2 Kings 17:15

17:15 They rejected his rules, the covenant he had made with their ancestors, and the laws he had commanded them to obey. ¹  They paid allegiance to ²  worthless idols, and so became worthless to the Lord. ³  They copied the practices of the surrounding nations in blatant disregard of the Lord’s command. ⁴ 

Exodus 19:5-6

19:5 And now, if you will diligently listen to me ⁵  and keep ⁶  my covenant, then you will be my ⁷  special possession ⁸  out of all the nations, for all the earth is mine, 19:6 and you will be to me ⁹  a kingdom of priests ¹⁰  and a holy nation.’ ¹¹  These are the words that you will speak to the Israelites.”

Exodus 24:6-8

24:6 Moses took half of the blood and put it in bowls, and half of the blood he splashed on the altar. ¹²  24:7 He took the Book of the Covenant ¹³  and read it aloud ¹⁴  to the people, and they said, “We are willing to do and obey ¹⁵  all that the Lord has spoken.” 24:8 So Moses took the blood and splashed it on ¹⁶  the people and said, “This is the blood of the covenant ¹⁷  that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words.”

Deuteronomy 29:10-15

29:10 You are standing today, all of you, before the Lord your God – the heads of your tribes, ¹⁸  your elders, your officials, every Israelite man, 29:11 your infants, your wives, and the ¹⁹  foreigners living in your encampment, those who chop wood and those who carry water – 29:12 so that you may enter by oath into the covenant the Lord your God is making with you today. ²⁰  29:13 Today he will affirm that you are his people and that he is your God, ²¹  just as he promised you and as he swore by oath to your ancestors ²²  Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 29:14 It is not with you alone that I am making this covenant by oath, 29:15 but with whoever stands with us here today before the Lord our God as well as those not with us here today. ²³ 

Jeremiah 31:31-34

31:31 “Indeed, a time is coming,” says the Lord, ²⁴  “when I will make a new covenant ²⁵  with the people of Israel and Judah. ²⁶  31:32 It will not be like the old ²⁷  covenant that I made with their ancestors ²⁸  when I delivered them ²⁹  from Egypt. For they violated that covenant, even though I was like a faithful husband to them,” ³⁰  says the Lord. ³¹  31:33 “But I will make a new covenant with the whole nation of Israel ³²  after I plant them back in the land,” ³³  says the Lord. ³⁴  “I will ³⁵  put my law within them ³⁶  and write it on their hearts and minds. ³⁷  I will be their God and they will be my people. ³⁸ 

31:34 “People will no longer need to teach their neighbors and relatives to know me. ³⁹  For all of them, from the least important to the most important, will know me,” ⁴⁰  says the Lord. “For ⁴¹  I will forgive their sin and will no longer call to mind the wrong they have done.”

Hebrews 8:6-13

8:6 But ⁴²  now Jesus ⁴³  has obtained a superior ministry, since ⁴⁴  the covenant that he mediates is also better and is enacted ⁴⁵  on better promises. ⁴⁶ 

8:7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, no one would have looked for a second one. ⁴⁷  8:8 But ⁴⁸  showing its fault, ⁴⁹  God ⁵⁰  says to them, ⁵¹ 

“Look, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will complete a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.

8:9 “It will not be like the covenant ⁵²  that I made with their fathers, on the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they did not continue in my covenant and I had no regard for them, says the Lord.

8:10 “For this is the covenant that I will establish with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord. I will put ⁵³  my laws in their minds ⁵⁴  and I will inscribe them on their hearts. And I will be their God and they will be my people. ⁵⁵ 

8:11 “And there will be no need at all ⁵⁶  for each one to teach his countryman or each one to teach his brother saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ since they will all know me, from the least to the greatest. ⁵⁷ 

8:12 “For I will be merciful toward their evil deeds, and their sins I will remember no longer.” ⁵⁸ 

8:13 When he speaks of a new covenant, ⁵⁹  he makes the first obsolete. Now what is growing obsolete and aging is about to disappear. ⁶⁰ 

[17:15]  ¹ tn Or “and his warnings he had given them.”

