tes·ta·ment /ˈtɛstəmənt/
聖約,與神的誓約,聖約書,遺囑
Tes·ta·ment n.
1. Law A solemn, authentic instrument in writing, by which a person declares his will as to disposal of his estate and effects after his death.
Note: ☞ This is otherwise called a will, and sometimes a last will and testament. A testament, to be valid, must be made by a person of sound mind; and it must be executed and published in due form of law. A man, in certain cases, may make a valid will by word of mouth only. See Nuncupative will, under Nuncupative.
2. One of the two distinct revelations of God's purposes toward man; a covenant; also, one of the two general divisions of the canonical books of the sacred Scriptures, in which the covenants are respectively revealed; as, the Old Testament; the New Testament; -- often limited, in colloquial language, to the latter.
He is the mediator of the new testament . . . for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament. --Heb. ix. 15.
Holographic testament, a testament written wholly by the testator himself. --Bouvier.
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testament
n 1: a profession of belief; "he stated his political testament"
2: a legal document declaring a person's wishes regarding the
disposal of their property when they die [syn: will]
3: strong evidence for something; "his easy victory was a
testament to his skill"
4: either of the two main parts of the Christian Bible
Testament
occurs twelve times in the New Testament (Heb. 9:15, etc.) as
the rendering of the Gr. diatheke, which is twenty times
rendered "covenant" in the Authorized Version, and always so in
the Revised Version. The Vulgate translates incorrectly by
testamentum, whence the names "Old" and "New Testament," by
which we now designate the two sections into which the Bible is
divided. (See BIBLE.)