God showed up at night, put Abraham into a deep sleep, and then walked through the pieces of split animals by himself.
That scene — Genesis 15 — is one of the strangest in the entire Bible. And one of the most important. In ancient Near Eastern covenant-making, both parties walked between the cut animal pieces together, swearing: “If I break this deal, may I end up like these animals.” But in Genesis 15, only God walks through. Abraham sleeps. God binds himself alone to his promises.
That single moment tells you everything about how God makes covenants.
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The Old Testament covenants are the backbone of the Bible. They’re not background theology reserved for seminary classrooms. They’re the framework that explains why you need a Savior, which Old Testament laws still apply to you today, and what God has permanently committed himself to on your behalf — regardless of how badly the people of God keep failing.
If you’ve ever wondered why some Old Testament laws seem binding and others don’t, why Jesus talked about a “new covenant” at the Last Supper, or what these ancient promises have to do with your life right now — this guide covers all 7 major biblical covenants, what makes each unique, and what covenants today actually mean for how Christians live.
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What Is a Covenant? (The Hebrew Word Nobody Fully Explains)
The English word “covenant” doesn’t carry enough weight. It sounds like a legal document. The Hebrew behind it is something else entirely.
The word is בְּרִית (berît), and it almost always appears alongside the verb כָּרַת (kārat) — which means “to cut.” You don’t “make” a covenant in Hebrew. You cut one. Specifically, you cut animals in half, lay the pieces across from each other, and walk through the blood. The word covenant appears approximately 285 times in the Old Testament — more than almost any other formal relational term between God and his people.
That cutting ceremony wasn’t metaphor. It was the standard ancient Near Eastern covenant-sealing ritual — and it meant: “May what happened to these animals happen to me if I break my word.” It was a death oath formalized in blood sacrifice.
That’s what makes Genesis 15 so stunning. God cuts the covenant with Abraham — but when it’s time to walk through the pieces, God puts Abraham into a deep sleep and walks through alone. God swears by himself. The covenant becomes unconditional. Abraham doesn’t have to do anything to keep it valid. God takes both sides of the oath upon himself.
That one act sets the trajectory for every covenant that follows. The concept of a covenant in Scripture is never just a contract with mutual obligations — when God initiates it, it’s always ultimately grounded in his character, his hesed, his covenant faithfulness.
Hebrew
בְּרִית
berît — “covenant”
Appears ~285 times in the OT. The root likely means “to bind” or “to fetter.” It describes God’s formal, binding relationship with his people across every era of biblical history. Every major act of salvation in the Old Testament happens within a covenant framework — it’s the backbone of how God works in the story of God and humanity.
Hebrew
כָּרַת
kārat — “to cut”
“Kārat berît” — cutting a covenant — was the standard phrase in ancient Israel and across the ancient Near East. It referenced the ceremony of splitting animals and walking between the pieces. Breaking the covenant meant facing the fate of those animals. The physical act encoded the seriousness of the vow in an unforgettable way.
Hebrew
חֶסֶד
hesed — “covenant faithfulness”
Often translated “loving-kindness” or “steadfast love,” hesed specifically describes loyalty within a covenant relationship. When God shows hesed, he’s not just being kind — he’s being faithful to binding promises. It appears over 250 times in the OT. God’s covenant love is the guarantee behind every promise he makes.
Hebrew
אוֹת
ʾôt — “sign of the covenant”
Every major covenant has a visible sign — a physical marker of the relationship. Rainbow (Noahic), circumcision (Abrahamic), Sabbath (Mosaic). These weren’t decorative. They were covenant reminders embedded in everyday life so that God’s people would never forget what he had bound himself to do for them.
The 7 Old Testament Covenants at a Glance
Biblical scholars typically identify between five and eight major divine covenants in Scripture. The most thorough biblical theology recognizes seven primary covenants — including the New Covenant that the Old Testament prophets anticipated and Jesus inaugurated. Some Reformed theologians also identify a “covenant of redemption” — an eternal agreement within the triune God himself, in which the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit committed before creation to accomplish humanity’s redemption, and a “covenant of grace” encompassing all the post-Fall redemptive covenants. Whether you include those or not, these seven specific covenants are the ones that shape the biblical narrative directly. Bookmark this table.
