God's Covenant with Noah

12th-13th century
Mosaic
Cathedral of the Assumption, Monreale, Sicily

The inscription combines parts of Genesis 9:12 and 13: dixit dominus ad noe arcum meum ponam in nubibus et erit signum federis intra me et terram et non erunt ultra aque diluvii ad delendam universam carnem, "The Lord said to Noah, ‘I shall put my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth, and there will not be [another] flood to destroy all flesh.’"

The mosaic shows God in Heaven pointing out the rainbow to Noah. At one end of the rainbow is the flaming altar (Genesis 8:20) where Noah has placed a sacrificial lamb.

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View the cathedral's Noah cycle as a whole.
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Photographed at the cathedral by Richard Stracke, shared under Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.