'Covenant' in the Bible

For the sake of your name don't despise us. Don't dishonor your glorious throne. Remember, don't break your covenant with us!

Then people will respond, "It is because they have forsaken the covenant of the LORD their God and have bowed down to other gods and served them.'

"Look, days are coming," declares the LORD, "when I'll make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah.

It won't be like the covenant I made with their ancestors on the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt. They broke my covenant, although I was a husband to them," declares the LORD.

"Rather, this is the covenant that I'll make with the house of Israel after those days," declares the LORD. "I'll put my Law within them and will write it on their hearts. I'll be their God and they will be my people.

I'll make an everlasting covenant with them that I won't turn away from doing good for them. I'll put the fear of me in their hearts so they won't turn away from me.

"This is what the LORD says: "If you could break my covenant with the day and night so that day and night wouldn't occur at the proper time,

then my covenant with my servant David might also be broken so that he wouldn't have a son sitting on his throne, and so also with my servants the Levitical priests.

This is what the LORD says: "If I had not established my covenant for day and night and the laws that govern the heavens and earth,

This is this message from the LORD that came to Jeremiah from the LORD after Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people in Jerusalem proclaiming release for them.

All the officials and all the people who had entered into the covenant agreed that each would set his male and female slaves free so that they would not enslave them any longer. They obeyed and they released them.

"This is what the LORD God of Israel says: "I made a covenant with your ancestors on the day I brought them out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. I told them:

You recently repented and did what was right in my eyes by proclaiming release for one another, and you made a covenant before me in the house that is called by my name.

I'll give over the men who transgressed my covenant, who haven't fulfilled the terms of the covenant that they made before me when they cut the calf in two and passed between its parts

They'll ask the way to Zion, turning their faces in that direction. They'll come and join themselves to the LORD in an everlasting covenant that won't be forgotten.

"When I passed by you again, I looked at you, and noticed that it was your proper time for love. I spread my cloak over you to cover your nakedness. I made a solemn promise to you and entered into a covenant with you," declares the Lord GOD. "You belong to me.

"since the Lord GOD says, "I'll deal with you according to what you've done, when you despised your oath by breaking the covenant.

""Meanwhile, as for me, I'll remember my covenant with you from when you were young, because I'll establish an eternal covenant with you.

Then you'll remember your behavior and be ashamed when you greet your sisters your elder sister and your younger sister. I'll give them to you as daughters, but not on account of my covenant with you.

I'll establish my covenant with you, and then you'll know that I am the LORD.

Then he took one of the royal descendants, made a covenant with him, and put him under an oath of loyalty, taking the leaders of the land captive

in order to humiliate the kingdom so it wouldn't be able to return to power, but would still be able to continue as long as he keeps his covenant.

But he rebelled against the king of Babylon by sending his messengers to Egypt to obtain horses and a large army. Will he succeed? Or will the one who did this escape? Will he break the covenant, but still be delivered?'"

"As long as I live," declares the Lord GOD, "in Babylon, that place where the king has enthroned him, whose oath he despised so as to break his covenant, he'll die with him.

He despised the oath he had made and broke the covenant. Look! Because he willingly submitted, yet he has done all these things, he won't escape.

Therefore, this is what the Lord GOD says, "As long as I live, because he despised my oath and broke my covenant, he's going to suffer the consequences.

"I'll cause you to pass under the rod until I will have brought you into the bond of the covenant.

"I'm going to enter into a covenant with them, one of peace, and I'll eliminate wild beasts from the land so they can live securely in the wilderness and sleep in the forests.

I'll make a secure covenant with them, one that will last forever. I will establish them, make them increase in population, and will place my sanctuary in their midst forever.

You kept on bringing in foreigners, those who were uncircumcised in heart and flesh, to profane my sanctuary by being inside my Temple, and by doing so you've emptied my covenant, all the while offering my food the fat and the blood in addition to all of the other loathsome things you've done.

"Lord! Great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant and gracious love for those who love him and obey his commandments, we've sinned, we've practiced evil, we've acted wickedly, and we've rebelled, turning away from your commands and from your regulations.

He will make a binding covenant with many for one week, and for half of the week he will suspend both the sacrifice and grain offerings. Destructive people will cause desolation on the pinnacle until it is complete and what has been decreed is poured out on the desolator.'"

Overwhelming forces will be carried away before him, along with the Commander-in-Chief of the covenant.

Then he'll return to his homeland with great wealth, will focus his attention against the holy covenant, and will take action as he returns to his land.'"

because ships will come against him from the Mediterranean islands. Disheartened, he'll return, incited to vehemence against the holy covenant, and he'll take action. As he returns, he'll show deference to those who abandon the holy covenant.

