Amy Hardison writes that anciently, covenants were written with a specific vocabulary. Inside the covenant context, certain words had official and legal meanings that sometimes differed from their normal, everyday use,. For instance, to "know" means to be loyal to and to recognize the legitimate suzerain or lord with whom the covenant is being made, and to acknowledge the terms of a covenant as binding. To do good is to keep one's covenants. To do evil is to break one's covenant (evil in covenant curses conveys disaster, calamity, and misfortune--not the moral opposite of righteousness).
Understanding the covenant meaning of these words increases our understanding of certain scriptures. For instance, in Isaiah 1:3 we read, "The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib [manger]: but Israel doth not know [me], my people doth not consider." God's complaint about Israel's lack of knowledge refers not to her intelligence but to her loyalty. Also of interest is Isaiah 45:7, wherein God states, "I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil." This verse does not mean that God is the author of evil. What this verse in Isaiah really means is that God will fulfill the terms of his covenant, granting covenant blessings (peace) or covenant curses (evil) as the people warrant them. As Moroni explains, "All things which are good cometh of God; and that which is evil cometh of the devil" (Moroni 7:12). [Amy Blake Hardison, "Being a Covenant People," in Covenants Prophecies and Hymns of the Old Testament, p. 24]