Covenant
With Whom
Sign
Type
Key Verse
Status for Christians
Adamic
Adam & Eve / all humanity
Tree of life (forfeited)
Conditional
Gen 2:16–17; 3:14–19
Broken — explains why redemption was needed
Noahic
Noah / all living creatures
Rainbow
Unconditional
Gen 9:8–17
Still in force — applies to all humanity and creation
Abrahamic
Abraham / his descendants
Circumcision
Unconditional
Gen 12:1–3; 15:1–21
Fulfilled in Christ — blessing extended to all nations
Mosaic
Israel at Mount Sinai
Sabbath
Conditional
Exod 19–24; Deut 28
Fulfilled/superseded by the New Covenant (Heb 8:13)
Palestinian/Land
Israel before entering Canaan
Possession of the land
Conditional
Deut 29–30
Debated — ongoing fulfillment varies by tradition
Davidic
King David / his royal line
Eternal throne
Unconditional
2 Sam 7:12–16
Fulfilled in Christ — the eternal King from David’s line
New Covenant
All who believe / Israel and Judah
Holy Spirit / Lord’s Supper
Unconditional
Jer 31:31–34; Luke 22:20
Active — the covenant Christians live under now
Notice the pattern: the unconditional covenants — Noahic, Abrahamic, Davidic, New — all depend entirely on God’s faithfulness. The conditional ones — Adamic, Mosaic, Palestinian — depended on human obedience, and people failed every one of them. That’s not an accident. It’s the story of God gradually revealing that human beings cannot keep their end of a covenant. Which is exactly why the new covenant is built on a completely different foundation.
1. The Adamic Covenant — Where the Story Starts
The first divine-human covenant doesn’t even use the word “covenant” — but biblical scholars consistently recognize it as one. God creates Adam and Eve, places them in the garden, gives them dominion over the created order, and gives them one restriction: don’t eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
“You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.” — Genesis 2:16–17
This is the covenant of works — life and blessing conditioned entirely on obedience. It was broken. The consequences spread through every generation that followed: the curse of death, banishment from God’s presence, the created order now fighting back. Some theologians distinguish an Edenic covenant (pre-Fall, focused on creation stewardship) from this post-creation Adamic arrangement — bringing the total to eight divine covenants. Either way, the Adamic covenant is the problem the rest of Scripture spends its time solving.
Why does this matter? Because every covenant that follows is God’s response to its failure. He doesn’t abandon the project. He starts building toward redemption.
2. The Noahic Covenant — God’s Promise to the Entire World
After the flood, God makes a covenant not just with Noah’s family but with every living creature on earth. The text says “all living creatures” three times in Genesis 9. The sign is the rainbow. The promise is that God will never again destroy the entire world by flood.
“I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth.” — Genesis 9:13
Two things stand out. First, this covenant is unconditional — it requires nothing from Noah or his descendants. God swears it alone. Second, it extends to non-human creation. God’s covenant relationship isn’t limited to human beings. The entire created order is included.
This is the only one of the seven specific covenants that isn’t primarily about redemption or the messianic line. It’s about preservation — God keeping the world intact long enough for the rest of his redemptive plan to unfold. The Noahic covenant is still in force today.
A Real Moment
I was at a church gathering a few years back when someone asked out loud: “Why does God still allow wicked people to live?” An older man in the back row quietly said, “Because he promised.” He wasn’t wrong. The Noahic covenant is still active — God restrains full judgment because he bound himself in covenant to do so.
3. The Abrahamic Covenant — The One That Changes Everything
In Genesis 12, God makes three promises to Abraham: descendants who will become a great nation, a specific piece of land (the Promised Land), and a universal blessing — “all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” Those three promises form the backbone of the entire Old Testament story. The sons of Abraham are still the central concern of Scripture hundreds of pages later.
The covenant gets formally sealed in Genesis 15. And this is the scene worth slowing down on.
The Night God Walked Through Alone (Genesis 15)
God tells Abraham to bring a heifer, a goat, a ram, a dove, and a pigeon. Abraham cuts them in half and arranges the pieces across from each other. Then God puts Abraham into a deep sleep — the same Hebrew word used when God caused Adam to sleep before creating Eve.
