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 .

complete verse (Zechariah 9:11)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Zechariah 9:11:

  • Kupsabiny: “God is saying,
    ‘I made a covenant with you
    which was written in blood.
    So, I shall save your people on account of my covenant.
    I will free (them) to come out from those countries that they were taken to.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “I will release your prisoners from the waterless pit
    because of the blood covenant I have made with you.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “The LORD again said, ‘As for you Israelinhon, I will-set-free those who were-captured among you. They are just-like the people who were-thrown into a well that has-no water. I will-free them because of my covenant to you (plur.) that was-sealed/(-made stronger) with blood.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)

1st person pronoun referring to God (Japanese)

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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 Zechariah 9:11

If translators wish to include another section heading, it should not be here but rather before verse 12, as indicated in the comments at the beginning of this section. See also the comment at verse 12. If verses 9-11 are treated as a unit, as the Handbook recommends, then the introductory formula “The LORD says” (Good News Translation) will not be placed here, but at the beginning of verse 12.

As for you also: You here is feminine singular and refers back to Zion in verse 9. The fact that the same figure is addressed here as in verses 9-10 with no marker of a new discourse unit is the reason for linking this verse more closely with verses 9 and 10 than many versions do. The pronoun you is highlighted by an emphatic particle in Hebrew.

Because of the blood of my covenant with you: The Hebrew actually has only “by the blood of your covenant,” but there is general agreement that this is an elliptical expression meaning either “… the blood of your covenant with me” (New American Bible; similarly Revised English Bible) or “… the blood of my covenant with you” (Revised Standard Version/New Revised Standard Version, New International Version; similarly Good News Translation, New Living Translation). There is no significant difference in meaning between them. There is however uncertainty about what covenant is referred to. Some scholars (such as Mitchell) think of the covenant with Abraham described in Gen 15. Others (such as Jerusalem Bible and New Jerusalem Bible in their footnotes) think the blood refers to the daily offerings in the Temple. The majority consider the reference is to the Sinai covenant, and point out that the expression “blood of the covenant” occurs at Exo 24.8. This last view seems the most probable, though if translators wish to identify any particular covenant, they should do so only in a footnote as Contemporary English Version does, and not in the text. The relationship between the blood (of the sacrificial animal killed in the covenant ceremony) and the covenant may need to be stated clearly. Good News Translation does this well by saying, “my covenant with you that was sealed by the blood of sacrifices.” Contemporary English Version is also good with “When I made a sacred agreement with you, my people, we sealed it with blood.” To “seal” a covenant means to perform some symbolic action to guarantee that the parties involved will do what they promise. Covenant means generally a contract, agreement, pact, or treaty. In the context of the relationship between God and Israel, God is the one who drew up the covenant and offered it to his people, and the focus is on his promise. An alternative translation model for the first line is as follows:

• When I made an agreement [or, contract] with you, my people, we sealed [or, guaranteed] the agreement with the blood of the animals that you sacrificed.

I will set your captives free: The speaker is still the LORD and he is still addressing Zion. The identity of your captives is generally understood to be Jews who had not yet returned to the Promised Land but were still living in exile. It is not clear why Revised Standard Version translates the Hebrew verb as a future tense. It is in fact a perfect and should be translated as a past tense here, as in King James Version and Revised Version. The fact that the LORD has created the opportunity for the exiles to return home is the basis for the command to them to do so in the following verse.

From the waterless pit: In some versions the Hebrew phrase rendered waterless in Revised Standard Version is omitted (New American Bible, New English Bible). However, there is no manuscript support for this either in Hebrew or in the ancient translations, and the words should be included. A pit or dry well was sometimes used as a place to keep a prisoner, such as Joseph (Gen 37.24) or Jeremiah (Jer 38.6). Here the waterless pit is used as a symbol for the exile of the Jews from the Promised Land, and some translators may decide to make this clear. Good News Translation does this with “the waterless pit of exile,” but in some languages it may be necessary to use a fuller expression like “from their prison, the exile, which was like a waterless pit” (so Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente). “Exile” means “being taken to live in foreign countries,” so translators may express this last line as “I have freed your people who are captives from their prison in foreign countries—a prison that is like a waterless pit.”

Quoted with permission from Clark, David J. & Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Zechariah. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2002. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .