Exodus 19:5

19:5 And now, if you will diligently listen to me ¹  and keep ²  my covenant, then you will be my ³  special possession ⁴  out of all the nations, for all the earth is mine,

Exodus 24:7-8

24:7 He took the Book of the Covenant ⁵  and read it aloud ⁶  to the people, and they said, “We are willing to do and obey ⁷  all that the Lord has spoken.” 24:8 So Moses took the blood and splashed it on ⁸  the people and said, “This is the blood of the covenant ⁹  that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words.”

Deuteronomy 29:1

Narrative Interlude

29:1 (28:69) ¹⁰  These are the words of the covenant that the Lord commanded Moses to make with the people of Israel in the land of Moab, in addition to the covenant he had made with them at Horeb. ¹¹ 

Deuteronomy 29:10-14

29:10 You are standing today, all of you, before the Lord your God – the heads of your tribes, ¹²  your elders, your officials, every Israelite man, 29:11 your infants, your wives, and the ¹³  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. ¹⁴  29:13 Today he will affirm that you are his people and that he is your God, ¹⁵  just as he promised you and as he swore by oath to your ancestors ¹⁶  Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 29:14 It is not with you alone that I am making this covenant by oath,

Jeremiah 31:31-34

31:31 “Indeed, a time is coming,” says the Lord, ¹⁷  “when I will make a new covenant ¹⁸  with the people of Israel and Judah. ¹⁹  31:32 It will not be like the old ²⁰  covenant that I made with their ancestors ²¹  when I delivered them ²²  from Egypt. For they violated that covenant, even though I was like a faithful husband to them,” ²³  says the Lord. ²⁴  31:33 “But I will make a new covenant with the whole nation of Israel ²⁵  after I plant them back in the land,” ²⁶  says the Lord. ²⁷  “I will ²⁸  put my law within them ²⁹  and write it on their hearts and minds. ³⁰  I will be their God and they will be my people. ³¹ 

31:34 “People will no longer need to teach their neighbors and relatives to know me. ³²  For all of them, from the least important to the most important, will know me,” ³³  says the Lord. “For ³⁴  I will forgive their sin and will no longer call to mind the wrong they have done.”

Hebrews 8:6-13

8:6 But ³⁵  now Jesus ³⁶  has obtained a superior ministry, since ³⁷  the covenant that he mediates is also better and is enacted ³⁸  on better promises. ³⁹ 

8:7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, no one would have looked for a second one. ⁴⁰  8:8 But ⁴¹  showing its fault, ⁴²  God ⁴³  says to them, ⁴⁴ 

“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 ⁴⁵  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 ⁴⁶  my laws in their minds ⁴⁷  and I will inscribe them on their hearts. And I will be their God and they will be my people. ⁴⁸ 

8:11 “And there will be no need at all ⁴⁹  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. ⁵⁰ 

8:12 “For I will be merciful toward their evil deeds, and their sins I will remember no longer.” ⁵¹ 

8:13 When he speaks of a new covenant, ⁵²  he makes the first obsolete. Now what is growing obsolete and aging is about to disappear. ⁵³ 

[19:5]  ¹ 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]  ² 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]  ³ tn The lamed preposition expresses possession here: “to me” means “my.”

[19:5]  ⁴ 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.

[24:7]  ⁵ 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]  ⁶ tn Heb “read it in the ears of.”

[24:7]  ⁷ 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]  ⁸ tn Given the size of the congregation, the preposition might be rendered here “toward the people” rather than on them (all).

[24:8]  ⁹ 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.

[29:1]  ¹⁰ sn Beginning with 29:1, the verse numbers through 29:29 in the English Bible differ from the verse numbers in the Hebrew text (BHS), with 29:1 ET = 28:69 HT, 29:2 ET = 29:1 HT, 29:3 ET = 29:2 HT, etc., through 29:29 ET = 29:28 HT. With 30:1 the verse numbers in the ET and HT are again the same.

[29:1]  ¹¹ sn Horeb is another name for Mount Sinai (which some English versions substitute here for clarity, cf. NCV, TEV, CEV, NLT).

[29:10]  ¹² 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]  ¹³ tn Heb “your.”

[29:12]  ¹⁴ 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]  ¹⁵ 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]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “fathers” (also in v. 25).

[31:31]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[31:31]  ¹⁸ tn Or “a renewed covenant” (also in vv. 22-23).

[31:31]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “the house of Israel and the house of Judah.”

[31:32]  ²⁰ 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]  ²¹ tn Heb “fathers.”

[31:32]  ²² tn Heb “when I took them by the hand and led them out.”

[31:32]  ²³ tn Or “I was their master.” See the study note on 3:14.

[31:32]  ²⁴ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[31:33]  ²⁵ 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]  ²⁶ 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]  ²⁷ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[31:33]  ²⁸ 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]  ²⁹ 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]  ³⁰ 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]  ³¹ sn Compare Jer 24:7; 30:22; 31:1 and see the study note on 30:2.

[31:34]  ³² 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]  ³³ 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]  ³⁴ 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]  ³⁵ 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]  ³⁶ tn Grk “he”; in the translation the referent (Jesus) has been specified for clarity.

[8:6]  ³⁷ tn Grk “to the degree that.”

[8:6]  ³⁸ tn Grk “which is enacted.”

[8:6]  ³⁹ 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]  ⁴⁰ tn Grk “no occasion for a second one would have been sought.”

[8:8]  ⁴¹ tn Grk “for,” but providing an explanation of the God-intended limitation of the first covenant from v. 7.

[8:8]  ⁴² 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]  ⁴³ tn Grk “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[8:8]  ⁴⁴ 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]  ⁴⁵ tn Grk “not like the covenant,” continuing the description of v. 8b.

[8:10]  ⁴⁶ tn Grk “putting…I will inscribe.”

[8:10]  ⁴⁷ tn Grk “mind.”

[8:10]  ⁴⁸ 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]  ⁴⁹ tn Grk “they will not teach, each one his fellow citizen…” The Greek makes this negation emphatic: “they will certainly not teach.”

[8:11]  ⁵⁰ tn Grk “from the small to the great.”

[8:12]  ⁵¹ sn A quotation from Jer 31:31-34.

[8:13]  ⁵² tn Grk “when he says, ‘new,’” (referring to the covenant).

[8:13]  ⁵³ tn Grk “near to disappearing.”