Section 1: Yehuveh’s Love, Article 9 One Everlasting Covenant “But they, like Adam, have transgressed the covenant: there have they dealt treacherously against Me.” Hosea 6:7, Margin.
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				wenty-eight Scriptures speak of the “everlasting covenant,” the “perpetual covenant,” the “covenant for ever,” or the “always . . . covenant,” all translated from the same two Hebrew words. The Hebrew word translated covenant is Strong’s Hebrew Dictionary entry H1285:
beriyth, meaning “a compact (because  made by passing between pieces of flesh),” from entry H1262: barah, a primary root word meaning “to select; also (as denominated from H1250) to feed; also (as equivalent to H1305) to  render clear (Ecclesiastes 3:18).” That is, Yehuveh has a compact or binding instruction  with us because He selected us, feeds us and makes things clear to us. This covenant is everlasting, a word taken from entry H5769: `owlam, meaning “concealed, that is, the vanishing point; generally, time out of mind (past or future), that is (practically) eternity; frequently always,” derived from entry H5956: `alam, a primary root meaning “to veil from sight, i.e. to conceal.”         In contrast, there is but one Scripture in the Old Testament which speaks of a “new covenant,” namely Jeremiah 31:31-34. In context, this is Yehuveh’s statement: “Behold, the days come, saith Yehuveh, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which My covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith Yehuveh: but this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith Yehuveh, I will put My law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their Elohim, and they shall be My people. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know Yehuveh: for they shall all know Me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith Yehuveh: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” The Hebrew word here translated new is indeed entry H2319: chadash, meaning “new,” from entry H2318: chadash, a primary root word meaning “to be new; to rebuild.” This single context, however, makes it clear that it is the means of possessing the “everlasting covenant” and not its content that is new.         In Jeremiah 31:31 where the term “new covenant” is used, the editors of the KJV Scriptures cross-referenced to Jeremiah 32:40 and Ezekiel 37:26 in the Old Testament, both of which discuss the “everlasting covenant.” There are no other Old Testament Scriptures that use the expression “new covenant” to which there can be any connection. All other cross-references are from the New Testament, namely: Matthew 26:28; Mark 14:24; Luke 22:20; 1 Corinthians 11:25; 2 Corinthians 3:6; Hebrews 8:6-13; 9:15; 10:16,17; 12:24; 13:20. Excepting the discussion in the book of Hebrews, all these New Testament references are to “new testament,” that is, a new statement of personal experience, not to a “new covenant.” The discussion in Hebrews amplifies Jeremiah 31 and quotes the entire passage. In the same manner as Jeremiah, the “new covenant” discussed in Hebrews is a new means of possessing the “everlasting covenant” and not a change to new contents. Gael Bataman Originally Written:         11 September 2005 Latest Update:                 4 February 2010                                                         Complete Study Guide to Article 9                                     Tokens of the Covenant        What is This “Everlasting Covenant”?                       Return to Zadok Home                Continue Article 9 . . .                     Go to Section 1: Love   Go to Historical Calendar     Go to Daniel 11-12    Go to Revelation     Go to Years of Returning (Darius)