And they answered: We saw that the Lord is with thee, and therefore we said: Let there be an oath between us, and let us make a covenant, that thou do us no harm, as we on our part have touched nothing of thine, nor have done any thing to hurt thee; but with peace have sent thee away, increased with the blessing of the Lord.

And God said to Noah: This shall be the sign of the covenant, which I have established, between me and all flesh upon the earth.

There is no Jewish religion separate from the notion of a nation bound to it by covenant.

And God said: This is the sign of the covenant which I give between me and you, and to every living soul that is with you, for perpetual generations. I will set my bow in the clouds, and it shall be the sign of a covenant between me and the earth.

But my covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sara shall bring forth to thee at this time in the next year.

Brothers, let me put this in human terms. Even a human covenant, once it is ratified, cannot be canceled or amended.

Without truth, without trust, America cannot flourish. Trust is at the very heart of our democracy, the sacred covenant between a president and the people. When that trust is violated, the bonds that hold our republic together begin to weaken.

Again God said to Abraham: And thou therefore shalt keep my covenant, and thy seed after thee in their generations.

And God said to Abraham: Sara thy wife shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name Isaac, and I will establish my covenant with him for a perpetual covenant, and with his seed after him.

From that time unto this day, in the whole land of Egypt, the fifth part is paid to the kings, and it is become as a law, except the land of the priests, which was free from this covenant.