A covenant is a contract. This contract can be between two people, between groups of people, or between God and people. A covenant is a promise to do something. For example, one person promises to do something for another person. But the person being given the promise usually has to do the things in the contract to be given this promise. Sometimes covenants have blessings for those who do what they promise to do and curses for those who do not do what they promise to do (see: Deuteronomy 28).
God made several covenants with his people in the Bible (see: Genesis 9:1; 15:18; 17:2; Exodus 24:8; 2 Samuel 7:28; Luke 22:20). In some of the covenants, God promised to do what he said he would do without people having to do anything. For example, God made a covenant to not destroy everyone on the earth again with a worldwide flood. God did not make the people promise to do anything (see: Genesis 9:11-16). In other covenants, God promised to do what he said he would do only if the people obeyed him and did what they said they would do (see: Exodus 19:5).
See: [Covenant with Moses (Old Covenant)](../articles/covenantmoses.md); [Covenant with Abraham](../articles/covenantabraham.md);[Covenant with David](../articles/covenantdavid.md); [New Covenant](../articles/newcovenant.md)
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