Thematic Bible: The Covenant


Thematic Bible




And he said to him, I am the Lord, who took you from Ur of the Chaldees, to give you this land for your heritage. And he said, O Lord God, how may I be certain that it will be mine? And he said, Take a young cow of three years old, and a she-goat of three years old, and a sheep of three years old, and a dove and a young pigeon. read more.
All these he took, cutting them in two and putting one half opposite the other, but not cutting the birds in two. And evil birds came down on the bodies, but Abram sent them away. Now when the sun was going down, a deep sleep came on Abram, and a dark cloud of fear. And he said to Abram, Truly, your seed will be living in a land which is not theirs, as servants to a people who will be cruel to them for four hundred years; But I will be the judge of that nation whose servants they are, and they will come out from among them with great wealth. As for you, you will go to your fathers in peace; at the end of a long life you will be put in your last resting-place. And in the fourth generation they will come back here; for at present the sin of the Amorite is not full. Then when the sun went down and it was dark, he saw a smoking fire and a flaming light which went between the parts of the bodies. In that day the Lord made an agreement with Abram, and said, To your seed have I given this land from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates:

And I will make an agreement between you and me, and your offspring will be greatly increased. And Abram went down on his face on the earth, and the Lord God went on talking with him, and said, As for me, my agreement is made with you, and you will be the father of nations without end. read more.
No longer will your name be Abram, but Abraham, for I have made you the father of a number of nations. I will make you very fertile, so that nations will come from you and kings will be your offspring. And I will make between me and you and your seed after you through all generations, an eternal agreement to be a God to you and to your seed after you. And to you and to your seed after you, I will give the land in which you are living, all the land of Canaan for an eternal heritage; and I will be their God. And God said to Abraham, On your side, you are to keep the agreement, you and your seed after you through all generations. And this is the agreement which you are to keep with me, you and your seed after you: every male among you is to undergo circumcision. In the flesh of your private parts you are to undergo it, as a mark of the agreement between me and you. Every male among you, from one generation to another, is to undergo circumcision when he is eight days old, with every servant whose birth takes place in your house, or for whom you gave money to someone of another country, and not of your seed. He who comes to birth in your house and he who is made yours for a price, all are to undergo circumcision; so that my agreement may be marked in your flesh, an agreement for all time. And any male who does not undergo circumcision will be cut off from his people: my agreement has been broken by him.

To do acts of mercy to our fathers and to keep in mind his holy word, The oath which he made to Abraham, our father, That we, being made free from the fear of those who are against us, might give him worship, read more.
In righteousness and holy living before him all our days.

Now to Abraham were the undertakings given, and to his seed. He says not, And to seeds, as of a great number; but as of one, he says, And to your seed, which is Christ.


Give ear, and come to me, take note with care, so that your souls may have life: and I will make an eternal agreement with you, even the certain mercies of David.


For I, the Lord, take pleasure in upright judging; I will not put up with the violent taking away of right; and I will certainly give them their reward, and I will make an eternal agreement with them.

He has sent salvation to his people; he has given his word for ever: holy is his name and greatly to be feared.

But still I will keep in mind the agreement made with you in the days when you were young, and I will make with you an eternal agreement. Then at the memory of your ways you will be overcome with shame, when I take your sisters, the older and the younger, and give them to you for daughters, but not by your agreement. And I will make my agreement with you; and you will be certain that I am the Lord: read more.
So that, at the memory of these things, you may be at a loss, never opening your mouth because of your shame; when you have my forgiveness for all you have done, says the Lord.


When he says, A new agreement, he has made the first agreement old. But anything which is getting old and past use will not be seen much longer.

And this is my agreement with them, when I will take away their sins.

See, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new agreement with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah: Not like the agreement which I made with their fathers, on the day when I took them by the hand to be their guide out of the land of Egypt; which agreement was broken by them, and I gave them up, says the Lord. But this is the agreement which I will make with the people of Israel after those days, says the Lord; I will put my law in their inner parts, writing it in their hearts; and I will be their God, and they will be my people.

For, protesting against them, he says, See, the days are coming when I will make a new agreement with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah; Not like the agreement which I made with their fathers when I took them by the hand, to be their guide out of the land of Egypt; for they did not keep the agreement with me, and I gave them up, says the Lord. For this is the agreement which I will make with the people of Israel after those days: I will put my laws into their minds, writing them in their hearts: and I will be their God, and they will be my people:


And as for me, this is my agreement with them, says the Lord: my spirit which is on you, and my words which I have put in your mouth, will not go away from your mouth, or from the mouth of your seed, or from the mouth of your seed's seed, says the Lord, from now and for ever.

For the mountains may be taken away, and the hills be moved out of their places, but my love will not be taken from you, or my agreement of peace broken, says the Lord, who has had mercy on you.


Now this I say: The law, which came four hundred and thirty years after, does not put an end to the agreement made before by God, so as to make the undertaking without effect.


And I made prayer to the Lord my God, putting our sins before him, and said, O Lord, the great God, greatly to be feared. keeping your agreement and mercy with those who have love for you and do your orders;

Said, O Lord, the God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven or on the earth; keeping faith and mercy unchanging for your servants, while they go in your ways with all their hearts.

