6 Bible Verses about Contracts

Abraham took sheep and cattle and gave them to Abimelech, and the two of them made a covenant.

The field with its cave passed from the Hittites to Abraham as a burial place.

At an earlier period in Israel, a man removed his sandal and gave [it] to the other party in order to make any matter [legally] binding concerning the right of redemption or the exchange of property. This was [the method of] legally binding a transaction in Israel. So the redeemer removed his sandal and said to Boaz, "Buy back [the property] yourself."

Then Hiram sent [a reply] to Solomon, saying, "I have heard your message; I will do everything you want regarding the cedar and cypress timber. My servants will bring [the logs] down from Lebanon to the sea, and I will make them into rafts to go by sea to the place you indicate. I will break them apart there, and you can take them away. You then can meet my needs by providing my household with food." So Hiram provided Solomon with all the cedar and cypress timber he wanted, read more.
and Solomon provided Hiram with 100,000 bushels of wheat as food for his household and 110,000 gallons of beaten oil. Solomon did this for Hiram year after year.

Brothers, I’m using a human illustration. No one sets aside or makes additions to even a human covenant that has been ratified.

Brothers, I’m using a human illustration. No one sets aside or makes additions to even a human covenant that has been ratified.

"When you buy a Hebrew slave, he is to serve for six years; then in the seventh he is to leave as a free man without paying anything. If he arrives alone, he is to leave alone; if he arrives with a wife, his wife is to leave with him. If his master gives him a wife and she bears him sons or daughters, the wife and her children belong to her master, and the man must leave alone. read more.
"But if the slave declares: 'I love my master, my wife, and my children; I do not want to leave as a free man,' his master is to bring him to the judges and then bring him to the door or doorpost. His master must pierce his ear with an awl, and he will serve his master for life.

The Lord spoke to Moses: "When someone sins and offends the Lord by deceiving his neighbor in regard to a deposit, a security, or a robbery; or defrauds his neighbor;

once he has sinned and acknowledged [his] guilt-he must return what he stole or defrauded, or the deposit entrusted to him, or the lost item he found, or anything else about which he swore falsely. He must make full restitution for it and add a fifth of its value to it. He is to pay it to its owner on the day he acknowledges [his] guilt. Then he must bring his restitution offering to the Lord: an unblemished ram from the flock, according to your valuation, as a restitution offering to the priest. read more.
In this way the priest will make atonement on his behalf before the Lord, and he will be forgiven for anything he may have done to incur guilt."

When the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and Ai, they acted deceptively. They gathered provisions and took worn-out sacks on their donkeys and old wineskins, cracked and mended. [They wore] old, patched sandals on their feet and threadbare clothing on their bodies. Their entire provision of bread was dry and crumbly. read more.
They went to Joshua in the camp at Gilgal and said to him and the men of Israel, "We have come from a distant land. Please make a treaty with us." The men of Israel replied to the Hivites, "Perhaps you live among us. How can we make a treaty with you?" They said to Joshua, "We are your servants." Then Joshua asked them, "Who are you and where do you come from?" They replied to him, "Your servants have come from a far away land because of the reputation of the Lord your God. For we have heard of His fame, and all that He did in Egypt,

Abraham took sheep and cattle and gave them to Abimelech, and the two of them made a covenant.

The field with its cave passed from the Hittites to Abraham as a burial place.

At an earlier period in Israel, a man removed his sandal and gave [it] to the other party in order to make any matter [legally] binding concerning the right of redemption or the exchange of property. This was [the method of] legally binding a transaction in Israel. So the redeemer removed his sandal and said to Boaz, "Buy back [the property] yourself."

Then Hiram sent [a reply] to Solomon, saying, "I have heard your message; I will do everything you want regarding the cedar and cypress timber. My servants will bring [the logs] down from Lebanon to the sea, and I will make them into rafts to go by sea to the place you indicate. I will break them apart there, and you can take them away. You then can meet my needs by providing my household with food." So Hiram provided Solomon with all the cedar and cypress timber he wanted, read more.
and Solomon provided Hiram with 100,000 bushels of wheat as food for his household and 110,000 gallons of beaten oil. Solomon did this for Hiram year after year.

stay in this land as a foreigner, and I will be with you and bless you. For I will give all these lands to you and your offspring, and I will confirm the oath that I swore to your father Abraham.

They got up early in the morning and swore an oath to each other. Then Isaac sent them on their way, and they left him in peace.

