covenant

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The Hebrew, Greek, and Latin that are translated as “covenant” in English are translated in a variety of ways. Here are some (back-) translations:

  • Mossi: “helping promise”
  • Vai: “a thing-time-bind” (i.e. “an arrangement agreed upon for a period of time”)
  • Loma (Liberia): “agreement”
  • Northwestern Dinka: “agreement which is tied up” (i.e. “secure and binding”)
  • Chol: “a word which is left”
  • Huastec: “a broken-off word” (“based on the concept of ‘breaking off a word’ and leaving it with the person with whom an agreement has been reached”)
  • Tetelcingo Nahuatl: “a death command” (i.e. “a special term for testament”)
  • Piro: “a promised word”
  • Eastern Krahn: “a word between”
  • Yaka: “promise that brings together” (source for this and all above: Bratcher / Nida)
  • Nabak: alakŋaŋ or “tying the knot” (source: Fabian 2013, p. 156)
  • Kâte: ʒâʒâfic or “tie together” (source: Renck 1990, p. 108)
  • Nyamwezi: ilagano: “agreement, contract, covenant, promise” (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
  • Bariai: “true talk” (source: Bariai Back Translation)
  • Q’anjob’al: “put mouths equal” (representing agreement) (source: Newberry and Kittie Cox in The Bible Translator 1950, p. 91ff. )
  • Manikion, Indonesian: “God’s promise” (source: Daud Soesilo)
  • Natügu: nzesz’tikr drtwr: “oneness of mind” (source: Brenda Boerger in Beerle-Moor / Voinov, p. 164)
  • Tagalog: tipan: mutual promising on the part of two persons agreeing to do something (also has a romantic touch and denotes something secretive) (source: G. Henry Waterman in The Bible Translator 1960, p. 24ff. )
  • Tagbanwa: “initiated-agreement” (source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Guhu-Samane: “The concept [in Mark 14:24 and Matthew 16:28] is not easy, but the ritual freeing of a fruit and nut preserve does afford some reference. Thus, ‘As they were drinking he said to them, ‘On behalf of many this poro provision [poro is the traditional religion] of my blood is released.’ (…) God is here seen as the great benefactor and man the grateful recipient.” (Source: Ernest Richert in The Bible Translator, 1965, p. 81ff. )
  • Chichewa: pangano. This word can also be translated as a contract, agreement, or a treaty between two parties. In Chewa culture, two people or groups enter into an agreement to help each other in times of need. When entering into an agreement, parties look at the mutual benefits which will be gained. The agreement terms are mostly kept as a secret between the parties and the witnesses involved. (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)
Law (2013, p. 95) writes about how the Ancient Greek Septuagint‘s translation of the Hebrew berith was used by the New Testament writers as a bridge between the Old and New Testaments (click or tap here to read more):

“Right from the start we witness the influence of the Septuagint on the earliest expressions of the Christian faith. In the New Testament, Jesus speaks of his blood being a kaine diatheke, a ‘new covenant.’ The covenant is elucidated in Hebrews 8:8-12 and other texts, but it was preserved in the words of Jesus with this language in Luke 22:20 when at the Last Supper Jesus said, ‘This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood. Jesus’s blood was to provide the grounds for the ‘new covenant,’ in contrast to the old one his disciples knew from the Jewish scriptures (e.g., Jeremiah 31:31-34). Thus, the earliest Christians accepted the Jewish Scriptures as prophecies about Jesus and in time began to call the collection the ‘Old Testament’ and the writings about Jesus and early Christianity the ‘New Testament,’ since ‘testament’ was another word for ‘covenant.’ The covenant promises of God (berith in Hebrew) were translated in the Septuagint with the word diatheke. In classical Greek diatheke had meant ‘last will, testament,’ but in the Septuagint it is the chosen equivalent for God’s covenant with his people. The author of Hebrews plays on the double meaning, and when Luke records Jesus’ announcement at the Last Supper that his blood was instituting a ‘new covenant,’ or a ‘new testament,’ he is using the language in an explicit contrast with the old covenant, found in the Jewish scriptures. Soon, the writings that would eventually be chosen to make up the texts about the life and teachings of Jesus and the earliest expression of the Christian faith would be called the New Testament. This very distinction between the Old and New Testaments is based on the Septuagint’s language.”