[17:15]  ² tn Heb “They went [or, ‘followed’] after.” This idiom probably does not mean much if translated literally. It is found most often in Deuteronomy or in literature related to the covenant. It refers in the first instance to loyalty to God and to His covenant or His commandments (1 Kgs 14:8; 2 Chr 34:31) with the metaphor of a path or way underlying it (Deut 11:28; 28:14). To “follow other gods” was to abandon this way and this loyalty (to “abandon” or “forget” God, Judg 2:12; Hos 2:13) and to follow the customs or religious traditions of the pagan nations (2 Kgs 17:15). The classic text on “following” God or another god is 1 Kgs 18:18, 21 where Elijah taunts the people with “halting between two opinions” whether the Lord was the true God or Baal was. The idiom is often found followed by “to serve and to worship” or “they served and worshiped” such and such a god or entity (Jer 8:2; 11:10; 13:10; 16:11; 25:6; 35:15).

[17:15]  ³ tn Heb “they followed after the worthless thing/things and became worthless.” The words “to the Lord” are not in the Hebrew text but are implicit from the context. There is an obvious wordplay on the verb “became worthless” and the noun “worthless thing”, which is probably to be understood collectively and to refer to idols as it does in Jer 8:19; 10:8; 14:22; Jonah 2:8.

[17:15]  ⁴ tn Heb “and [they walked] after the nations which were around them, concerning which the Lord commanded them not to do like them.”

[19:5]  ⁵ tn Heb “listen to my voice.” The construction uses the imperfect tense in the conditional clause, preceded by the infinitive absolute from the same verb. The idiom “listen to the voice of” implies obedience, not just mental awareness of sound.

[19:5]  ⁶ tn The verb is a perfect tense with vav (ו) consecutive; it continues the idea in the protasis of the sentence: “and [if you will] keep.”

[19:5]  ⁷ tn The lamed preposition expresses possession here: “to me” means “my.”

[19:5]  ⁸ tn The noun is סְגֻלָּה (sÿgullah), which means a special possession. Israel was to be God’s special possession, but the prophets will later narrow it to the faithful remnant. All the nations belong to God, but Israel was to stand in a place of special privilege and enormous responsibility. See Deut 7:6; 14:2; 26:18; Ps 135:4; and Mal 3:17. See M. Greenburg, “Hebrew sÿgulla: Akkadian sikiltu,” JAOS 71 (1951): 172ff.

[19:6]  ⁹ tn Or “for me” (NIV, NRSV), or, if the lamed (ל) preposition has a possessive use, “my kingdom” (so NCV).

[19:6]  ¹⁰ tn The construction “a kingdom of priests” means that the kingdom is made up of priests. W. C. Kaiser (“Exodus,” EBC 2:417) offers four possible renderings of the expression: 1) apposition, viz., “kings, that is, priests; 2) as a construct with a genitive of specification, “royal priesthood”; 3) as a construct with the genitive being the attribute, “priestly kingdom”; and 4) reading with an unexpressed “and” – “kings and priests.” He takes the latter view that they were to be kings and priests. (Other references are R. B. Y. Scott, “A Kingdom of Priests (Exodus xix. 6),” OTS 8 [1950]: 213-19; William L. Moran, “A Kingdom of Priests,” The Bible in Current Catholic Thought, 7-20). However, due to the parallelism of the next description which uses an adjective, this is probably a construct relationship. This kingdom of God will be composed of a priestly people. All the Israelites would be living wholly in God’s service and enjoying the right of access to him. And, as priests, they would have the duty of representing God to the nations, following what they perceived to be the duties of priests – proclaiming God’s word, interceding for people, and making provision for people to find God through atonement (see Deut 33:9,10).

[19:6]  ¹¹ tn They are also to be “a holy nation.” They are to be a nation separate and distinct from the rest of the nations. Here is another aspect of their duty. It was one thing to be God’s special possession, but to be that they had to be priestly and holy. The duties of the covenant will specify what it would mean to be a holy nation. In short, they had to keep themselves free from everything that characterized pagan people (S. R. Driver, Exodus, 171). So it is a bilateral covenant: they received special privileges but they must provide special services by the special discipline. See also H. Kruse, “Exodus 19:5 and the Mission of Israel,” North East Asian Journal of Theology 24/25 (1980): 239-42.