A smoking firepot and blazing torch — both symbols of God’s presence in the ancient world — pass between the pieces. God walks through alone.
“When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces. On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram.” — Genesis 15:17–18
This is an unconditional covenant. God takes both sides of the oath upon himself. The apostle Paul anchors the gospel to this precise moment — God’s promise to Abraham was grace before the law ever existed (Galatians 3:17–18). The Abrahamic covenant is the deepest guarantee in all of Scripture that God’s redemptive plan cannot fail.
The sign of this covenant is circumcision (Genesis 17) — applied to every male in Abraham’s household as a mark of belonging. The New Testament argues that the deeper reality circumcision pointed to is a circumcision of the heart (Romans 2:29) — belonging to the sons of Abraham by faith, not bloodline. This is how Paul insists that Gentile believers are heirs of the Abrahamic covenant: through Christ, they share Abraham’s faith, and that is what the covenant was always pointing toward.
4. The Mosaic Covenant — The Law and Why It Was Given
At the foot of Mount Sinai, God enters into a national covenant with the people of Israel. This is the Mosaic covenant — the most detailed and the most explicitly conditional of the seven. It defines the terms of a formal relationship between God and the nation of Israel, with mutual obligations on both sides.
The Mosaic law has three distinct components:
Moral laws — the Ten Commandments and their expansions, reflecting God’s eternal character and moral norms applicable across all time.
Civil laws — governing property, justice, and social welfare within the theocratic nation of Israel. Specific to Israel’s context as a nation-state under God.
Ceremonial laws — governing worship, animal sacrifice, ritual purity, and the Levitical priesthood. These pointed forward to Christ and his final sacrifice.
The covenant was explicitly conditional: “If you fully obey the LORD your God and carefully follow all his commands… the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations” (Deuteronomy 28:1). Blessings for obedience, curses for disobedience — including exile to a foreign land. The children of Israel broke it repeatedly across centuries.
The writer of Hebrews is direct about the Mosaic covenant’s status after Christ: “By calling this covenant ‘new,’ he has made the first one obsolete” (Hebrews 8:13). The old covenant was never meant to be the final word. It was a guardian — pointing Israel toward their need for something better. That something was the new covenant.
The Mosaic Law Was Never a Path to Salvation
Even under the old covenant, salvation was never by law-keeping. Abraham was justified by faith before the Mosaic law existed — Romans 4:3 makes this explicit. The mosaic law revealed what holiness looked like and exposed the depth of human inability to achieve it. It was a mirror that showed people they needed a Savior — not a ladder they could climb to become one.
5. The Palestinian Covenant — The Land Promise Renewed
Just before the children of Israel enter Canaan, Moses renews the covenant framework in the book of Deuteronomy. Theologians call this the Palestinian covenant or Land covenant. It addresses Israel’s possession of the Promised Land — including the conditions under which they’d lose it and God’s promise of ultimate restoration even from a foreign land.
“Even if you have been banished to the most distant land under the heavens, from there the LORD your God will gather you and bring you back.” — Deuteronomy 30:4
This covenant predicted Israel’s exile — which happened, first under Assyria and then under Babylon — and promised that God would gather his people again. It’s one of the most debated divine covenants in modern theology. Dispensationalists see ongoing and literal fulfillment in the modern nation of Israel. Covenant theologians see it fulfilled in Christ’s gathering of a people from every nation. That’s a real debate among biblical scholars — but understanding what the covenant actually says is essential background for it.
6. The Davidic Covenant — The Promise of an Eternal King
King David wants to build God a house — a temple. God flips it around. He tells David: I’ll build you a house. A dynasty. An everlasting kingdom.
“Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever.” — 2 Samuel 7:16
This is an unconditional covenant — what biblical scholars classify as a “royal grant” type treaty, where a superior party grants an irrevocable gift to a faithful servant without requiring reciprocal performance. God grants David an everlasting covenant and everlasting kingdom as an act of pure divine favor. Even individual kings in the royal line who sin will be disciplined, but the line itself will not be cut off (2 Samuel 7:14–15).
