בְּרִית beriyt or brit (H1285) literally means “to eat meat” and comes from a root word which means to feed grain to a person or livestock to fill or fatten them up. Livestock were fed grains to become fat as the choicest for slaughter. When related to covenants in the Bible, a covenant was established through a sacrifice of a choice, fatted, animal which was cut in two and the parties of the covenant would pass through the two divided pieces of the cut animal (cf. Genesis 15:9-10, 17-21; Jeremiah 34:18-20). If either party who has passed through the pieces fails to meet the agreed upon words of the covenant, then the party who has not broken the covenant are allowed to “cut them off” from the covenant just as the animals were cut (cf. Genesis 17:14 “…that soul shall be cut off from his people. He has broken my covenant.“)
Most often translated “made a covenant” כָּרַת בְּרִית karat berit (H3772 + H1285) literally means “cut a covenant” because the animal sacrificed when a covenant is enter into is cut in half (cf. Genesis 15:9-10,17-18; Exodus 24:8; Hebrews 9:16-20).
« Back to Glossary Index