Contracts

Passages on this topic

From Nave’s Topical Bible (1896), a historical reference index. The groupings are Nave’s; the verses are shown in the text used across this site.

Between Abraham and Abimelech, concerning wells of water

• Genesis 21:25–32 But when Abraham complained to Abimelech about a well that Abimelech’s servants had seized, Abimelech replied, “I do not know who has done this. You did not tell me, so I have not heard about it until today.” So Abraham brought sheep and cattle and gave them to Abimelech, and the two men made a cov…

Violated

• Genesis 26:15 So the Philistines took dirt and stopped up all the wells that his father’s servants had dug in the days of his father Abraham.

First contract between Laban and Jacob for Laban's daughter

• Genesis 29:15–20 Laban said to him, “Just because you are my relative, should you work for nothing? Tell me what your wages should be.” Now Laban had two daughters; the older was named Leah, and the younger was named Rachel. Leah had weak eyes, but Rachel was shapely and beautiful. Since Jacob loved Rachel, he answ…
• Genesis 29:27–30 Finish this week’s celebration, and we will give you the younger one in return for another seven years of work.” And Jacob did just that. He finished the week’s celebration, and Laban gave him his daughter Rachel as his wife. Laban also gave his servant girl Bilhah to his daughter Rachel as her mai…

Violated

• Genesis 29:23–27 But when evening came, Laban took his daughter Leah and gave her to Jacob, and he slept with her. And Laban gave his servant girl Zilpah to his daughter Leah as her maidservant. When morning came, there was Leah! “What have you done to me?” Jacob said to Laban. “Wasn’t it for Rachel that I served y…

Second contract

• Genesis 30:28–34 And he added, “Name your wages, and I will pay them.” Then Jacob answered, “You know how I have served you and how your livestock have thrived under my care. Indeed, you had very little before my arrival, but now your wealth has increased many times over. The LORD has blessed you wherever I set foo…

Violated

• Genesis 30:37–43 Jacob, however, took fresh branches of poplar, almond, and plane trees, and peeled the bark, exposing the white inner wood of the branches. Then he set the peeled branches in the watering troughs in front of the flocks coming in to drink. So when the flocks were in heat and came to drink, they mate…
• Genesis 31:7 And although he has cheated me and changed my wages ten times, God has not allowed him to harm me.

For cattle

• Genesis 30:27–29 But Laban replied, “If I have found favor in your eyes, please stay. I have learned by divination that the LORD has blessed me because of you.” And he added, “Name your wages, and I will pay them.” Then Jacob answered, “You know how I have served you and how your livestock have thrived under my car…
• Genesis 30:31–34 “What can I give you?” Laban asked. “You do not need to give me anything,” Jacob replied. “If you do this one thing for me, I will keep on shepherding and keeping your flocks. Let me go through all your flocks today and remove from them every speckled or spotted sheep, every dark-colored lamb, and…

See Fraud

Between Solomon and Hiram

• 1 Kings 5:9–11 My servants will haul the logs from Lebanon to the Sea, and I will float them as rafts by sea to the place you specify. There I will separate the logs, and you can take them away. And in exchange, you can meet my needs by providing my household with food.” So Hiram provided Solomon with all the ced…
• 1 Kings 9:11 King Solomon gave twenty towns in the land of Galilee to Hiram king of Tyre, who had supplied him with cedar and cypress logs and gold for his every desire.

Dissolved

By mutual consent

• Exodus 4:18 Then Moses went back to his father-in-law Jethro and said to him, “Please let me return to my brothers in Egypt to see if they are still alive.” “Go in peace,” Jethro replied.

By blotting out

• Colossians 2:14 having canceled the debt ascribed to us in the decrees that stood against us. He took it away, nailing it to the cross!

Modes of ratifying

By giving presents

• Genesis 21:25–30 But when Abraham complained to Abimelech about a well that Abimelech’s servants had seized, Abimelech replied, “I do not know who has done this. You did not tell me, so I have not heard about it until today.” So Abraham brought sheep and cattle and gave them to Abimelech, and the two men made a cov…
• 1 Samuel 18:4 And Jonathan removed the robe he was wearing and gave it to David, along with his tunic, his sword, his bow, and his belt.

By consummating in the presence of the public at the gate of the city

• Genesis 23:18 to Abraham’s possession in the presence of all the Hittites who had come to the gate of his city.
• Ruth 4:1–2 Meanwhile, Boaz went to the gate and sat down there. Soon the kinsman-redeemer of whom he had spoken came along, and Boaz said, “Come over here, my friend, and sit down.” So he went over and sat down. Then Boaz took ten of the elders of the city and said, “Sit here,” and they did so.

