Gk. diathekç
A will or an agreement. 1 The last will and testament of a person, disposing of the person’s property. 2 A covenant in the sense of the Sinai Covenant and of the “Old Testament” and “New Testament.” Paul presumes meanings 1 and 2 in his discussion in (Gal 3:15-18). 3 A literary genre common in Jewish literature in the intertestamental period (ca. 200 BCE–50 CE) and also found in the Bible. In a literary testament a famous figure delivers a speech or gives a blessing to his descendants or followers. Usually the speech contains predictions of their future destiny, moral exhortations, or blessings. Jacob’s blessing on his twelve sons (Gen 49) is the model for many other writings, including the account of Moses’s blessing on Israel in (Deut 33); Jesus’s last discourse in (John 13-17), and, especially, the nonbiblical book The Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs.