And said, O Lord, the God of heaven, the great God, greatly to be feared, keeping faith and mercy with those who have love for him and are true to his laws:



For this is the agreement which I will make with the people of Israel after those days: I will put my laws into their minds, writing them in their hearts: and I will be their God, and they will be my people:


His seed will keep their place for ever; his kingdom will be eternal, like the heavens. If his children give up my law, and are not ruled by my decisions; If my rules are broken, and my orders are not kept; read more.
Then I will send punishment on them for their sin; my rod will be the reward of their evil-doing. But I will not take away my mercy from him, and will not be false to my faith. I will be true to my agreement; the things which have gone out of my lips will not be changed. I have made an oath once by my holy name, that I will not be false to David. His seed will not come to an end for ever; the seat of his kingdom will be like the sun before me. It will be fixed for ever like the moon; and the witness in heaven is true. (Selah.)



But now his position as priest is higher. because through him God has made a better agreement with man, based on the giving of better things.

And for this cause it is through him that a new agreement has come into being, so that after the errors under the first agreement had been taken away by his death, the word of God might have effect for those who were marked out for an eternal heritage.


And he saw the Lord by his side, saying, I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father, and the God of Isaac: I will give to you and to your seed this land on which you are sleeping. Your seed will be like the dust of the earth, covering all the land to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south: you and your seed will be a name of blessing to all the families of the earth.

The agreement which he made with Abraham, and his oath to Isaac; And he gave it to Jacob for a law, and to Israel for an eternal agreement;




To do acts of mercy to our fathers and to keep in mind his holy word,


For the Lord says, As for the unsexed who keep my Sabbaths, and give their hearts to pleasing me, and keep their agreement with me: I will give to them in my house, and inside my walls, a place and a name better than that of sons and daughters; I will give them an eternal name which will not be cut off. And as for those from a strange country, who are joined to the Lord, to give worship to him and honour to his name, to be his servants, even everyone who keeps the Sabbath holy, and keeps his agreement with me: read more.
I will make them come to my holy mountain, and will give them joy in my house of prayer; I will take pleasure in the burned offerings which they make on my altar: for my house will be named a house of prayer for all peoples.

For this is the agreement which I will make with the people of Israel after those days: I will put my laws into their minds, writing them in their hearts: and I will be their God, and they will be my people: And there will be no need for every man to be teaching his brother, or his neighbour, saying, This is the knowledge of the Lord: for they will all have knowledge of me, great and small. And I will have mercy on their evil-doing, and I will not keep their sins in mind.


Keep in this land, and I will be with you and give you my blessing; for to you and to your seed will I give all these lands, giving effect to the oath which I made to your father Abraham; I will make your seed like the stars of heaven in number, and will give them all these lands, and your seed will be a blessing to all the nations of the earth;

And God said, Not so; but Sarah, your wife, will have a son, and you will give him the name Isaac, and I will make my agreement with him for ever and with his seed after him.


For is not my house so with God? For he has made with me an eternal agreement, ordered in all things and certain: as for all my salvation and all my desire, will he not give it increase?

I have made an agreement with the man of my selection, I have made an oath to David my servant; I will make your seed go on for ever, your kingdom will be strong through all generations. (Selah.)


Keep in mind your undertaking; for the dark places of the earth are full of pride and cruel acts.

Do not be turned from us in disgust, because of your name; do not put shame on the seat of your glory: keep us in mind, let not your agreement with us be broken.



This is the word of the Lord: I have given ear to you at a good time, and I have been your helper in a day of salvation: and I will keep you safe, and will make you a glory for the people, putting the land in order, and giving them the heritages which now are waste;



And I made an agreement with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land of their wanderings.


He has kept his agreement in mind for ever, the word which he gave for a thousand generations;


Take care that you do not let the agreement of the Lord your God, which he has made with you, go out of your mind, or make for yourselves images of any sort, against the orders which the Lord your God has given you.


But will not the man by whom the Son of God has been crushed under foot, and the blood of the agreement with which he was washed clean has been taken as an unholy thing, and who has had no respect for the Spirit of grace, be judged bad enough for a very much worse punishment? For we have had experience of him who says, Punishment is mine, I will give reward. And again, The Lord will be judge of his people.


For this is like the days of Noah to me: for as I took an oath that the waters of Noah would never again go over the earth, so have I taken an oath that I will not again be angry with you, or say bitter words to you. For the mountains may be taken away, and the hills be moved out of their places, but my love will not be taken from you, or my agreement of peace broken, says the Lord, who has had mercy on you.




Now this I say: The law, which came four hundred and thirty years after, does not put an end to the agreement made before by God, so as to make the undertaking without effect.


Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, for he has come to his people and made them free, Lifting up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David, (As he said, by the mouth of his holy prophets, from the earliest times,) read more.
Salvation from those who are against us, and from the hands of those who have hate for us; To do acts of mercy to our fathers and to keep in mind his holy word, The oath which he made to Abraham, our father, That we, being made free from the fear of those who are against us, might give him worship, In righteousness and holy living before him all our days. And you, child, will be named the prophet of the Most High: you will go before the face of the Lord, to make ready his ways; To give knowledge of salvation to his people, through the forgiveness of sins, Because of the loving mercies of our God, by which the dawn from heaven has come to us, To give light to those in dark places, and in the shade of death, so that our feet may be guided into the way of peace.



See, I am sending my servant, and he will make ready the way before me; and the Lord, whom you are looking for, will suddenly come to his Temple; and the angel of the agreement, in whom you have delight, see, he is coming, says the Lord of armies.


Basic English, produced by Mr C. K. Ogden of the Orthological Institute - public domain