Genesis 15:18ESV
On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, 'To your offspring I give this land.'
Berith with Abraham. The cutting ceremony in this chapter is the visible enactment of the word.
Hebrew word · FaithLabz word study
בְרִית
berith
covenant, agreement
Often translated: covenantagreementbinding promisetreaty
What berith means
Berith is the Hebrew word for covenant. It is one of the most important theological words in the Old Testament, and the structure of the entire Bible is built on it. A berith was not a soft promise. It was a binding agreement between two parties, often ratified by the cutting of an animal in two, with the parties walking between the pieces. The Hebrew phrase for 'to make a covenant' is literally karat berith, to cut a covenant. The blood was the seal. The breaking of the covenant carried the implicit threat: may what happened to this animal happen to me if I break my word. God made berith with Noah, with Abraham, with Moses, with David. Each one expanded the previous one. Each one carried promises and obligations. Each one was sealed by blood. The whole structure climaxes at the Last Supper, where Jesus says 'this is my blood of the covenant.' The Greek there is diatheke, but he is invoking the Hebrew berith. He is the cut animal. He is the seal of the new covenant. The blood that ratifies the everlasting promise is his own.
Why this word matters
Most of us treat promises as words. Berith refuses that. A biblical covenant was sealed in blood, ratified by a death, and binding to the point of life-or-death seriousness. I spent years treating God's promises to me as polite assurances. Berith said no. Every promise of God in scripture is a cut-covenant promise. There is blood under it. He is bound to his word the way Abraham's animals were bound to the altar. And the new covenant under which I now live was cut by Jesus himself. He is the seal. He is the blood. He is the guarantee. That changes the weight of every promise. I am not standing on a hope. I am standing on a covenant.
Etymology
Berith (בְּרִית) is of uncertain etymology. Possible roots include barah (to eat, suggesting the covenant meal) or a related verb meaning to bind or to cut. The verb karat (to cut) is so consistently paired with berith that 'cut a covenant' became the standard Hebrew idiom. Greek diatheke is the Septuagint's translation. New Testament writers retain diatheke when speaking of both the old and the new covenant.
Key Verses
Where berith appears in Scripture, and why each verse showcases it.
Exodus 24:8ESV
And Moses took the blood and threw it on the people and said, 'Behold the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you.'
Berith of Sinai, sealed in blood thrown on the people. The pattern Jesus will fulfill.
Jeremiah 31:31ESV
Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel.
Berith chadashah: the new covenant promise that Jesus invokes at the Last Supper.
Luke 22:20ESV
This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.
The new berith. Jesus identifies his own blood as the seal of the everlasting covenant.
Related Words
Words in the same semantic family.
1 Teaching on berith
Every video where Adam teaches on this word, in publication order.
Featured In
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