The Davidic covenant drives the entire messianic expectation across the Old Testament. When Matthew opens his Gospel with “the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham” — he’s announcing in the very first line that both the Abrahamic and Davidic covenants have found their fulfillment in one person.
King Solomon built the Temple. For a time it looked like the everlasting kingdom had arrived. But Solomon’s persistent failure — his many foreign wives, his slide into idolatry — fractured the kingdom. David’s lineage continued on a narrowing thread through the house of Israel all the way to a carpenter’s son in Nazareth who claimed the eternal throne from an entirely unexpected direction.
7. The New Covenant — Promised in the Old Testament
Most people don’t realize the new covenant was predicted inside the Old Testament. Jeremiah 31 is one of the most important chapters in the entire Bible for understanding God’s redemptive plan. God tells Israel that the old covenant — the Mosaic one they kept breaking — would be replaced by something fundamentally different.
“I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people… For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.” — Jeremiah 31:33–34
The old covenant was written on stone tablets. The new covenant would be written on hearts. The old covenant required animal sacrifice and a human high priest to mediate access to God. The new covenant would have Christ Jesus as the eternal high priest — one sacrifice, once, for all (Hebrews 10:10).
At the Last Supper, Jesus held up the cup and said: “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you” (Luke 22:20). He was announcing that Jeremiah 31 was being fulfilled right then. The sign of the new covenant isn’t circumcision or the Saturday Sabbath — it’s the Lord’s Supper. And the basis of membership isn’t birth into the nation of Israel. It’s faith.
The writer of Hebrews quotes Jeremiah 31 at length and concludes: the new covenant is built on “better promises” than the old (Hebrews 8:6). It’s not an incremental improvement on the Mosaic covenant. It’s the destination the entire series of covenants was building toward.
The Verse Nobody Preaches in Jeremiah 31
“It will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them.” — Jeremiah 31:32
That word “husband” is startling. God describes the Mosaic covenant as a marriage — and Israel’s covenant-breaking as infidelity. The new covenant isn’t just a legal upgrade. It’s God entering a new covenant relationship with a people who broke the first one, offering the kind of faithfulness that doesn’t depend on what they’ve done. That’s not a minor theological detail. That’s the gospel in one verse.
A Real Moment
A friend of mine grew up in a tradition that emphasized Mosaic law heavily — dietary restrictions, strict Sabbath observance, the full ceremonial framework. When he started studying Hebrews in his thirties, the chapter on the new covenant hit him like cold water. “I had been living under a covenant the Bible calls obsolete,” he told me. “I thought that was devotion. It turns out it was just weight I didn’t need to carry.” He wasn’t abandoning the Old Testament. He was finally reading it in light of what it was pointing toward.
What These Covenants Do NOT Say
A lot of confusion comes from misapplying covenants — using them to prove things they don’t actually claim. Here are four worth naming directly.
These Covenants Do NOT Mean All Old Testament Laws Apply to Christians
The Mosaic covenant was made specifically with the nation of Israel at the foot of Mount Sinai. Christians aren’t Israelites under the old covenant — we’re under the new covenant. The moral laws of the Mosaic covenant (don’t murder, don’t steal, love your neighbor) are echoed and deepened in the New Testament. The civil and ceremonial laws were specific to Israel’s theocratic context and are not binding on Gentile believers (Acts 15:28–29).
The Abrahamic Covenant Does NOT Guarantee Blessing Through Bloodline Alone
Paul is emphatic in Galatians 3 and Romans 4: the sons of Abraham are those who share Abraham’s faith, not just his lineage. “If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise” (Galatians 3:29). Being biologically Jewish does not grant covenant standing automatically — and being a Gentile doesn’t exclude you. The Abrahamic covenant was always pointed toward a universal blessing from the beginning.
The New Covenant Is NOT a Rejection of the Old Testament
Jesus himself said he didn’t come to abolish the law but to fulfill it (Matthew 5:17). The new covenant doesn’t throw out the Old Testament — it reveals what the entire story was pointing toward. The law, the covenants, the sacrificial system, the prophets — all of it was scaffolding. The new covenant is the building the scaffolding was always meant to support.
