covenant

Click here to view graphically

The Hebrew, Greek, Ge’ez, 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)
  • Cherokee: “that which is told” (source: Bender / Belt 2025, p. 16)
  • 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 (Ezekiel 16:61)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Ezekiel 16:61:

  • Kupsabiny: “That is when you shall remember what you did and be ashamed at that time when you are returned to your big and small sister. I will make them become like your daughters even though I did not make the covenant to be like that.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “Then you will-remember how you acted before and you will-be-ashamed, especially if I make your sister, Samaria and Sodom, as your children, even-though they were not part of my covenant with you.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “Then you will think about what you have done, and you will be ashamed about those things when you welcome the people of Sodom and Samaria, cities which are like older and younger sisters to you people of Jerusalem. I will put them under your control by causing them to become like your daughters, but they will not have the same agreement that I will make with you.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

1st person pronoun referring to God (Japanese)

Click or tap here to see the rest of this insight.

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 choice of a first person singular and plural pronoun (“I” and “we” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. The most commonly used watashi/watakushi (私) is typically used when the speaker is humble and asking for help. In these verses, where God / Jesus is referring to himself, watashi is also used but instead of the kanji writing system (私) the syllabary hiragana (わたし) is used to distinguish God from others.

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

See also pronoun for “God”.

Translation commentary on Ezekiel 16:61

Then you will remember your ways, and be ashamed: The beginning of this verse provides a nice contrasting balance to the way God will remember the covenant at the beginning of the previous verse. The conjunction Then may be rendered “After that” or “Because of that” to reflect this contrast. You will remember your ways, and be ashamed means the people of Jerusalem will recall their wicked life, and they will be ashamed at the wicked things they have done. Your ways refers to their wicked lifestyle.

When I take your sisters, both your elder and your younger, and give them to you as daughters: Jerusalem’s shame will be all the greater when God takes her sisters (Samaria and Sodom) and gives them to her as daughters. The idea of sisters becoming daughters is metaphorical and has two meanings. First, its meaning depends on the proverbial statement in verse 44, showing that, if Jerusalem is the mother of those two wicked cities, Jerusalem herself was very wicked also. Second, it has a political meaning: the areas of Samaria and Sodom will become subject to Jerusalem. For elder and younger sisters, see verse 46. As there, these adjectives are better rendered “bigger” and “smaller.” Some translations omit these adjectives and just refer to “your sisters” (so Contemporary English Version, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch). This is acceptable here because the sisters have already been described in verse 46. Good News Translation renders and give them to you as daughters as “I will let them be like daughters to you,” which some languages may find helpful. For daughters see verse 46.

But not on account of the covenant with you means God will give Jerusalem power over those two cities despite the fact that the people of Jerusalem had broken their covenant with him. Normally such political power and success was seen as a reward for faithfulness to God, but not in this case. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch provides a good model for this clause, saying “That is more than I promised you when I made the agreement with you.” Contemporary English Version says “even though this was not part of our agreement.”

There is a slight textual problem in this verse. Instead of when I take (so also New Revised Standard Version, Jerusalem Bible, New American Bible), the Hebrew text has “when you receive,” which most translations follow (so Good News Translation, New International Version, New Century Version, King James Version, New American Standard Bible, Revised English Bible, New Jerusalem Bible, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, Moffatt). Hebrew Old Testament Text Project recommends following the Hebrew text here. Changing it is unnecessary.

A model for this verse is:

• Because of that you will recall what you have done, and you will feel ashamed when you get back your sisters. I will let them be like daughters to you, even though this was not part of my agreement with you.

Quoted with permission from Gross, Carl & Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on Ezekiel. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2016. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .