God’s Covenant with Creation

²⁰ Then Noah built an ^(A)altar to the Lord, and took of ^(B)every clean animal and of every clean bird, and offered ^(C)burnt offerings on the altar. ²¹ And the Lord smelled ^(D)a soothing aroma. Then the Lord said in His heart, “I will never again ^(E)curse the ground for man’s sake, although the ^(F)imagination^[a] of man’s heart is evil from his youth; ^(G)nor will I again destroy every living thing as I have done.

⁸ Then God spoke to Noah and to his sons with him, saying: ⁹ “And as for Me, ^(A)behold, I establish ^(B)My covenant with you and with your ^[a]descendants after you, ^10 (C)and with every living creature that is with you: the birds, the cattle, and every beast of the earth with you, of all that go out of the ark, every beast of the earth. ¹¹ Thus ^(D)I establish My covenant with you: Never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood; never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.”

¹² And God said: ^(E)“This is the sign of the covenant which I make between Me and you, and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: ¹³ I set ^(F)My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be for the sign of the covenant between Me and the earth. ¹⁴ It shall be, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the rainbow shall be seen in the cloud; ¹⁵ and ^(G)I will remember My covenant which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. ¹⁶ The rainbow shall be in the cloud, and I will look on it to remember ^(H)the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” ¹⁷ And God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant which I have established between Me and all flesh that is on the earth.”