Genesis 9:11

An agreement is different from a promise. God made promises to people and he also made agreements with people. He made this firm agreement with Noah. And later he made a firm agreement with Abraham. (See Genesis 15:18.)

When two people agree with each other, there is an agreement. Both people must agree. But God is the God who can do anything. He can do what he wants to do. And he can do it when people do not agree. But he chose to meet Noah as one person meets another person. As two people may make an agreement, so God and Noah made an agreement.

God often meets us as one person meets another person. Abraham was called ‘God’s friend’. (See James 2:23.) God used to speak to Moses as a man speaks to his friend. (See Exodus 33:11.) And Jesus said, ‘Whoever obeys God is my brother or my sister or my mother.’ (See Matthew 12:50.) We must obey God. But God meets us as if we were his friends or his relatives.

v12 And God said, ‘This is the sign of the firm agreement that I have made between me and you. I have also made it between me and every animal that is with you. This firm agreement will last for all ages. v13 I put my rainbow in the cloud. It shall be a sign of the firm agreement that is between me and the earth. v14 When I bring clouds over the earth, the rainbow will appear in the clouds. v15 Then I will remember my firm agreement, which is between me and you and every animal of all kinds. The water will never in the future become a flood so as to kill all animals. v16 When the rainbow is in the clouds, I will look at it. And I will remember the firm agreement that will last for all ages. That is the firm agreement that is between me and all living animals of all kinds.’

v17 God said to Noah, ‘This is the sign of the firm agreement that I have made. It is a firm agreement between me and all living animals that are on the earth.’