Genesis 9:17

Summary

Genesis 9:17 records God's closing statement to Noah, identifying "this" — the rainbow described in the preceding verses — as the sign of the covenant established between God and all flesh on the earth. The verse restates the covenant formula using a perfect-tense verb to mark the establishment as a completed, ongoing fact.

Key words

• zot ("this", H2063) — demonstrative particle pointing back to the sign already described in context (the bow), functioning here as the subject identified with the covenant sign.
• 'ot ("sign of", H0226H) — feminine singular noun in construct state, linking directly to ha-berit, producing "sign of the covenant" rather than two separate nouns.
• ha-Berit ("the covenant", H1285) — feminine singular noun with definite article, marking a specific, previously mentioned covenant rather than a covenant in general.
• haqimoti ("I have established", H6965I) — hiphil (causative) perfect, 1st person singular; the causative stem indicates God as the active agent who "caused to stand" or established the covenant, and the perfect aspect presents this as a completed act with continuing effect.
• beini / bein ("between me" / "between", H0996G) — construct noun repeated with pronominal suffix and again before kol-basar, structurally framing the covenant as bilateral: "between me and between all flesh."

What the text says

The verse opens with the narrative formula va-yomer 'Elohim 'el-Noach ("and God said to Noah"), a standard wayyiqtol construction that advances the narrative sequence. The content of the speech begins with zot ("this"), a demonstrative that assumes the reader/hearer already knows what is being pointed to — the sign discussed in the surrounding verses. This demonstrative is placed in apposition to 'ot-ha-berit ("sign of the covenant"), a construct chain where 'ot ("sign") governs ha-berit ("the covenant"), tightly binding the two nouns into a single referential unit rather than presenting them as separate items.

The relative clause 'asher haqimoti ("which I have established") uses the hiphil perfect of the root qum ("to stand"), a causative form meaning "to cause to stand" or "to set up." The perfect aspect frames the establishment as a completed action whose result persists into the narrated present. The repeated construct noun bein...u-bein ("between...and between") creates a syntactically parallel structure naming the two parties of the covenant: beini ("between me," with 1st-person suffix) and bein kol-basar 'asher 'al-ha'aretz ("between all flesh that is on the earth"). This repetition of the preposition-construct is a Hebrew idiom for expressing a relationship between two parties, not requiring a single word for "between both."

Differences between versions

The LXX renders hēs diethemēn ("which I covenanted/established"), using the verb diatithēmi, corresponding to the Hebrew haqimoti ("I have established," from qum, "to stand"), a different verbal root than the Hebrew but conveying comparable covenant-making sense. The Vulgate's quod constitui ("which I have constituted") likewise parallels the causative sense of the Hebrew hiphil. The Hebrew phrase bein...u-bein ("between...and between") is rendered in the LXX as ana meson...kai ana meson ("in the middle of...and in the middle of"), preserving the double construction, while the Vulgate simplifies to a single inter ("between") governing both parties.