Words · Hebrew Words · Lesson 3, word 5 of 5
בְּרִיתberit
A covenant: a pledged, binding relationship.
Why this word is here. The Bible's backbone word, Noah, Abraham, Sinai, David, and the promised new covenant; 'testament' in our Bible titles translates it.
What it means
The lexicon range: covenant, alliance, pledge. Between people: treaties, leagues, constitutions, agreements, alliances of friendship and of marriage. Between God and humanity: a divine ordinance with signs or pledges. The phrases matter: covenants are made ('cut', in Hebrew idiom), kept, and violated.
A berit is more than a contract and less cold than one: it binds parties in loyalty, with promises, signs (rainbow, circumcision, Sabbath, bread and cup) and obligations, and God is usually the one who initiates and guarantees it.
Where you meet it
I have set My rainbow in the clouds, and it will be a sign of the covenant between Me and the earth.
Genesis 9:13 (BSB)
'I have set My rainbow in the clouds, and it will be a sign of the covenant (berit) between Me and the earth.' The first berit in the Bible is with every living creature.
On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your descendants I have given this land—from the river of Egypt to the great River Euphrates—”
Genesis 15:18 (BSB)
'On that day the LORD made a covenant (berit) with Abram.' God alone passes between the divided animals, pledging himself.
Now if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, you will be My treasured possession out of all the nations—for the whole earth is Mine.
Exodus 19:5 (BSB)
At Sinai: 'If you will obey My voice and keep My covenant (berit)...' The relationship given at the exodus is now ordered by covenant terms.
Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.
Jeremiah 31:31 (BSB)
Anchor verse 'Behold, the days are coming... when I will make a new covenant (berit).' The promise Jesus takes up at the Last Supper.
Why it matters
Berit is the Bible's architecture. Without it, the exodus is an escape, Sinai is a law code, and the Last Supper's 'new covenant in My blood' hangs in the air. With it, the whole story is one pledged relationship, broken by people and kept by God, until he renews it from the inside (Jeremiah 31:33, writing his torah on hearts).
Watch out
Two over-claims to avoid. 'A covenant is just a contract' shrinks a pledged, familial bond into commerce; contracts exchange goods, covenants bind persons. And 'covenants in the Bible are always unconditional' will not survive Exodus 19:5's 'if you will obey'. The honest picture keeps both strands: God's covenants carry his promise and his people's obligation, in proportions each text states for itself.
In this lesson
- yada (יָדַע): To know by experience, recognise and acknowledge.
- tsedeq / tsedaqah (צֶדֶק): Rightness and righteousness, in court, kingdom and character.
- mishpat (מִשְׁפָּט): Judgment and justice: deciding rightly and setting right.
- qadosh (קָדוֹשׁ): Holy: set apart as belonging to God.
Sources
- Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew Lexicon (BDB, 1906)
- Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible / STEP Hebrew data
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