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 9:18)

Following are a number of back-translations of Hebrews 9:18:

  • Uma: “Thus also the previous Promise that was delivered by the prophet Musa: There was something/someone that died to strengthen that Promise. What died was livestock that was slaughtered. Like this the story:” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “Therefore even (with) the first covenant given by God, there flowed blood first – that means a sacrifice – before that covenant was firm/confirmed.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And just like that also was the first way which God established, because it was necessary that there be blood as a sign that an animal had been killed and then that way would be carried out.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “Therefore even the first agreement-that-God -presented, it wouldn’t have gone-into-effect (lit. been-continued) if there had been no blood to indicate that someone/something had died.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “Well now just like that, when that first initiated-agreement was set up, it had no strength if there was no blood of animals which had been killed.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “It is like that for the old agreement which was before. When an animal died to make a sacrifice, then the law had power.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Hebrews 9:18

The writer now turns back from the illustration of a will to the main subject, which is the covenant. That is why is a possible translation of the Greek, but this verse does not in fact draw a logical conclusion from verses 11-17. The link between verses 16-17 and 18 is the play on different senses of the word for will or covenant. This play on words is made possible by the fact that blood or “death” was involved in both. Jerusalem Bible has “the earlier covenant needed something to be killed in order to take effect.” A comparison or analogy, not a proof, is involved. Therefore some more general translation, such as “So,” “In this way” (Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch and Traduction œcuménique de la Bible), “Hence” (Revised Standard Version, Moffatt, New American Bible), or “Thus,” may be more appropriate than That is why or “It was for this very reason” (Barclay).

The Greek word used for went into effect is not a legal term. It is most often used in the Bible in speaking of the dedication or inauguration of the Temple; in 10.20 it means “to open a path.” Here and in verse 19 the writer is concerned with the ceremonies which took place when the first covenant came into effect. The Greek is different for reasons of style, but the meaning is close to the term translated goes into effect in verse 17, with the added suggestion of a ceremony. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch has simply “So the first covenant became valid only through blood.”

The concept of went into effect or “was inaugurated” is sometimes expressed idiomatically; for example, “was cut,” “was made to stand,” “was tied,” or “bound the persons.”

As in verse 7, Good News Translation simplifies the double negative, meaning “not without blood,” into only with the use of blood, which is more usual in common language. With the use of blood may be expressed as “by means of blood” or “by means of death.”

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 .