Guide

The 7 Biblical Covenants

A covenant is a binding relationship God initiates and guarantees — closer to an oath of loyalty than a contract of convenience. Scripture tells one story through a handful of them, each carrying the earlier promises forward. Here is what each covenant says, who it binds, and how the seven connect.

What does “covenant” mean in the Bible?

The Hebrew word is berit, rendered diathēkē in Greek. In the ancient Near East such agreements were sealed with a sacrifice, marked by a visible sign, and spelled out in blessings for loyalty and consequences for betrayal. Biblical covenants keep that shape but invert the power dynamic: God sets the terms and God carries the weight of keeping them. Two patterns recur — covenants that hinge on human obedience (Sinai) and covenants God swears to uphold regardless (Abraham, David, the New).

The seven covenants

01Edenic (Creation)

Conditional

Genesis 1:28–30; 2:15–17

The first arrangement frames humanity as image-bearers charged with filling and keeping the earth. One prohibition — the tree of the knowledge of good and evil — makes obedience a matter of trust rather than ignorance.

Parties: God and humanity in Adam
Sign: The tree of life
Promise: Life, fruitfulness, and stewardship of creation

02Adamic (after the fall)

Unconditional

Genesis 3:14–19

Judgment and mercy arrive in the same breath. Genesis 3:15 is often read as the first messianic promise, the thread later covenants keep pulling on.

Parties: God, the serpent, and humanity
Sign: Toil, pain, and mortality
Promise: A seed of the woman who will crush the serpent

03Noahic

Unconditional

Genesis 9:8–17

The first covenant explicitly called one in Scripture, and the widest in scope: it is made with all flesh, not a chosen family. It establishes a stable world in which redemption can unfold.

Parties: God with Noah and every living creature
Sign: The rainbow
Promise: Creation will never again be destroyed by flood

04Abrahamic

Unconditional

Genesis 12:1–3; 15; 17

In Genesis 15 God alone passes between the divided animals, taking the obligation on himself. Paul later reads the promise that 'all nations will be blessed' as the gospel announced ahead of time (Galatians 3:8).

Parties: God and Abraham's household
Sign: Circumcision
Promise: Land, offspring, and blessing to all nations

05Mosaic (Sinai)

Conditional

Exodus 19–24; Deuteronomy 28

Sinai does not replace the Abrahamic promise; it governs the life of the people who carry it. Its blessings and curses give the prophets their vocabulary and set up the need for a covenant written on the heart.

Parties: God and the nation of Israel
Sign: The Sabbath
Promise: A priestly nation, with blessing for obedience and exile for covenant-breaking

06Davidic

Unconditional

2 Samuel 7:8–16; Psalm 89

The land promise narrows to a dynasty. When the monarchy collapses, the promise does not — it becomes the hope of a coming son of David, the title the Gospels press onto Jesus.

Parties: God and the house of David
Sign: An enduring throne
Promise: A descendant whose kingdom will not end

07New Covenant

Unconditional

Jeremiah 31:31–34; Luke 22:20; Hebrews 8

Jeremiah promises what Sinai exposed as missing: a law written inside, sins remembered no more. Hebrews reads Christ's death as the ratification, gathering every earlier thread into one.

Parties: God with Israel, Judah, and all who are in Christ
Sign: The cup of the Lord's supper
Promise: Forgiveness, an internalized law, and knowledge of God

How the covenants connect

Read chronologically, the covenants narrow and then open again. Creation addresses all humanity; Noah preserves it; Abraham selects one family as the channel of blessing; Sinai shapes that family into a nation; David narrows it to a single throne; the New Covenant flings the promise back out to every nation through David's son. Nothing is discarded along the way — each promise is inherited.

Creation ──► Adamic ──► Noahic ──► Abrahamic ──► Mosaic ──► Davidic ──► New
   all         seed of      all         one          one        one        all
 humanity     the woman    flesh       family       nation     throne    nations

This is the shape the Theological Atlas draws: Grace, Covenants, and Wisdom as hubs, with threads running between the passages that carry a promise forward. Open the atlas and follow the covenant thread from Genesis 15 to Luke 22 to see it move.

Explore the covenant thread in the Atlas

Keep studying

Read Genesis 15 alongside Jeremiah 31 and note what God takes on himself in each.
Trace the word “forever” through 2 Samuel 7 and Psalm 89.
Compare Deuteronomy 28 with Hebrews 8 to see what the New Covenant answers.