StrongerBible

diathēkē

διαθήκη

GreekG1242“covenant, will, ...”

Appears 33 times · tap a cell to see the verses

Mat 26:28Mrk 14:24Luk 1:72Luk 22:20Act 3:25Act 7:8Rom 9:4Rom 11:271Co 11:252Co 3:62Co 3:14Gal 3:15Gal 3:17Gal 4:24Eph 2:12Heb 7:22Heb 8:6Heb 8:8Heb 8:9 (2×)Heb 8:10Heb 9:4 (2×)Heb 9:15 (2×)Heb 9:16Heb 9:17Heb 9:20Heb 10:16
Root family
Word studyResearch-gradedee-ah-THAY-kaynoun

What diathēkē means

1

covenant: a solemn, God-initiated bond that ties God and his people to one another with sworn promises and commitments

TranslatabilityApproximateCertaintySettled

This is the standard New Testament word for a covenant, and it carries the weight of the Hebrew idea of covenant (ברית) that stands behind it. A biblical covenant is not a bargain struck between equals. It is something God sets up and lays down, and people receive it rather than negotiate its terms. When the Old Testament was translated into Greek, the translators deliberately passed over the ordinary word for a mutual pact and chose this word instead, precisely to keep that one-sided, gift-like character in view.

The New Testament speaks of covenant on two levels. It looks back to the earlier covenants:

  • the promise sworn to Abraham
  • the covenant marked by circumcision
  • the covenant made with Israel at Sinai, remembered in the ark and the stone tablets

And it announces a new covenant that Jesus brings, sealed in his blood at the Last Supper and unfolded at length in the letter to the Hebrews.

These two, the earlier covenant and the new, are not two unrelated things. They are stages in one unfolding relationship between God and his people, which is why the same word covers both, and why the New Testament so often sets the new alongside the old to show what has changed and what has been kept.

Nuances

1athe earlier covenant God made with Israel's ancestors and at Sinai
Luk 1:72Act 3:25Act 7:8Rom 9:42Co 3:14Gal 3:17Gal 4:24Eph 2:12Heb 8:9 (2×)Heb 9:4 (2×)Heb 9:15 (2×)Heb 9:20
1bthe new covenant established through the death and blood of Jesus
Mat 26:28Mrk 14:24Luk 22:20Rom 11:271Co 11:252Co 3:6Heb 7:22Heb 8:6Heb 8:8Heb 8:10Heb 9:15 (2×)Heb 10:16
2

will: the legal arrangement a person makes for their estate, which takes effect only when they die

TranslatabilityPartialCertaintyContested

In the everyday Greek of the New Testament era, this same word most often meant a person's "last will." The letter to the Hebrews leans on that ordinary meaning to make a point: a will carries no force while the one who made it is still living, and takes effect only at death. On that reading the author argues that the new covenant likewise needed a death to put it into force. Paul draws on the same familiar picture in Galatians, where a legal arrangement, once formally settled, cannot afterward be canceled or added to.

Whether the word genuinely shifts to mean "will" here, or keeps its covenant meaning throughout with the death being the sacrifice that ratifies a covenant, is debated among scholars. Both readings are represented in the standard reference works, and the difference is spelled out in the note attached to this meaning.

Gal 3:15Heb 9:16Heb 9:17
Heb 9:16

Whether diathēkē in Hebrews 9:16-17 shifts from covenant to the ordinary Greek sense of a last will and testament, or retains its covenant meaning throughout with the necessary death being the covenant-ratifying sacrifice.

  • majorityThe author exploits the everyday sense of diathēkē as a last will, which by definition takes effect only upon the death of the testator, to explain why a death was necessary to inaugurate the new covenant.; BDAG, s.v. διαθήκη; Harold W. Attridge, The Epistle to the Hebrews (Hermeneia; Fortress, 1989), 253-256; James Moffatt, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews (ICC; T&T Clark, 1924), 123-127
  • minoritydiathēkē keeps its covenant meaning throughout; the death required is the death of a sacrificial victim that ratifies the covenant, following ancient covenant-making practice rather than inheritance law.; John J. Hughes, "Hebrews ix 15ff. and Galatians iii 15ff.: A Study in Covenant Practice and Procedure," Novum Testamentum 21 (1979): 27-96; Scott W. Hahn, Kinship by Covenant (Anchor Yale Bible Reference Library; Yale University Press, 2009), 331-345

What scholars say about diathēkē

The lexica (BDAG) recognize two senses for διαθήκη: the dominant biblical sense covenant, and the ordinary Hellenistic sense last will and testament, well attested in the papyri (Moulton-Milligan). The Septuagint translators chose διαθήκη over συνθήκη to render Hebrew berith, and Behm and Quell (TDNT 2:106-134) argue this was deliberate: συνθήκη implies a compact between equals, whereas διαθήκη, a unilateral disposition, better fit a covenant that God sovereignly establishes. The crux is Hebrews 9:16-17. On the majority reading (Attridge; Moffatt; BDAG) the author trades on the will sense, since a will takes force only at the testator's death, to explain the necessity of Christ's death. A minority (John J. Hughes, NovT 1979; Scott W. Hahn, Kinship by Covenant) argues the word keeps its covenant sense throughout, the required death being the covenant-ratifying sacrificial victim of ancient covenant procedure. Galatians 3:15 raises the same ambiguity.

Sources

  • BDAG, s.v. διαθήκηlexicon
  • Johannes Behm and Gottfried Quell, "διαθήκη," in Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, ed. Gerhard Kittel, 2:106-134lexicon
  • James H. Moulton and George Milligan, The Vocabulary of the Greek Testament, s.v. διαθήκηlexicon
  • Harold W. Attridge, The Epistle to the Hebrews (Hermeneia; Fortress, 1989), 253-256commentary
  • John J. Hughes, "Hebrews ix 15ff. and Galatians iii 15ff.: A Study in Covenant Practice and Procedure," Novum Testamentum 21 (1979): 27-96article

AI-generated word study · claude-opus-4-8

All attested forms of διαθήκη

genitive f s

διαθήκης

Mat 26:28, Mrk 14:24, Luk 1:72, Act 3:25, 2Co 3:6, 2Co 3:14, Heb 7:22, Heb 8:6

nominative f s

διαθήκη

Luk 22:20, Rom 11:27, 1Co 11:25, Heb 8:10, Heb 9:16, Heb 9:17, Heb 10:16

accusative f s

διαθήκην

Act 7:8, Gal 3:15, Gal 3:17, Heb 8:8, Heb 8:9

dative f s

διαθήκῃ

Heb 8:9, Heb 9:15

nominative f p

διαθῆκαι

Rom 9:4, Gal 4:24

genitive f p

διαθηκῶν

Eph 2:12