Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

Hebrews 7:22

κρείττονος διαθήκης. “By so much better was the covenant of which Jesus has been made surety.” The words—which might be taken as the keynote of the whole Epistle—should undoubtedly be rendered “of a better covenant.” The Greek word διαθήκη is the rendering of the Hebrew Berîth, which means a covenant. Of “testaments” the Hebrews knew nothing until they learnt the custom of “making a will” from the Romans. So completely was this the case that there is no word in Hebrew which means “a will,” and when a writer in the Talmud wants to speak of a “will,” he has to put the Greek word διαθήκη in Hebrew letters. The Hebrew berîth is rendered διαθήκη in the LXX., and “covenant” by our translators at least 200 times. When we speak of the “Old” or the “New Testament” we have borrowed the word from the Vulgate or Latin translation of St Jerome in 2 Corinthians 3:6. The only exception to this meaning of διαθήκη in the N. T. is in Hebrews 9:15-17. Of the way in which Jesus is “a pledge” (ἔγγυος) of this “better covenant,” see Hebrews 7:25 and Hebrews 8:1; Hebrews 8:6; Hebrews 9:15; Hebrews 12:24. The word ἔγγυος occurs here alone in the N. T., but is found in Sir 29:15.

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Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

Hebrews 7:22

Old Testament

New Testament