Covenants

Almost everything God does in scripture, He does by covenant. The Hebrew and Greek terms carry different weights — one a treaty between parties, the other closer to a will — and both are in play in what Christians call the New Testament.

22 min2 sections

Two words, two pictures

King James renders it “covenant; league”
Hebrew does not make a covenant; it cuts one — kārat bərît. Genesis 15 shows why: animals are divided and the parties pass between the pieces, an enacted oath meaning 'may this happen to me if I break it.' In that chapter only God passes through, which makes the Abrahamic covenant unilateral in its guarantee.
Full lexicon entry →
King James renders it “covenant; testament”
The Septuagint used diathēkē for bərît, and the word's ordinary Greek meaning is a will. Hebrews 9:16–17 plays on exactly this: a testament is of force only after the death of the testator. It is also why the two halves of the Bible are called Testaments in English.
Full lexicon entry →

A treaty is between equals or near-equals; a will is dictated by one party and received by another. Both pictures are true of God's covenants, and holding them together prevents two opposite errors — treating a covenant as a negotiation, or treating it as something requiring nothing.

The shape of a covenant

DiagramThe covenant path

Faith, repentance, baptism, the gift of the Holy Ghost, the temple, and enduring — with the gate marked, and the weekly loop back through the sacrament.

2 Nephi 31 · 3 Nephi 27:16–20

Element	Example: baptism (Mosiah 18:8–10)
Who initiates	God, always. Nobody in scripture proposes terms to Him.
What is promised	The Spirit poured out; redemption; a place among His people
What is required	Bear one another's burdens, mourn with those that mourn, stand as witnesses at all times
What the sign is	Immersion, performed by authority
How it is renewed	The sacrament, weekly

The major covenants

Genesis 9:8–17Noah — a covenant with all flesh, with a sign in the sky and no conditions attached.
Genesis 17:1–8; Abraham 2:9–11Abraham — land, seed, and blessing to all nations, with the priesthood named as the mechanism.
Exodus 19:5–6Sinai — 'a peculiar treasure… a kingdom of priests,' explicitly conditional: 'if ye will obey my voice.'
2 Samuel 7:12–16David — a throne established forever, which the messianic hope then hangs on.
Jeremiah 31:31–34The new covenant, written on hearts rather than on stone.
D&C 132:7The Restoration's statement of what makes any covenant last past death.

Principle

God initiates every covenant, states both the promises and the conditions, and binds Himself to the promises.

D&C 82:10 is the plainest version: 'I, the Lord, am bound when ye do what I say; but when ye do not what I say, ye have no promise.' The binding runs in both directions, which is what makes a covenant different from a command.

D&C 82:10 · Exodus 19:5–6 · Genesis 15:9–18

What this topic holds

01
Covenants are cut, not merely agreed — the imagery is of an oath enacted at cost.
Genesis 15:9–18 · Jeremiah 34:18–19
02
A covenant binds God to His promises as it binds the person to the conditions.
D&C 82:10 · D&C 130:20–21

Check your reading

3 questions

01What does Hebrew say instead of 'make a covenant'?
02Why are the two halves of the Bible called Testaments?
03What does D&C 82:10 say?

Where to go next

Patterns

Chains

Lessons

Topics

Sources

Bible Dictionary, "Covenant"
Genesis 15, 17; Exodus 19; Jeremiah 31; D&C 82, 132 — The primary texts.