Editing New Testament (section)

=== The word ''testament'' ===
The word ''[[wikt:testament|testament]]'' in the expression "New Testament" refers to a Christian [[Covenant_(biblical)#Christianity|new covenant]] that Christians believe completes or fulfils the [[Mosaic covenant]] (the Jewish covenant) that [[Yahweh]] (the [[God]] of Israel) made with the [[Israelites|people of Israel]] on [[Mount Sinai (bible)|Mount Sinai]] through [[Moses]], described in the books of the [[Old Testament]] of the Christian Bible.<ref name=":0">{{cite encyclopedia |title=New Testament |url=https://www.catholic.com/encyclopedia/new-testament |encyclopedia=Catholic Encyclopedia |via=Catholic.com |access-date=16 February 2021 |date=1912}}</ref> While Christianity traditionally even claims this ''Christian new covenant'' as being prophesied in the [[Jewish Bible]]'s [[Book of Jeremiah]],<ref>{{bibleverse|Jeremiah|31:30–34|HE|Jeremiah 31–34}}</ref> [[Judaism]] traditionally disagrees:{{sfn|Biddle|2007|p=1074}}{{sfn|Davidson|1993|p=347}}
{{blockquote|Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah;	not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; forasmuch as they broke My covenant, although I was a lord over them, saith the LORD. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the LORD, I will put My law in their inward parts, and in their heart will I write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people; and they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying: 'Know the LORD'; for they shall all know Me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD; for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin will I remember no more.}}

The word ''covenant'' means 'agreement' (from Latin {{lang|la|con-venio}} "to agree", literally 'to come together'): the use of the word ''testament'', which describes the different idea of written instructions for inheritance after death, to refer to the covenant with Israel in the Old Testament, is foreign to the original Hebrew word {{tlit|he|brit}} ({{lang|he|בְּרִית}}) describing it, which only means 'alliance, covenant, pact' and never 'inheritance instructions after death'.<ref>Definition of ברית in Brown-Driver-Briggs's lexicon: https://biblehub.com/hebrew/1285.htm

Hebrew uses an unrelated word for testament: ''tsavaa'' (צַוָּאָה).</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Inheritance – Holman Bible Dictionary – Bible Dictionary|url=https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/hbd/i/inheritance.html|access-date=2020-08-12|website=StudyLight.org|language=en-US}}</ref> This use comes from the transcription of Latin ''testamentum'' 'will (left after death)',<ref>{{Cite web|title=testamentum: Latin Word Study Tool|url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/morph?l=testamentum&la=la|access-date=2020-08-12|website=www.perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref> a literal translation of Greek ''diatheke'' (διαθήκη) 'will (left after death)',<ref>{{Cite web|title=διαθήκη: Greek Word Study Tool|url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/morph?l=%CE%B4%CE%B9%CE%B1%CE%B8%CE%B7%CE%BA%CE%B7&la=greek#lexicon|access-date=2020-08-12|website=www.perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref> which is the word used to translate Hebrew ''brit'' in the [[Septuagint]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=G1242 – diathēkē – Strong's Greek Lexicon (KJV)|url=https://www.blueletterbible.org/kjv/gen/1/1/s_1001|access-date=2020-08-12|website=Blue Letter Bible|language=en}}</ref>

The choice of this word ''diatheke'', by the Jewish translators of the Septuagint in [[Alexandria]] in the 3rd and 2nd century BCE, has been understood in Christian theology to imply a reinterpreted view of the Old Testament covenant with Israel as [[Hebrews 9#The New Covenant (9:15-22)|possessing characteristics]] of a 'will left after death' (the death of [[Jesus]]) and has generated considerable attention from biblical scholars and theologians:<ref name="bible-researcher.com">{{Cite web|title=The meaning of "Covenant" (διαθηκη) in the Bible|url=http://www.bible-researcher.com/covenant.html|access-date=2020-08-12|website=www.bible-researcher.com}}</ref> in contrast to the Jewish usage where ''brit'' was the usual Hebrew word used to refer to pacts, alliances and covenants in general, like a common pact between two individuals,{{Efn|For example, the pact between Jacob with Laban in Genesis ([https://biblehub.com/interlinear/genesis/31-44.htm Genesis 31:44]).}} and to the one between God and Israel in particular,{{Efn|For example, the covenant at Mount Sinai ([https://biblehub.com/interlinear/exodus/19-5.htm Exodus 19:5]) or the "new covenant" verse from Jeremiah 31:31 above ([https://biblehub.com/interlinear/jeremiah/31-31.htm Jeremiah 31:31]).}} in the Greek world ''diatheke'' was virtually never used to refer to an alliance or covenant (one exception is noted in a passage from [[Aristophanes]])<ref name=":0" /> and referred instead to a will left after the death of a person. There is scholarly debate<ref>{{cite journal |last=Jackson |first=Bernard S. |title=Why the Name New Testament? |author-link=Bernard Jackson (professor) |year=2013 |url=http://static1.1.sqspcdn.com/static/f/784513/23609902/1380577434807/3.pdf?token=8ZveuYFof7uMu8UwoCMRepxQitY%3D |journal=Melilah: Manchester Journal of Jewish Studies |volume=9 |issue=1 |pages=50–100 |doi=10.31826/mjj-2013-090104 |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref name="bible-researcher.com"/> as to the reason why the translators of the Septuagint chose the term ''diatheke'' to translate Hebrew ''brit'', instead of another Greek word generally used to refer to an alliance or covenant.