Through flattery he'll corrupt those who act wickedly toward the covenant, but people who know their God will be strong and take action.

I will make a covenant with them at that time, a covenant with the wild animals of the field, with the birds of the air, and with the creatures of the ground. I will banish the battle bow, the sword, and war from the earth. I will cause my people to lie down where it is safe.

"But like Adam, they broke the covenant; in this they have acted deceitfully against me.

"Sound the ram's horn! Like a vulture the enemy will come against the Temple of the LORD, because Israel violated my covenant, transgressing my Law.

This is what the LORD says: "For three transgressions of Tyre and now for a fourth I will not turn away; because they delivered the entire population to Edom, and did not remember their covenant with their relatives.

"My Spirit continues to dwell among you, according to the covenant I established when you came out from Egypt. Don't be afraid!'

Now concerning you and my blood covenant with you, I have liberated your prisoners from a waterless pit.

Then I took the staff that I had named "Pleasant" and broke it, showing I was breaking my covenant that I had made with all of the people.

"You will know that I sent this commandment to you in order to continue my covenant with Levi," says the LORD of the Heavenly Armies.

"My covenant with him was for life and peace, and I gave the commandments to him so he would fear me. He did fear me as he stood in my presence.

"But you priests turned aside from the way, and by your teaching you caused many to stumble. You have violated the covenant of Levi," says the LORD of the Heavenly Armies.

Do we not have one father? Has not one God created us? Why does each of us act deceitfully, each man against his own brother, to profane the covenant of our ancestors?

Yet you ask, "For what reason?' Because the LORD acts as a witness between you and the wife of your youth, because you were unfaithful to her, your partner, the wife of your covenant.

"Watch out! I'm sending my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly, the LORD you are looking for will come to his Temple. He is the messenger of the covenant whom you desire. Watch out! He is coming!" says the LORD of the Heavenly Armies.

because this is my blood of the new covenant that is being poured out for many people for the forgiveness of sins.

He told them, "This is my blood of the covenant that is being poured out for many people.

He has shown mercy to our ancestors and remembered his holy covenant,

He did the same with the cup after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant sealed by my blood, which is being poured out for you.

You are the descendants of the prophets and the heirs of the covenant that God made with your ancestors when he told Abraham, "Through your descendant all the families of the earth will be blessed.'

Later, God gave Abraham the covenant of circumcision. Later, he fathered Isaac and circumcised him on the eighth day. Then Isaac fathered Jacob, and Jacob fathered the twelve patriarchs.

This is my covenant with them when I take away their sins."

He did the same with the cup after the supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. As often as you drink from it, keep doing this in memory of me."

who has also qualified us to be ministers of a new covenant, which is not written but spiritual, because the written text brings death, but the Spirit gives life.

However, their minds were hardened, for to this day the same veil is still there when they read the old covenant. Only in union with the Messiah is that veil removed.

This is what I mean: The Law that came 430 years later did not cancel the covenant that God ratified previously. The promise was never nullified.

In this way, Jesus has become the guarantor of a better covenant.

However, Jesus has now obtained a more superior ministry, since the covenant he mediates is founded on better promises.

If the first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no need to look for a second one,

but God found something wrong with his people when he said, "Look! The days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.

It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors at the time when I took them by the hand and brought them out of the land of Egypt. Because they did not remain loyal to my covenant, I ignored them, declares the Lord.

For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after that time, declares the Lord: I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.

In speaking of a "new" covenant, he has made the first one obsolete, and what is obsolete and aging will soon disappear.

Now even the first covenant had regulations for worship and an earthly sanctuary.

which had the gold altar for incense and the Ark of the Covenant completely covered with gold. In it were the gold jar holding the manna, Aaron's staff that had budded, and the Tablets of the Covenant.

This is why the Messiah is the mediator of a new covenant; so that those who are called may receive the eternal inheritance promised them, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the offenses committed under the first covenant.

This is why even the first covenant was not put into effect without blood.

saying, "This is the blood of the covenant that God ordained for you."

"This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws in their hearts and will write them on their minds,

How much more severe a punishment do you think that person deserves who tramples on God's Son, treats as common the blood of the covenant by which it was sanctified, and insults the Spirit of grace?

to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better message than Abel's.

Now may the God of peace, who by the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, the Great Shepherd of the sheep,

Then the Temple of God in heaven was opened, and the ark of his covenant was seen inside his Temple. There were flashes of lightning, noises, peals of thunder, an earthquake, and heavy hail.