[24:6]  ¹² sn The people and Yahweh through this will be united by blood, for half was spattered on the altar and the other half spattered on/toward the people (v. 8).

[24:7]  ¹³ tn The noun “book” would be the scroll just written containing the laws of chaps. 20-23. On the basis of this scroll the covenant would be concluded here. The reading of this book would assure the people that it was the same that they had agreed to earlier. But now their statement of willingness to obey would be more binding, because their promise would be confirmed by a covenant of blood.

[24:7]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “read it in the ears of.”

[24:7]  ¹⁵ tn A second verb is now added to the people’s response, and it is clearly an imperfect and not a cohortative, lending support for the choice of desiderative imperfect in these commitments – “we want to obey.” This was their compliance with the covenant.

[24:8]  ¹⁶ tn Given the size of the congregation, the preposition might be rendered here “toward the people” rather than on them (all).

[24:8]  ¹⁷ sn The construct relationship “the blood of the covenant” means “the blood by which the covenant is ratified” (S. R. Driver, Exodus, 254). The parallel with the inauguration of the new covenant in the blood of Christ is striking (see, e.g., Matt 26:28, 1 Cor 11:25). When Jesus was inaugurating the new covenant, he was bringing to an end the old.

[29:10]  ¹⁸ tc Heb “your heads, your tribes.” The Syriac presupposes either “heads of your tribes” or “your heads, your judges,” etc. (reading שֹׁפְטֵכֶם [shofÿtekhem] for שִׁבְטֵיכֶם [shivtekhem]). Its comparative difficulty favors the originality of the MT reading. Cf. KJV “your captains of your tribes”; NRSV “the leaders of your tribes”; NLT “your tribal leaders.”

[29:11]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “your.”

[29:12]  ²⁰ tn Heb “for you to pass on into the covenant of the Lord your God and into his oath, which the Lord your God is cutting with you today.”

[29:13]  ²¹ tn Heb “in order to establish you today to him for a people and he will be to you for God.” Verses 10-13 are one long sentence in Hebrew. The translation divides this into two sentences for stylistic reasons.

[29:13]  ²² tn Heb “fathers” (also in v. 25).

[29:15]  ²³ tn This is interpreted by some English versions as a reference to generations not yet born (cf. TEV, CEV, NLT).

[31:31]  ²⁴ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[31:31]  ²⁵ tn Or “a renewed covenant” (also in vv. 22-23).

[31:31]  ²⁶ tn Heb “the house of Israel and the house of Judah.”

[31:32]  ²⁷ tn The word “old” is not in the text but is implicit in the use of the word “new.” It is supplied in the translation for greater clarity.

[31:32]  ²⁸ tn Heb “fathers.”

[31:32]  ²⁹ tn Heb “when I took them by the hand and led them out.”

[31:32]  ³⁰ tn Or “I was their master.” See the study note on 3:14.

[31:32]  ³¹ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[31:33]  ³² tn Heb “with the house of Israel.” All commentators agree that the term here refers to both the whole nation which was divided into the house of Israel and the house of Judah in v. 30.

[31:33]  ³³ tn Heb “after those days.” Commentators are generally agreed that this refers to the return from exile and the repopulation of the land referred to in vv. 27-28 and not to something subsequent to the time mentioned in v. 30. This is the sequencing that is also presupposed in other new covenant passages such as Deut 30:1-6; Ezek 11:17-20; 36:24-28.

[31:33]  ³⁴ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[31:33]  ³⁵ tn Heb “‘But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after these days:’ says the Lord, ‘I will….’” The sentence has been reworded and restructured to avoid the awkwardness of the original style.

[31:33]  ³⁶ tn Heb “in their inward parts.” The Hebrew word here refers to the seat of the thoughts, emotions, and decisions (Jer 9:8 [9:7 HT]). It is essentially synonymous with “heart” in Hebrew psychological terms.

[31:33]  ³⁷ tn The words “and minds” is not in the text but is supplied in the translation to bring the English psychology more into line with the Hebrew where the “heart” is the center both of knowing/thinking/reflecting and deciding/willing.