See also establish (covenant) and covenant (book).

Learn more on Bible Odyssey: Covenant in the Hebrew Bible .

complete verse (Hebrews 8:13)

Following are a number of back-translations of Hebrews 8:13:

  • Uma: “So, relatives, in these Words of the Lord earlier, God spoke of a new Promise, and with those words of his he said that the previous Promise must be replaced because it was old. So, that old Promise is no longer used, it is certainly discarded and replaced with a new one.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “Because God speaks about a new covenant, that means that the first covenant is already old. So-then, even whatever if it is old it has no future anymore/is useless.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And since God said that there is now a new way, we (incl.) understand that that old way no longer has any value. And if there is anything that’s old, it’s no longer used; it is thrown away because it is replaced by something new.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “On account of God’s saying this that there is a new agreement, he made-known that the first-one was already old. And we know even anything whose usefulness has ceased-to-exist because it is already old, it won’t be long and it will cease-to-exist.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “Well, since God has now set up this new initiated-agreement, does it not mean that he is now regarding that first initiated-agreement as not having any more usefulness? Well isn’t it so that whatever thing has no more usefulness because it’s getting old now, before long it will be removed now? 8:5 Exodus 25:40. 8:8 After the king Solomon died the Israelita were divided, for they fought/quarrelled. Juda is what they named one division/part, they being the descendants of those two children of Jacob who were Juda and Benjamin. Those descendants of those other ten children of Jacob they named Israel (1 Kings 12:1 24). Therefore, this here in chapter 8:8 says that, because of this new initiated-agreement of God with them, it’s now possible for them all to be reconciled to him. 8:8-12 Jeremiah 31:31-34.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “And now, God says that there is a new agreement. Concerning the old agreement which was before, it is apparent that it has passed away since there is a new one now. This old agreement has come to an end.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

Honorary "are" construct denoting God (“do/reckon”)

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Like a number of other East Asian languages, Japanese uses a complex system of honorifics, i.e. a system where a number of different levels of politeness are expressed in language via words, word forms or grammatical constructs. These can range from addressing someone or referring to someone with contempt (very informal) to expressing the highest level of reference (as used in addressing or referring to God) or any number of levels in-between.

One way Japanese shows different degree of politeness is through the usage of an honorific construction where the morpheme are (され) is affixed on the verb as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. This is particularly done with verbs that have God as the agent to show a deep sense of reverence. Here, s-are-ru (される) or “do/reckon” is used.

(Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

Translation commentary on Hebrews 8:13

The writer emphasizes once again that the new covenant is not merely better than the old but takes the place of the old. See the introduction to chapter 7. The meaning is not simply that talk of a “new” covenant makes the earlier covenant “old” by comparison, but that God himself, By speaking of a new covenant, has declared and therefore made the first one old. The tense of the Greek verb refers to a past event whose effect continues into the present.

The expression of means by a phrase such as By speaking of a new covenant may be difficult to render adequately in some languages. Sometimes such a phrase may be combined with what follows by the addition of an expression such as “in this way” or “thus”; for example, “God spoke about a new covenant and in this way he made the first one old” or “… thus he caused the first one to become old.”

Some languages have different words for “old,” one for referring to old people and another for referring to old cloth or similar objects. This latter meaning is more suited to this context.

Worn out means essentially the same as old; New English Bible has “old and ageing.” Both expressions may, if necessary, be translated by a single word.

The verb for disappear is sometimes used of laws which are abolished or which fall into disuse. The phrase will soon disappear may be expressed as “will soon no longer exist” or “in a short time will not exist.”

Quoted with permission from Ellingworth, Paul and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on The Letter of the Hebrews. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1983. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .