Revelation 10:1

The Angel with the Little Scroll

10:1 Then ¹  I saw another powerful angel descending from heaven, wrapped ²  in a cloud, with a rainbow above his head; his face was like the sun and his legs were like pillars of fire. ³ 

Genesis 9:13-16

9:13 I will place ⁴  my rainbow ⁵  in the clouds, and it will become ⁶  a guarantee of the covenant between me and the earth. 9:14 Whenever ⁷  I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, 9:15 then I will remember my covenant with you ⁸  and with all living creatures of all kinds. ⁹  Never again will the waters become a flood and destroy ¹⁰  all living things. ¹¹  9:16 When the rainbow is in the clouds, I will notice it and remember ¹²  the perpetual covenant between God and all living creatures of all kinds that are on the earth.”

Isaiah 54:9-10

54:9 “As far as I am concerned, this is like in Noah’s time, ¹³ 

when I vowed that the waters of Noah’s flood ¹⁴  would never again cover the earth.

In the same way I have vowed that I will not be angry at you or shout at you.

54:10 Even if the mountains are removed

and the hills displaced,

my devotion will not be removed from you,

nor will my covenant of friendship ¹⁵  be displaced,”

says the Lord, the one who has compassion on you.

Ezekiel 1:28

1:28 like the appearance of a rainbow in the clouds after the rain. ¹⁶  This was the appearance of the surrounding brilliant light; it looked like the glory of the Lord. When I saw ¹⁷  it, I threw myself face down, and I heard a voice speaking.

¹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the vision.

² tn Or “clothed.”

³ tn Or “like fiery pillars,” translating πυρός (puros) as an attributive genitive.

⁴ tn The translation assumes that the perfect verbal form is used rhetorically, emphasizing the certainty of the action. Other translation options include “I have placed” (present perfect; cf. NIV, NRSV) and “I place” (instantaneous perfect; cf. NEB).

⁵ sn The Hebrew word קֶשֶׁת (qeshet) normally refers to a warrior’s bow. Some understand this to mean that God the warrior hangs up his battle bow at the end of the flood, indicating he is now at peace with humankind, but others question the legitimacy of this proposal. See C. Westermann, Genesis, 1:473, and G. J. Wenham, Genesis (WBC), 1:196.

⁶ tn The perfect verbal form with vav (ו) consecutive here has the same aspectual function as the preceding perfect of certitude.

⁷ tn The temporal indicator (וְהָיָה, vÿhayah, conjunction + the perfect verb form), often translated “it will be,” anticipates a future development.

⁸ tn Heb “which [is] between me and between you.”

⁹ tn Heb “all flesh.”

¹⁰ tn Heb “to destroy.”

¹¹ tn Heb “all flesh.”

¹² tn The translation assumes that the infinitive לִזְכֹּר (lizkor, “to remember”) here expresses the result of seeing the rainbow. Another option is to understand it as indicating purpose, in which case it could be translated, “I will look at it so that I may remember.”

¹³ tc The Hebrew text reads literally, “For [or “indeed”] the waters of Noah [is] this to me.” כִּי־מֵי (ki-me, “for the waters of”) should be emended to כְּמֵי (kÿmey, “like the days of”), which is supported by the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a and all the ancient versions except LXX.

¹⁴ tn Heb “the waters of Noah” (so NAB, NIV, NRSV).

¹⁵ tn Heb “peace” (so many English versions); NLT “of blessing.”

¹⁶ sn Reference to the glowing substance and the brilliant light and storm phenomena in vv. 27-28a echoes in reverse order the occurrence of these phenomena in v. 4.

¹⁷ tn The vision closes with the repetition of the verb “I saw” from the beginning of the vision in 1:4.