By erecting a heap of stones

• Genesis 31:44–54 Come now, let us make a covenant, you and I, and let it serve as a witness between you and me.” So Jacob picked out a stone and set it up as a pillar, and he said to his relatives, “Gather some stones.” So they took stones and made a mound, and there by the mound they ate. Laban called it Jegar-sah…

By oaths

• Genesis 26:3 Stay in this land as a foreigner, and I will be with you and bless you. For I will give all these lands to you and your offspring, and I will confirm the oath that I swore to your father Abraham.
• Genesis 26:31 And they got up early the next morning and swore an oath to each other. Then Isaac sent them on their way, and they left him in peace.
• Joshua 9:15 And Joshua made a treaty of peace with them to let them live, and the leaders of the congregation swore an oath to them.
• Joshua 9:20 This is how we will treat them: We will let them live, so that no wrath will fall on us because of the oath we swore to them.”
• 1 Chronicles 16:16 the covenant He made with Abraham, and the oath He swore to Isaac.
• Hebrews 6:16–17 Men swear by someone greater than themselves, and their oath serves as a confirmation to end all argument. So when God wanted to make the unchanging nature of His purpose very clear to the heirs of the promise, He guaranteed it with an oath.

By joining hands

• Proverbs 6:1 My son, if you have put up security for your neighbor, if you have struck hands in pledge with a stranger,
• Proverbs 11:21 Be assured that the wicked will not go unpunished, but the offspring of the righteous will escape.
• Proverbs 17:18 A man lacking judgment strikes hands in pledge and puts up security for his neighbor.
• Proverbs 22:26 Do not be one who gives pledges, who puts up security for debts.
• Ezekiel 17:18 He despised the oath by breaking the covenant. Seeing that he gave his hand in pledge yet did all these things, he will not escape!’

With salt

• Numbers 18:19 All the holy offerings that the Israelites present to the LORD I give to you and to your sons and daughters as a permanent statute. It is a permanent covenant of salt before the LORD for you and your offspring.”

By taking off the shoe

• Ruth 4:6–8 The kinsman-redeemer replied, “I cannot redeem it myself, or I would jeopardize my own inheritance. Take my right of redemption, because I cannot redeem it.” Now in former times in Israel, concerning the redemption or exchange of property, to make any matter legally binding a man would remove his s…

Written instrument

• Jeremiah 32:10–15 I signed and sealed the deed, called in witnesses, and weighed out the silver on the scales. Then I took the deed of purchase— the sealed copy with its terms and conditions, as well as the open copy— and I gave this deed to Baruch son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, in the sight of my cousin Haname…

See Covenants

See Vows

Scriptures Illustrative of the Binding Force of

• Exodus 21:2–6 If you buy a Hebrew servant, he is to serve you for six years. But in the seventh year, he shall go free without paying anything. If he arrived alone, he is to leave alone; if he arrived with a wife, she is to leave with him. If his master gives him a wife and she bears him sons or daughters, the w…
• Leviticus 6:1–2 And the LORD said to Moses, “If someone sins and acts unfaithfully against the LORD by deceiving his neighbor in regard to a deposit or security entrusted to him or stolen, or if he extorts his neighbor
• Leviticus 6:4–7 once he has sinned and becomes guilty, he must return what he has stolen or taken by extortion, or the deposit entrusted to him, or the lost property he found, or anything else about which he has sworn falsely. He must make restitution in full, add a fifth of the value, and pay it to the owner on t…
• Joshua 9:3–9 But the people of Gibeon, having heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and Ai, acted deceptively and set out as envoys, carrying on their donkeys worn-out sacks and old wineskins, cracked and mended. They put worn, patched sandals on their feet and threadbare clothing on their bodies, and their who…
• Joshua 9:15–16 And Joshua made a treaty of peace with them to let them live, and the leaders of the congregation swore an oath to them. Three days after they had made the treaty with the Gibeonites, the Israelites learned that they were neighbors, living among them.
• Joshua 9:18–27 But the Israelites did not attack them, because the leaders of the congregation had sworn an oath to them by the LORD, the God of Israel. And the whole congregation grumbled against the leaders. All the leaders answered, “We have sworn an oath to them by the LORD, the God of Israel, and now we cann…
• Matthew 20:1–16 “For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard. About the third hour he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. ‘You also go in…
• Galatians 3:15 Brothers, let me put this in human terms. Even a human covenant, once it is ratified, cannot be canceled or amended.

See Covenant

See Land