What are the different
COVENANTS in the Bible?

Q. What are the different covenants in the Bible?

A. There are many covenants in the Bible between men and between nations that are not listed here. There are also covenants that the Bible does not designate as "covenants" in the scripture where the agreement is reached, i.e., God's covenant with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden concerning what fruit they could eat and what fruit they could not eat. It is referred to as a covenant elsewhere (Hosea 6:7). Marriage is a covenant. A covenant is an "agreement between two parties containing their promises each to the other" according to Webster's Dictionary.

Covenants in the Bible

1. God's covenant with Noah to save him and his family (Genesis 6:18)

2. God's covenant with Noah and his descendants to never again destroy the world by flood. (Genesis 9:9-17)

3. God's covenant with Abram to give him and his descendants the land we call Israel today and to destroy the inhabitants of that land because of their great sins. (Genesis 15:18-21)

4. God's follow-up covenant with Abram, changing his name to Abraham, and designating him the father of many nations and millions of descendants, and adding the covenant of circumcision, and promising him Isaac as a son and the inheritor of the covenant (Genesis chapter 17). God made His covenant with Abraham unconditional. (Genesis 22:12-18)

5. Laban's covenant with Jacob (Isaac's son and Abraham's grandson) concerning Laban's daughters (Jacob's wives).

6. God's conditional covenant with the children of Israel, requiring their keeping God's law and circumcision, in return for physical blessings. (Exodus 19 - 24). Further terms (conditions) of this covenant were expounded later. (Leviticus chapters 25 - 27; Deuteronomy chapters 29 - 31)

7. God's covenant with the children of Israel concerning the Sabbath. (Exodus 31:14-18)

8. God's covenant concerning the Ten Commandments and Holy Days designated by God. (Exodus 34:10 - 35)

9. God's covenant concerning the bread in the Tabernacle, and later the Temple, to be eaten only by the priests, descendants of Aaron. (Leviticus 24:8,9)

10. God promised a new covenant. (Jeremiah 31:31-34)

11. God spoke of His unconditional covenant with King David of Israel and of His continuing, unconditional covenant with Jacob's descendants. (Jeremiah 33:19-36)

12. God spoke of "divorcing" Israel and Judah, thus ending the earlier covenant, and of establishing a new covenant with them. (Ezekiel 16:59-63)

13. The most important covenant - the new covenant - established by Jesus upon His death. (Matthew 26:28; Mark 14:24; Luke 22:20; 2 Corinthians 3:6; Hebrews chapters 7 - 10). Paul described the only new ritual of the new covenant. (1 Corinthians 11:23-30)

I have attempted to give you some scriptural references to the more important covenants of the Bible. There are many other scriptural references to these covenants and the Bible is usually divided into two sections, the "Old Testament" and the "New Testament".

The word "testament" is interchangeable with "covenant". The King James Version sometimes translates the Greek word diatheke as "testament" and sometimes as "covenant". Many other translations use "covenant" exclusively. We could just as easily refer to the two common divisions of scripture as the "Old Covenant" (since it contains descriptions, prophecies and books of wisdom from people living under that "Old Covenant") and the "New Covenant" (containing the story of Jesus and people who lived during the transition from old to new covenants.