So Joshua established peace with them and made a treaty to let them live, and the leaders of the community swore an oath to them.

This is how we will treat them: we will let them live, so that no wrath will fall on us because of the oath we swore to them.”

the covenant He made with Abraham,
swore to Isaac,

One without sense enters an agreement
and puts up security for his friend.

Don’t be one of those who enter agreements,
who put up security for loans.

My son, if you have put up security for your neighbor
or entered into an agreement with a stranger,

Be assured that the wicked
will not go unpunished,
but the offspring of the righteous will escape.

He despised the oath by breaking the covenant. He did all these things even though he gave his hand in pledge. He will not escape!”

But Abraham complained to Abimelech because of the water well that Abimelech's servants had seized. Abimelech replied, "I don't know who did this thing. You didn't report anything to me, so I hadn't heard about it until today." Then Abraham took sheep and cattle and gave them to Abimelech, and the two of them made a covenant. read more.
But Abraham had set apart seven ewe lambs from the flock. And Abimelech said to Abraham, "Why have you set apart these seven ewe lambs?" He replied, "You are to accept the seven ewe lambs from my hand so that this act will serve as my witness that I dug this well."

Then Jonathan removed the robe he was wearing and gave it to David, along with his military tunic, his sword, his bow, and his belt.

Abraham’s possession in the presence of all the Hittites who came to the gate of his city.

Boaz went to the gate [of the town] and sat down there. Soon, the family redeemer Boaz had spoken about came by. Boaz called him by name and said, "Come over here and sit down." So he went over and sat down. Then Boaz took 10 men of the city's elders and said, "Sit here." And they sat down.

Laban said to him, "Just because you're my relative, should you work for me for nothing? Tell me what your wages should be." Now Laban had two daughters: the older was named Leah, and the younger was named Rachel. Leah had delicate eyes, but Rachel was shapely and beautiful. read more.
Jacob loved Rachel, so he answered Laban, "I'll work for you seven years for your younger daughter Rachel." Laban replied, "Better that I give her to you than to some other man. Stay with me." So Jacob worked seven years for Rachel, and they seemed like only a few days to him because of his love for her.

Complete this week [of wedding celebration], and we will also give you this [younger] one in return for working yet another seven years for me." And Jacob did just that. He finished the week [of celebration], and Laban gave him his daughter Rachel as his wife. And Laban gave his slave Bilhah to his daughter Rachel as her slave. read more.
Jacob slept with Rachel also, and indeed, he loved Rachel more than Leah. And he worked for Laban another seven years.

But Laban said to him, "If I have found favor in your sight, [stay.] I have learned by divination that the Lord has blessed me because of you." Then Laban said, "Name your wages, and I will pay them." So Jacob said to him, "You know what I have done for you and your herds.

Laban asked, "What should I give you?" And Jacob said, "You don't need to give me anything. If you do this one thing for me, I will continue to shepherd and keep your flock. Let me go through all your sheep today and remove every sheep that is speckled or spotted, every dark-colored sheep among the lambs, and the spotted and speckled among the female goats. [Such] will be my wages. In the future when you come to check on my wages, my honesty will testify for me. [If I have] any female goats that are not speckled or spotted, or any lambs that are not black, they will be considered stolen." read more.
"Good," said Laban. "Let it be as you have said."

and that he has cheated me and changed my wages 10 times. But God has not let him harm me.

Jacob then took branches of fresh poplar, almond, and plane wood, and peeled [the bark], exposing white stripes on the branches. He set the peeled branches in the troughs in front of the sheep-in the water channels where the sheep came to drink. And the sheep bred when they came to drink. The flocks bred in front of the branches and bore streaked, speckled, and spotted young. read more.
Jacob separated the lambs and made the flocks face the streaked and the completely dark sheep in Laban's flocks. Then he set his own stock apart and didn't put them with Laban's sheep. Whenever the stronger of the flock were breeding, Jacob placed the branches in the troughs, in full view of the flocks, and they would breed in front of the branches. As for the weaklings of the flocks, he did not put out the branches. So it turned out that the weak sheep belonged to Laban and the stronger ones to Jacob. And the man became very rich. He had many flocks, male and female slaves, and camels and donkeys.

That evening, Laban took his daughter Leah and gave her to Jacob, and he slept with her. And Laban gave his slave Zilpah to his daughter Leah as her slave. When morning came, there was Leah! So he said to Laban, "What is this you have done to me? Wasn't it for Rachel that I worked for you? Why have you deceived me?" read more.
Laban answered, "It is not the custom in this place to give the younger [daughter in marriage] before the firstborn. Complete this week [of wedding celebration], and we will also give you this [younger] one in return for working yet another seven years for me."