[31:33]  ³⁸ sn Compare Jer 24:7; 30:22; 31:1 and see the study note on 30:2.

[31:34]  ³⁹ tn Heb “teach…, saying, ‘Know the Lord.’” The indirect quote has been chosen for stylistic reasons, i.e., to better parallel the following line.

[31:34]  ⁴⁰ sn This statement should be understood against the background of Jer 8:8-9 where class distinctions were drawn and certain people were considered to have more awareness and responsibility for knowing the law and also Jer 5:1-5 and 9:3-9 where the sinfulness of Israel was seen to be universal across these class distinctions and no trust was to be placed in friends, neighbors, or relatives because all without distinction had cast off God’s yoke (i.e., refused to submit themselves to his authority).

[31:34]  ⁴¹ tn The Hebrew particle כִּי (ki) that introduces this clause refers to more than just the preceding clause (i.e., that all will know the Lord) but to all of vv. 31-34a (See BDB 474 s.v. כִּי 3.c).

[8:6]  ⁴² sn The Greek text indicates a contrast between vv. 4-5 and v. 6 that is difficult to render in English: Jesus’ status in the old order of priests (vv. 4-5) versus his superior ministry (v. 6).

[8:6]  ⁴³ tn Grk “he”; in the translation the referent (Jesus) has been specified for clarity.

[8:6]  ⁴⁴ tn Grk “to the degree that.”

[8:6]  ⁴⁵ tn Grk “which is enacted.”

[8:6]  ⁴⁶ sn This linkage of the change in priesthood with a change in the law or the covenant goes back to Heb 7:12, 22 and is picked up again in Heb 9:6-15 and 10:1-18.

[8:7]  ⁴⁷ tn Grk “no occasion for a second one would have been sought.”

[8:8]  ⁴⁸ tn Grk “for,” but providing an explanation of the God-intended limitation of the first covenant from v. 7.

[8:8]  ⁴⁹ sn The “fault” or limitation in the first covenant was not in its inherent righteousness, but in its design from God himself. It was never intended to be his final revelation or provision for mankind; it was provisional, always pointing toward the fulfillment to come in Christ.

[8:8]  ⁵⁰ tn Grk “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[8:8]  ⁵¹ tc ‡ Several witnesses (א* A D* I K P Ψ 33 81 326 365 1505 2464 al latt co Cyr) have αὐτούς (autous) here, “[in finding fault with] them, [he says],” alluding to Israel’s failings mentioned in v. 9b. (The verb μέμφομαι [memfomai, “to find fault with”] can take an accusative or dative direct object.) The reading behind the text above (αὐτοίς, autoi"), supported by Ì⁴⁶ א² B D² 0278 1739 1881 Ï, is perhaps a harder reading theologically, and is more ambiguous in meaning. If αὐτοίς goes with μεμφόμενος (memfomeno", here translated “showing its fault”), the clause could be translated “in finding fault with them” or “in showing [its] faults to them.” If αὐτοίς goes with the following λέγει (legei, “he says”), the clause is best translated, “in finding/showing [its] faults, he says to them.” The accusative pronoun suffers no such ambiguity, for it must be the object of μεμφόμενος rather than λέγει. Although a decision is difficult, the dative form of the pronoun best explains the rise of the other reading and is thus more likely to be original.

[8:9]  ⁵² tn Grk “not like the covenant,” continuing the description of v. 8b.

[8:10]  ⁵³ tn Grk “putting…I will inscribe.”

[8:10]  ⁵⁴ tn Grk “mind.”

[8:10]  ⁵⁵ tn Grk “I will be to them for a God and they will be to me for a people,” following the Hebrew constructions of Jer 31.

[8:11]  ⁵⁶ tn Grk “they will not teach, each one his fellow citizen…” The Greek makes this negation emphatic: “they will certainly not teach.”

[8:11]  ⁵⁷ tn Grk “from the small to the great.”

[8:12]  ⁵⁸ sn A quotation from Jer 31:31-34.

[8:13]  ⁵⁹ tn Grk “when he says, ‘new,’” (referring to the covenant).

[8:13]  ⁶⁰ tn Grk “near to disappearing.”