covenant

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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)
  • 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 .

Translation commentary on Wisdom 1:16

But ungodly men by their words and deeds summoned death: Compare verse 12a, where the rulers of the world are urged not to “invite death” by sinning. Here we are told that this is exactly what ungodly people do. By what they do and say, they call out to death and say, “Here I am!” Good News Translation abandons the figure and says that the ungodly “have brought death on themselves,” which is an idiomatic expression meaning “have caused their own deaths.” So another possible model is “The words and deeds of evil people have caused their own deaths [or, caused them to die].” The adversative But should be omitted since this verse begins a new section (see Good News Translation).

Ungodly is a word often used in the book, and with one exception (14.16), it is used with reference to people. It describes a person as having no concern for God and religion, and as used by a Jewish writer such as our author, it may describe a person who has no concern for the worship of the one true God, the God of Israel. The behavior of such people may be described as “wicked” or “evil,” but this is not the focus the author intends here. The emphasis is on the person’s attitude, not the person’s activity. “Godless” and “unreligious” are possibilities. Other ways of saying this are “people who do not honor [or, worship] God” and “people who do not obey God’s laws.”

The Revised Standard Version footnote at the end of the first line calls attention to the fact that the word death is not used in Greek. The Greek only has a pronoun, but that pronoun clearly refers back to “death” in verse 12. The noun should be used here for clarity.

Considering him a friend, they pined away: This means that they have a self-destructive desire for death, a “death wish.” To “pine away” is to waste away or wither away from grief or, here, from yearning. It is an overstatement, of course. Since a person is unlikely to pine away for a friend, Good News Translation renders “lover,” but this does not seem satisfactory. Perhaps a closer connection with the first line will be helpful: “By what they do and say, ungodly [or, evil] people call out to death as if they were greeting a friend they yearn to be with.”

And they made a covenant with him: A covenant is an agreement. Good News Translation has “They have gone into partnership with death.” Contemporary English Version is similar: “they are partners with death.” Translators might also render “They have come to terms with death.” Compare Isa 28.15.

Because they are fit to belong to his party: The word translated party means “possession,” and the line means that the ungodly belong to death—fittingly so. Just as in Deut 32.9 Israel is God’s possession, here the ungodly are death’s possession. Fit to belong to his party is a good translation, but New Jerusalem Bible “belong to him” is better still. Another possible model is “They belong to death, and deserve it.”

The phrase belong to his party, which appears here in the first verse of the section, will appear again in 2.24, closing the section. Translators will want to be aware of this, but they should not sacrifice clarity or faithfulness in the context in order to translate these two phrases the same way.

The verbs in this verse may be translated as past or present. Good News Translation mixes the two without any bad effect, but the Handbook suggests that the present tense be used.

Quoted with permission from Bullard, Roger A. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on The Wisdom of Solomon. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2004. For this and other handbooks for translators see here.