God’s Unconditional Covenants Cannot Be Voided by Human Failure
The unconditional covenants — Noahic, Abrahamic, Davidic, New — don’t have escape clauses based on human performance. God’s hesed, his covenant faithfulness, is the guarantee. Israel’s persistent failure across centuries didn’t cancel the Abrahamic covenant. Our failure doesn’t cancel the New Covenant. The covenant-keeper is God, not us. Paul says it plainly: “If we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot disown himself” (2 Timothy 2:13).
What the Old Testament Covenants Mean for You Today
Here’s where most articles stop short. They explain what the covenants are but don’t answer the question most people actually came with: what do I do with this?
Christians live under the new covenant — but the old covenants are still our story. They’re still Scripture. And they generate some genuinely difficult practical questions. Here’s a direct guide to the most common ones.
The Question
Relevant Covenant
What It Means for Christians
Am I required to tithe exactly 10%?
Mosaic (conditional, superseded)
The Mosaic tithe funded Israel’s Levitical priesthood — a system that no longer exists. The New Testament calls for generous, cheerful giving (2 Cor 9:7) but specifies no percentage. Generosity is a new-covenant principle; 10% as a mandatory floor is a Mosaic one.
Must I keep the Sabbath on Saturday?
Mosaic (conditional, superseded)
Saturday Sabbath was the sign of the Mosaic covenant with Israel. Hebrews 4 points to a deeper sabbath-rest fulfilled in Christ. Most NT scholars see Sunday worship as the early church’s new pattern — but not a binding legal requirement replacing the old Mosaic Sabbath command.
Are dietary laws still in effect?
Mosaic (ceremonial, superseded)
Jesus declared all foods clean (Mark 7:19). Acts 10 confirms it with Peter’s vision. Mosaic dietary laws were ceremonial — part of Israel’s distinct worship identity — and are not binding on Christians. The early church council in Acts 15 addressed this directly.
Do the Ten Commandments still apply?
Mosaic (moral law — echoed in New Covenant)
Nine of the ten commandments are explicitly repeated and deepened in the New Testament. The Sabbath command is the one exception — affirmed in principle but no longer as a Saturday legal requirement. Moral norms persist because they reflect God’s character; the ceremonial framework does not.
Is God still faithful to the Jewish people?
Abrahamic / Davidic (unconditional)
Romans 11 says yes — God has not rejected his people. The gifts and calling of God are irrevocable (Romans 11:29). The unconditional Abrahamic and Davidic covenants still carry theological weight. What this means for the modern nation of Israel is debated — but God’s covenant faithfulness toward the Jewish people is not.
What covenant am I actually under as a Christian?
New Covenant (active)
If you’ve trusted in Christ, you’re a participant in the new covenant. The law is written on your heart by the Holy Spirit. You have direct access to God through Christ as your eternal high priest — no temple, no Levitical priest, no animal sacrifice required. These are the “better promises” Hebrews 8:6 describes.
A Real Moment
The covenant question that comes up in almost every small group I’ve been part of is the tithe. Someone reads Malachi 3:10, someone else reads 2 Corinthians 9:7, and the conversation heats up fast. Understanding which covenant Malachi was speaking into — the Mosaic covenant with the nation of Israel — and which covenant Paul was writing within — the new covenant of grace — doesn’t eliminate generosity. It just puts it on the right foundation.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many covenants are there in the Old Testament?
Biblical scholars typically identify between five and eight major divine covenants. The most comprehensive count recognizes seven: Adamic, Noahic, Abrahamic, Mosaic, Palestinian/Land, Davidic, and the New Covenant (predicted in the OT and inaugurated by Christ). Some theologians distinguish an Edenic covenant pre-Fall, bringing the total to eight. Most theological traditions work with five or seven as their primary framework for understanding the story of God’s relationship with humanity.
What is the difference between the old covenant and the new covenant?
The old covenant (Mosaic) was conditional — blessings depended on Israel’s obedience to the law. It was written on stone tablets, mediated by human priests, and required repeated animal sacrifice. The new covenant inaugurated by Christ is unconditional — it rests on God’s faithfulness through Christ’s one sacrifice, is written on hearts by the Holy Spirit, and gives direct access to God through Christ as the eternal high priest. Hebrews 8 describes the new covenant as superior, built on better promises.
