establish (covenant)

The Hebrew and Greek that is most often translated as “establish” in English when mentioned in association with establishing a covenant is translated in Nyamwezi with a verb that means “erect.” (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)

See also covenant.

covenant

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The Hebrew, Greek, and Latin that are translated as “covenant” in English are translated in a variety of ways. Here are some (back-) translations:

  • Mossi: “helping promise”
  • Vai: “a thing-time-bind” (i.e. “an arrangement agreed upon for a period of time”)
  • Loma (Liberia): “agreement”
  • Northwestern Dinka: “agreement which is tied up” (i.e. “secure and binding”)
  • Chol: “a word which is left”
  • Huastec: “a broken-off word” (“based on the concept of ‘breaking off a word’ and leaving it with the person with whom an agreement has been reached”)
  • Tetelcingo Nahuatl: “a death command” (i.e. “a special term for testament”)
  • Piro: “a promised word”
  • Eastern Krahn: “a word between”
  • Yaka: “promise that brings together” (source for this and all above: Bratcher / Nida)
  • Nabak: alakŋaŋ or “tying the knot” (source: Fabian 2013, p. 156)
  • Nyamwezi: ilagano: “agreement, contract, covenant, promise” (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
  • Q’anjob’al: “put mouths equal” (representing agreement) (source: Newberry and Kittie Cox in The Bible Translator 1950, p. 91ff. )
  • Manikion, Indonesian: “God’s promise” (source: Daud Soesilo)
  • Natügu: nzesz’tikr drtwr: “oneness of mind” (source: Brenda Boerger in Beerle-Moor / Voinov, p. 164)
  • Tagalog: tipan: mutual promising on the part of two persons agreeing to do something (also has a romantic touch and denotes something secretive) (source: G. Henry Waterman in The Bible Translator 1960, p. 24ff. )
  • Tagbanwa: “initiated-agreement” (source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Guhu-Samane: “The concept [in Mark 14:24 and Matthew 16:28] is not easy, but the ritual freeing of a fruit and nut preserve does afford some reference. Thus, ‘As they were drinking he said to them, ‘On behalf of many this poro provision [poro is the traditional religion] of my blood is released.’ (…) God is here seen as the great benefactor and man the grateful recipient.” (Source: Ernest Richert in The Bible Translator, 1965, p. 81ff. )
Law (2013, p. 95) writes about how the Ancient Greek Septuagint‘s translation of the Hebrew berith was used by the New Testament writers as a bridge between the Old and New Testaments (click or tap here to read more):

“Right from the start we witness the influence of the Septuagint on the earliest expressions of the Christian faith. In the New Testament, Jesus speaks of his blood being a kaine diatheke, a ‘new covenant.’ The covenant is elucidated in Hebrews 8:8-12 and other texts, but it was preserved in the words of Jesus with this language in Luke 22:20 when at the Last Supper Jesus said, ‘This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood. Jesus’s blood was to provide the grounds for the ‘new covenant,’ in contrast to the old one his disciples knew from the Jewish scriptures (e.g., Jeremiah 31:31-34). Thus, the earliest Christians accepted the Jewish Scriptures as prophecies about Jesus and in time began to call the collection the ‘Old Testament’ and the writings about Jesus and early Christianity the ‘New Testament,’ since ‘testament’ was another word for ‘covenant.’ The covenant promises of God (berith in Hebrew) were translated in the Septuagint with the word diatheke. In classical Greek diatheke had meant ‘last will, testament,’ but in the Septuagint it is the chosen equivalent for God’s covenant with his people. The author of Hebrews plays on the double meaning, and when Luke records Jesus’ announcement at the Last Supper that his blood was instituting a ‘new covenant,’ or a ‘new testament,’ he is using the language in an explicit contrast with the old covenant, found in the Jewish scriptures. Soon, the writings that would eventually be chosen to make up the texts about the life and teachings of Jesus and the earliest expression of the Christian faith would be called the New Testament. This very distinction between the Old and New Testaments is based on the Septuagint’s language.”

See also establish (covenant) and covenant (book).

complete verse (Genesis 9:9)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Genesis 9:9:

  • Kankanaey: “‘There-is that which I-will-promise you and those whom you will have-as-descendants.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Newari: “‘Now, with you and your descendants after you,” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “‘This is my covenant to you (pl.) and to your (pl.) descendants, and to all-that live on earth including all the animals who were with you in the ark: I surely will- not -destroy again all that live by-means-of a very severe flood. And never again will- a flood like this -happen to destroy the earth.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “‘Listen carefully. I am now making a solemn promise to you and with your descendants,” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Genesis 9:9

Behold: see comments on 1.29

I establish my covenant is basically the same wording used in 6.18. However, there is an emphatic repetition of the personal pronoun “I” here, and the verb form is different from the narrative form used in 6.18. This construction makes for a very deliberative statement that is fitting for the formal declaration of the covenant. In many languages a shift to a level of language that is appropriate for such a formal declaration will be called for. In English Speiser and New International Version attempt to get this style with “I now establish….” In one new translation the formal speech opening, “Now I intend to make a contract…,” is used to give the formal tone.

The first use of covenant in 6.18 introduced the word without reference to the way it is to be applied and without content. Here in 9.9, however, the term covenant occurs in a context beginning with 8.20 and continuing to 9.17. The content of the covenant as expressed here is:
(1) never to destroy the earth again, but to continue the seasons of the year (8.21b-22; 9.11);
(2) the blessing of fertility (9.1, 7);
(3) to give human beings dominion over the animals and the right to eat them while abstaining from the blood (9.2-4);
(4) to put to death people who murder (9.5);
(5) to put to death any animal that kills a person (9.5).

The participants of the covenant are as follows:
(1) it is initiated entirely by God (9.11, 12, 15);
(2) it applies to all present and future: Noah, his descendants, the birds and the animals (9.9, 10).

The covenant is to last for ever (9.11, 16), and it is guaranteed by a sign (9.12, 13, 17). Noah, like the animals, is not an active party in an agreement. He and they, as well as future generations, are the recipients of God’s promises. For other covenants see 15.18-20; Num 25.10-13; 2 Sam 7.

You and your descendants is literally “You [plural] and your seed.” “Seed” is grammatically singular but collective in meaning. See comments on 3.15. After you is often considered redundant, since it is included in the meaning of descendants.

Quoted with permission from Reyburn, William D. and Fry, Euan McG. A Handbook on Genesis. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1997. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .