The Ethiopian Book of the Covenant
By EthiopianBibleBooks · Sources checked November 2, 2026
The Ethiopian Book of the Covenant, or Mäshafä Kidan, is a two-part Christian work included as two entries in the broader Ethiopian New Testament enumeration. It belongs to the group of writings concerned with the church’s life and teaching. It is not the legal collection within Exodus that scholars also call the Book of the Covenant. Lexham Bible Dictionary: Ethiopian Book of the Covenant
The first thing to establish when you find an English book or PDF is therefore its identity. A matching English title is only the beginning.
Where is it in the Ethiopian Bible?
The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church’s English Bible page lists “I Book of Dominos” and “II Book of Dominos” in its 35-entry New Testament section. These correspond to the two Covenant entries in scholarly descriptions. They appear alongside the four Sinodos sections, Ethiopic Clement, and the Ethiopian Didascalia. Church Bible list · Cowley’s identification
That is a particular way of enumerating the tradition. It does not mean every printed volume advertised as an Ethiopian Bible physically contains the church-order books. A list of what belongs to a canon and an inventory of what a publisher printed are separate documents.
See the source-mapped Ethiopian Bible books list for the complete enumeration and its grouping notes.
What does the work contain?
R. W. Cowley’s 1974 study describes the Covenant material as two parts:
| Part in Cowley’s description | Content identified | Reading implication |
|---|---|---|
| First part: sections 1–60 | Mainly matters of church order | Expect instructions about communal religious life, rather than another Gospel narrative |
| Second part: section 61 | A discourse attributed to Jesus to his disciples in Galilee after the resurrection | Distinguish the work’s narrative setting from a historical argument about when it was composed |
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Source: Cowley, “The Biblical Canon of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church Today”.
Lexham similarly describes a work presenting teachings of Jesus to the apostles in the period after the resurrection and before the ascension. It also distinguishes that literary presentation from Western scholarship’s later dating of the work. Lexham entry
Those distinctions help you read responsibly. “The text presents Jesus speaking” describes its form. “The surviving text was composed in the first century” would be a separate historical claim requiring evidence. Neither statement should be silently substituted for the other.
Why a search for “Book of the Covenant” returns different books
The title is shared across several contexts. Identify the subject before using a result as evidence about the Ethiopian canon.
| Search result | What it may concern | Is the title enough to identify Mäshafä Kidan? |
|---|---|---|
| A discussion of Exodus 20–23 or Exodus 24:7 | Israelite law and the covenant narrative in Exodus | No |
| A theological book about covenants | A modern author’s treatment of a biblical theme | No |
| Testament of Our Lord | A church-order textual tradition with witnesses in more than one language | No; inspect the version and scope |
| Mäshafä Kidan with an Ethiopic source statement | The work you are investigating | Stronger identification; translation and completeness still need checking |
| “Dominos” in an Ethiopian canon list | The church-list naming convention | Useful identification of the entry, not proof of a particular English edition |
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For comparison, an academic article titled “The Transmission of the Book of the Covenant” discusses the Old Testament legal material. It is not an edition of the Ethiopian church-order work. A scholarly-looking result can still answer a different question.
Can you get the Ethiopian Book of the Covenant in English?
An English text must be checked by version, not just by title. Translations of related church-order material can be valuable for comparison, but a translation from Syriac should not be presented without explanation as a direct translation of the Ethiopic text.
For example, the historical Cooper and Maclean edition is explicitly titled The Testament of Our Lord, Translated into English from the Syriac. That wording states its source language. A record or reprint of it does not, on its own, prove that both Ethiopian Covenant parts are supplied in their Ethiopian form. Historical edition description
We do not identify a complete, church-authorized English Covenant edition on the strength of a title alone. Nor does an older scholar’s report that texts were difficult to obtain establish what is available today. For the English sources we can trace, use our translation source index.
What to check before downloading a PDF
Open the title page and introduction before the main text. A useful file should let you answer these questions:
- Which work and which part does it contain? A single discourse or excerpt is not automatically both Covenant books.
- What is the source language? Record Ge’ez, Syriac, or another language exactly as the editor states it.
- Who did the translation? Distinguish the translator from the person who uploaded or repackaged the file.
- What edition or manuscript was used? A specific citation makes later checking possible.
- What has been changed? A modernization, adaptation, abridgment, and direct translation are different products.
- Why is the file available? Prefer a publisher, library, academic repository, or other host that explains its rights and provenance.
If the file begins with a generic cover and supplies none of this information, do not use it as your reference text for a book, class, or canon comparison. You may be unable to tell what you are quoting.
Our free reading and PDF guide explains the difference between a downloadable file, a manuscript scan, and a readable English translation.
How to study an identified text
Once you have a source you can identify, begin by recording its exact bibliographic details. Then separate three layers in your notes: the speaker presented by the text, the instruction being given, and the editor’s historical explanation.
For church-order material, ask concrete questions: Who receives the instruction? Which community role or practice does it address? Is a reason supplied? Does the translation mark a textual uncertainty? These questions reveal the function of a passage without forcing it into the format of a Gospel story.
Do not make the Covenant your first stop simply because a seller calls it secret or unavailable. A beginner can establish the canon’s basic shape and start with identifiable translations of Enoch and Jubilees, then return to the church-order writings with better context.
Sources
- Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, “The Bible”.
- R. W. Cowley, “The Biblical Canon of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church Today”, Ostkirchliche Studien 23, 1974, pp. 318–323; online reproduction.
- Lexham Bible Dictionary, “Book of the Covenant, Ethiopian”, introductory entry.
- James Cooper and Arthur John Maclean, The Testament of Our Lord, 1902; source-language description of the historical edition.
For an identified edition you think we should add, contact the editorial team with its title page, translator, publisher, and source statement.