Was the Abrahamic covenant conditional or unconditional?
The Abrahamic covenant is unconditional. In Genesis 15, God puts Abraham into a deep sleep and walks through the animal pieces alone — taking both sides of the covenant oath upon himself. In ancient Near Eastern treaty practice, both parties walked through together. God walking through alone means the covenant’s fulfillment rests entirely on him. The circumcision requirement in Genesis 17 is a sign of belonging to the covenant — not a condition for its fulfillment.
How do different Christian traditions view the Old Testament covenants?
The three main frameworks are: Covenant Theology (Reformed/Presbyterian) — sees the covenants unified under a single “covenant of grace,” with the New Covenant as the fullest expression of God’s one redemptive plan. Dispensationalism — distinguishes sharply between God’s program for Israel and the church, and often sees the Palestinian and Davidic covenants as having literal, future fulfillment for national Israel. New Covenant Theology — holds that Christians are under the New Covenant alone, not the Mosaic covenant in any form. Latter-day Saints hold a distinct view of covenants, seeing them as ongoing ordinances with specific obligations — different from all three Protestant frameworks. Understanding these different ways of reading the covenants explains many denominational disagreements.
What does it mean that Jesus fulfilled the Old Testament covenants?
Jesus fulfilled the covenants in specific ways: he’s the descendant of Abraham through whom all nations are blessed (Galatians 3:16); he’s the son of David whose throne is eternal (Luke 1:32–33); he’s the faithful Israel who succeeded where the nation failed; and through his death he inaugurated the new covenant Jeremiah predicted — writing the law on hearts, securing complete forgiveness, and providing direct access to God as the eternal high priest (Hebrews 9:11–15).
Do Old Testament covenants apply to Christians today?
Christians live under the new covenant, not the Mosaic covenant. But the old covenants still inform our faith. The Noahic covenant reminds us of God’s commitment to preserve creation. The Abrahamic covenant shows that salvation has always been by faith. The Davidic covenant points to Christ as eternal King. The moral heart of the Mosaic law — love God, love your neighbor — is echoed and deepened throughout the New Testament. The covenants aren’t obsolete Scripture. They’re the story that explains why we needed Christ Jesus at all.
The 7 Covenants Tell One Story
These aren’t seven disconnected agreements filed in different sections of an ancient archive. They’re chapters in a single story — God’s covenant faithfulness moving through history toward one destination.
The Adamic covenant broke. The Noahic preserved the world long enough for the next act. The Abrahamic launched the family through which a Savior would come. The Mosaic covenant revealed how deep the need for that Savior ran. The Land covenant showed that God doesn’t abandon his people even when they abandon him. The Davidic prepared the royal line. And the new covenant, prophesied by Jeremiah and sealed at a table in an upper room, delivered what every previous covenant was pointing toward.
If you want to go deeper into specific passages, our Bible study resources cover many of the key texts referenced here. For a rigorous academic perspective, The Gospel Coalition’s essay on the Biblical Covenants is one of the most thorough free resources available. And if you’re working through the question of what it means to live as a participant in the new covenant right now — that’s the right question to sit with.
The story isn’t over. But thanks to the new covenant in Christ’s blood, we know how it ends.
George Hendricks is the founder and managing editor of Godsverse.org. He has written and published over 200 skit reviews, church resource guides, and Bible study articles. With a background in data-driven content strategy and digital publishing, George built Godsverse into one of the most comprehensive collections of church skit reviews and printable scripts online. When he's not writing, he's researching what churches actually need and figuring out how to deliver it.
I am very pleased you emphasize Jer. 31:31-34. These verses so significantly summarise the enormous transition between the Old & New Covenants; and the transfer of discipleship from the Priest to the people, to the Priesthood of ALL believers through Jesus. In both cases they are conditional covenants of obedience, especially in the NC as Jesus declares: John 14:15 — not by works, but by love!
I am very pleased you emphasize Jer. 31:31-34. These verses so significantly summarise the enormous transition between the Old & New Covenants; and the transfer of discipleship from the Priest to the people, to the Priesthood of ALL believers through Jesus. In both cases they are conditional covenants of obedience, especially in the NC as Jesus declares: John 14:15 — not by works, but by love!