What Does Genesis 9:13 Mean in the King James?
I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The Hebrew word for the bow also names the rainbow: the sign of force remains in the cloud as a visible mark of covenant.
THE MEANING
The sky holds the bow as a sign, and the covenant reaches beyond human life to the earth itself. One Hebrew word names both the weapon’s curve and the rainbow’s arc, holding force and promise in one image. The bow remains visible, placed within covenant.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Power does not make destruction inevitable: here the bow stands inside a covenant that includes the earth.
THE ROOT
קַשְׁתִּי
qashtî
GROWS FROM
קשת
q-sh-t
A bow, especially a curved weapon; the same Hebrew word also names the rainbow’s arc.
English separates “bow” from “rainbow,” but Hebrew uses קֶשֶׁת (qeshet) for both. The covenant sign is not a different object from the bow: it is the bow-shaped arc in the cloud.
ALSO GROWS
qeshet: Bow, a curved weapon
קֶשֶׁת
This is the word used for the bow set in the cloud.
qeshet: Rainbow, the arc in a cloud
קֶשֶׁת
The same word names the visible arc, joining the weapon and the covenant sign in one image.
qashshat: Archer, one who uses a bow
קַשָּׁת
This related word carries the bow into the person who wields it, keeping the image’s force present.
נָתַתִּי
nātattî
GROWS FROM
נתן
n-t-n
To give, set, or place.
The verb translated “set” shares a root with words for giving and placing. The bow is both placed in the cloud and given as a sign: its presence is bestowed, not merely observed.
ALSO GROWS
natan: To give, set, or place
נָתַן
This is the root action behind placing the bow in the cloud.
mattanah: Gift
מַתָּנָה
This branch shows the root’s sense of something given, illuminating the sign as a bestowed marker.
nathun: Given, placed
נָתוּן
This form carries the same root sense of something set in place.
THE PATTERN
A covenant becomes visible through a sign carried by the material world.
And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you.And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt.For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.THE THREAD
And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth.This verse says God looks upon the bow as a reminder of the covenant, expanding its reach to every living creature. The sign in the cloud makes the promise’s scope visible: all flesh upon the earth.
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