The Philistines stopped up all the wells that his father’s slaves had dug in the days of his father Abraham, filling them with dirt.

Hiram king of Tyre having supplied him with cedar and cypress logs and gold for his every wish—King Solomon gave Hiram 20 towns in the land of Galilee.

My servants will bring [the logs] down from Lebanon to the sea, and I will make them into rafts to go by sea to the place you indicate. I will break them apart there, and you can take them away. You then can meet my needs by providing my household with food." So Hiram provided Solomon with all the cedar and cypress timber he wanted, and Solomon provided Hiram with 100,000 bushels of wheat as food for his household and 110,000 gallons of beaten oil. Solomon did this for Hiram year after year.

Brothers, I’m using a human illustration. No one sets aside or makes additions to even a human covenant that has been ratified.

But Abraham complained to Abimelech because of the water well that Abimelech's servants had seized. Abimelech replied, "I don't know who did this thing. You didn't report anything to me, so I hadn't heard about it until today." Then Abraham took sheep and cattle and gave them to Abimelech, and the two of them made a covenant. read more.
But Abraham had set apart seven ewe lambs from the flock. And Abimelech said to Abraham, "Why have you set apart these seven ewe lambs?" He replied, "You are to accept the seven ewe lambs from my hand so that this act will serve as my witness that I dug this well." Therefore that place was called Beer-sheba because it was there that the two of them swore an oath. After they had made a covenant at Beer-sheba, Abimelech and Phicol, the commander of his army, left and returned to the land of the Philistines.

Come now, let's make a covenant, you and I. Let it be a witness between the two of us." So Jacob picked out a stone and set it up as a marker. Then Jacob said to his relatives, "Gather stones." And they took stones and made a mound, then ate there by the mound. read more.
Laban named the mound Jegar-sahadutha, but Jacob named it Galeed. Then Laban said, "This mound is a witness between me and you today." Therefore the place was called Galeed, and [also] Mizpah, for he said, "May the Lord watch between you and me when we are out of each other's sight. If you mistreat my daughters or take other wives, though no one is with us, understand that God will be a witness between you and me." Laban also said to Jacob, "Look at this mound and the marker I have set up between you and me. This mound is a witness and the marker is a witness that I will not pass beyond this mound to you, and you will not pass beyond this mound and this marker to do me harm. The God of Abraham, and the gods of Nahor-the gods of their father-will judge between us." And Jacob swore by the Fear of his father Isaac. Then Jacob offered a sacrifice on the mountain and invited his relatives to eat a meal. So they ate a meal and spent the night on the mountain.

Then Laban said, "Name your wages, and I will pay them." So Jacob said to him, "You know what I have done for you and your herds. For you had very little before I came, but now your wealth has increased. The Lord has blessed you because of me. And now, when will I also do something for my own family?" read more.
Laban asked, "What should I give you?" And Jacob said, "You don't need to give me anything. If you do this one thing for me, I will continue to shepherd and keep your flock. Let me go through all your sheep today and remove every sheep that is speckled or spotted, every dark-colored sheep among the lambs, and the spotted and speckled among the female goats. [Such] will be my wages. In the future when you come to check on my wages, my honesty will testify for me. [If I have] any female goats that are not speckled or spotted, or any lambs that are not black, they will be considered stolen." "Good," said Laban. "Let it be as you have said."

He erased the certificate of debt, with its obligations, that was against us and opposed to us, and has taken it out of the way by nailing it to the cross.

The redeemer replied, "I can't redeem [it] myself, or I will ruin my [own] inheritance. Take my right of redemption, because I can't redeem it." At an earlier period in Israel, a man removed his sandal and gave [it] to the other party in order to make any matter [legally] binding concerning the right of redemption or the exchange of property. This was [the method of] legally binding a transaction in Israel. So the redeemer removed his sandal and said to Boaz, "Buy back [the property] yourself."

“I give to you and to your sons and daughters all the holy contributions that the Israelites present to the Lord as a permanent statute. It is a permanent covenant of salt before the Lord for you as well as your offspring.”

Then Moses went back to his father-in-law Jethro and said to him, “Please let me return to my relatives in Egypt and see if they are still living.”

Jethro said to Moses, “Go in peace.”