in the cloud Thus, as threatening afflictions abound, encouraging consolations muc more abound. The rainbow is the reflection of the beams of the su shining upon or through the drops of rain: all the glory of the seal of the covenant are derived from Christ, the Sun of righteousness. An he will shed a glory on the tears of his saints. A bow speaks terror but this has neither string nor arrow; and a bow alone will do littl hurt. It is a bow, but it is directed upward, not toward the earth; for the seals of the covenant were intended to comfort, not to terrify. A God looks upon the bow, that he may remember the covenant, so shoul we, that we may be mindful of the covenant with faith and thankfulness Without revelation this gracious assurance could not be known; an without faith it can be of no use to us; and thus it is as to the stil greater dangers to which all are exposed, and as to the new covenan with its blessings.
Original Hebrew
ויאמר 559 אלהים 430 אל 413 נח 5146 זאת 2063 אות 226 הברית 1285 אשׁר 834 הקמתי 6965 ביני 996 ובין 996 כל 3605 בשׂר 1320 אשׁר 834 על 5921 הארץ׃ 776
