Word studies · Greek · Strong's G1242
διαθήκη · diathḗkē · appears 33 times in the New Testament
In one line: A binding promise God sets in place and guarantees Himself.
In the same way, after supper He took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is poured out for you.
Luke 22:20
Diathēkē is a binding arrangement God Himself puts in place — not a contract negotiated between equals, but a covenant He sets, guarantees, and seals with blood.
The New Testament uses diathēkē both for God's covenants with Israel and for the “new covenant” in Christ's blood announced at the Last Supper. Hebrews builds a sustained argument that this covenant is better than the old one, and that, like a will, it required a death to take effect.
Diathēkē comes from diatithēmi, “to arrange” or “to dispose,” and in ordinary Greek it meant a last will and testament. Greek had another word, synthēkē, for an agreement struck between two equal parties — and the Septuagint translators deliberately passed it over when rendering Hebrew berith, choosing instead the word whose terms only one party sets.
English “covenant” suggests a mutual contract, which flattens the asymmetry the Greek preserves. Hebrews leans on the everyday legal sense — a testament comes into force only when the one who made it dies — so “the blood of the covenant” is not ceremonial decoration but the mechanism by which the promise takes effect.
Diathēkē (G1242) appears 33 times in the New Testament, and 17 of those are in Hebrews — a single letter carries more than half the New Testament's covenant vocabulary.
Covenant is how the Bible holds together: promises to Abraham, law at Sinai, and a new covenant written on hearts all belong to one long arrangement God keeps from His own side. The Lord's Supper places the church inside that story every time it is eaten.
Let God's covenant faithfulness set the standard for the promises you make. Look at one commitment you are tempted to treat as conditional, and keep it as though your word, like His, held regardless.
properly, a disposition, i.e. (specially) a contract (especially a devisory will)
This is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.
Matthew 26:28He said to them, “This is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many.
Mark 14:24to show mercy to our fathers and to remember His holy covenant,
Luke 1:72And you are sons of the prophets and of the covenant God made with your fathers when He said to Abraham, Through your offspring all the families of the earth will be blessed.’
Acts 3:25the people of Israel. Theirs is the adoption as sons; theirs the divine glory and the covenants; theirs the giving of the law, the temple worship, and the promises.
Romans 9:4In the same way, after supper He took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.
1 Corinthians 11:25Press and hold covenant in any chapter and this study opens on the verse you are reading, with the lexicons, every occurrence and the commentaries beside it. The Bible is free to read.
Scripture quoted from the Berean Standard Bible, public domain. Strong's definitions are public domain. Counts come from The Pillar's own tagged text.