How to Use Old Testament in a Sentence

Old Testament

noun
  • It is called the Daniel fast, named for the Prophet Daniel of the Bible’s Old Testament.
    — Bea L. Hines, Miami Herald, 23 Dec. 2025
  • Brown was unswayed by Garrison’s calls for nonviolence, using Old Testament passages to invoke notions of vengeance and divine wrath.
    — Danny Heitman, Christian Science Monitor, 4 Dec. 2025
  • Gileadean justice — forgive the oxymoron — operates on an Old Testament commitment to retributivism.
    — Amanda Whiting, Vulture, 20 May 2026
  • But true to its Old Testament inspiration and underlying theology, there’s no knowing why God has sent these torments to Jacob and his town.
    — Leslie Felperin, HollywoodReporter, 3 Sep. 2019
  • The White House and the Pentagon have used Old Testament verses to frame political or military objectives as holy missions.
    — Voice Of The People, New York Daily News, 24 Apr. 2026
  • But last week's newsletter, which was about the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) and Western civilization, was in hindsight perhaps eerily relevant.
    — Josh Hammer, MSNBC Newsweek, 17 Sep. 2025
  • Like an Old Testament patriarch whose sins are absorbed in a greater story of redemption, America’s identity as the apostle of liberty relieves it of the excesses of introspection.
    — Literary Hub, 15 June 2026
  • But make no mistake — the God of this New York underworld is the same Old Testament–esque daddy of Breaking Bad who metes out every act of self-interest with some form of just deserts down the line.
    — Andy Andersen, Vulture, 18 Sep. 2025
  • My Esther is purposely the embodiment of the Queen Esther she is named for—the Esther of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament.
    — Literary Hub, 24 Nov. 2025
  • For a man of his era—always a worrisome qualification—Dante seems remarkably free of prejudice against the Jewish people and religion, and there is a panoply of Old Testament figures in Paradise.
    — Claudia Roth Pierpont, New Yorker, 24 Nov. 2025
  • Following a surge of federal law enforcement in Minneapolis, for instance, Hamilton cited an Old Testament verse that commands Israelites to treat foreigners with love and fairness.
    — ABC News, 30 Apr. 2026

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'Old Testament.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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