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Hebrew

Covenant

בְּרִיתStrong’s H1285

berit (be-rit)

Appears in 264 verses of the Old Testament

In short

A covenant: a binding promise that joins two parties. God made covenants with Noah, Abraham, Israel and David, and promised a new covenant written on the heart (Jeremiah 31:31-33).

“But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.”
Jeremiah 31:33 KJV
Meaning
  1. Covenant, alliance, pledgebetween men · between God and man
  2. (phrases)covenant making · covenant keeping · covenant violation
How it's translated
  • covenant of 57
  • a covenant 55
  • the covenant 46
  • covenant my 42
  • covenant his 17
  • a covenant of 17
  • covenant your 11
  • covenant of my 6

Word-by-word English from the STEPBible tagged text.

Where it's used most
  • Deuteronomy 26
  • Genesis 24
  • Joshua 21
  • Psalms 21
  • Jeremiah 21
  • Ezekiel 16

27 books in all.

Related words
Explore in Scripture
All 264 verses, by book
Ezra 1
10:3
Nehemiah 4
1:59:89:3213:29
Proverbs 1
2:17
Amos 1
1:9
Obadiah 1
1:7
Zechariah 2
9:1111:10
Hebrew dictionary

בְּרִית berit · covenant

1) covenant, alliance, pledge 1a) between men 1a1) treaty, alliance, league (man to man) 1a2) constitution, ordinance (monarch to subjects) 1a3) agreement, pledge (man to man) 1a4) alliance (of friendship) 1a5) alliance (of marriage) 1b) between God and man 1b1) alliance (of friendship) 1b2) covenant (divine ordinance with signs or pledges) 2) (phrases) 2a) covenant making 2b) covenant keeping 2c) covenant violation

From STEPBible’s Hebrew lexicon (based on Brown-Driver-Briggs).

Webster's 1828 Dictionary

How the English word “covenant” was understood when the King James Version was still the common Bible of English readers.

COVENANT, noun

[L, to come; a coming together; a meeting or agreement of minds.]

  1. A mutual consent or agreement of two or more persons, to do or to forbear some act or thing; a contract; stipulation.
  2. A writing containing the terms of agreement or contract between parties; or the clause of agreement in a deed containing the covenant
  3. In theology, the covenant of works, is that implied in the commands, prohibitions, and promises of God; the promise of God to man, that mans perfect obedience should entitle him to happiness.
  4. In church affairs, a solemn agreement between the members of a church, that they will walk together according to the precepts of the gospel, in brotherly affection.
All definitions and other forms of “covenant”

    COVENANT, verb intransitive

    To enter into a formal agreement; to stipulate; to bind ones self by contract. A covenants with B to convey to him a certain estate. When the terms are expressed ti has for before the thing or price.

    1. “They covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver” Matthew 26:15

    COVENANT, verb transitive

    To grant or promise by covenant

      Noah Webster, An American Dictionary of the English Language (1828). Verse references are checked against the KJV. Read the full entry.

      Verses are from the King James Version. Word meanings come from the original Hebrew, not from any one translation.