Hebrews 8:6-12

8:6 But ¹  now Jesus ²  has obtained a superior ministry, since ³  the covenant that he mediates is also better and is enacted ⁴  on better promises. ⁵ 

8:7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, no one would have looked for a second one. ⁶  8:8 But ⁷  showing its fault, ⁸  God ⁹  says to them, ¹⁰ 

“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 ¹¹  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 ¹²  my laws in their minds ¹³  and I will inscribe them on their hearts. And I will be their God and they will be my people. ¹⁴ 

8:11 “And there will be no need at all ¹⁵  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. ¹⁶ 

8:12 “For I will be merciful toward their evil deeds, and their sins I will remember no longer.” ¹⁷ 

Hebrews 9:15-23

9:15 And so he is the mediator ¹⁸  of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the eternal inheritance he has promised, ¹⁹  since he died ²⁰  to set them free from the violations committed under the first covenant. 9:16 For where there is a will, the death of the one who made it must be proven. ²¹  9:17 For a will takes effect only at death, since it carries no force while the one who made it is alive. 9:18 So even the first covenant was inaugurated with blood. ²²  9:19 For when Moses had spoken every command to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and goats with water and scarlet wool and hyssop and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, 9:20 and said, “This is the blood of the covenant that God has commanded you to keep.” ²³  9:21 And both the tabernacle and all the utensils of worship he likewise sprinkled with blood. 9:22 Indeed according to the law almost everything was purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness. 9:23 So it was necessary for the sketches ²⁴  of the things in heaven to be purified with these sacrifices, ²⁵  but the heavenly things themselves required ²⁶  better sacrifices than these.

Hebrews 12:24

12:24 and to Jesus, the mediator ²⁷  of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks of something better than Abel’s does. ²⁸ 

Hebrews 13:20

Benediction and Conclusion

13:20 Now may the God of peace who by the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead the great shepherd of the sheep, our Lord Jesus Christ,

Daniel 9:27

9:27 He will confirm a covenant with many for one week. ²⁹ 

But in the middle of that week

he will bring sacrifices and offerings to a halt.

On the wing ³⁰  of abominations will come ³¹  one who destroys,

until the decreed end is poured out on the one who destroys.”

Matthew 26:28

26:28 for this is my blood, the blood ³²  of the covenant, ³³  that is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.

Mark 14:24

14:24 He said to them, “This is my blood, the blood ³⁴  of the covenant, ³⁵  that is poured out for many.

Luke 22:20

22:20 And in the same way he took ³⁶  the cup after they had eaten, ³⁷  saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant ³⁸  in my blood.

Luke 22:1

Judas’ Decision to Betray Jesus

22:1 Now the Feast of Unleavened Bread, ³⁹  which is called the Passover, was approaching.

Colossians 1:25

1:25 I became a servant of the church according to the stewardship ⁴⁰  from God – given to me for you – in order to complete ⁴¹  the word of God,

[8:6]  ¹ 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]  ² tn Grk “he”; in the translation the referent (Jesus) has been specified for clarity.

[8:6]  ³ tn Grk “to the degree that.”

[8:6]  ⁴ tn Grk “which is enacted.”

[8:6]  ⁵ 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]  ⁶ tn Grk “no occasion for a second one would have been sought.”

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

[8:8]  ⁸ 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]  ⁹ tn Grk “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[8:8]  ¹⁰ 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]  ¹¹ tn Grk “not like the covenant,” continuing the description of v. 8b.

[8:10]  ¹² tn Grk “putting…I will inscribe.”

[8:10]  ¹³ tn Grk “mind.”

[8:10]  ¹⁴ 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]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “they will not teach, each one his fellow citizen…” The Greek makes this negation emphatic: “they will certainly not teach.”

[8:11]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “from the small to the great.”

[8:12]  ¹⁷ sn A quotation from Jer 31:31-34.

[9:15]  ¹⁸ tn The Greek word μεσίτης (mesith", “mediator”) in this context does not imply that Jesus was a mediator in the contemporary sense of the word, i.e., he worked for compromise between opposing parties. Here the term describes his function as the one who was used by God to enact a new covenant which established a new relationship between God and his people, but entirely on God’s terms.

[9:15]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “the promise of the eternal inheritance.”

[9:15]  ²⁰ tn Grk “a death having occurred.”

[9:16]  ²¹ tn Grk “there is a necessity for the death of the one who made it to be proven.”

[9:18]  ²² sn The Greek text reinforces this by negating the opposite (“not even the first covenant was inaugurated without blood”), but this double negation is not used in contemporary English.

[9:20]  ²³ tn Grk “which God commanded for you (or in your case).”

[9:23]  ²⁴ tn Or “prototypes,” “outlines,” referring to the earthly sanctuary. See Heb 8:5 above for the prior use of this term.

[9:23]  ²⁵ tn Grk “with these”; in the translation the referent (sacrifices) has been specified for clarity.

[9:23]  ²⁶ tn Grk “the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.”

[12:24]  ²⁷ tn The Greek word μεσίτης (mesith", “mediator”) in this context does not imply that Jesus was a mediator in the contemporary sense of the word, i.e., he worked for compromise between opposing parties. Here the term describes his function as the one who was used by God to enact a new covenant which established a new relationship between God and his people, but entirely on God’s terms.

[12:24]  ²⁸ sn Abel’s shed blood cried out to the Lord for justice and judgment, but Jesus’ blood speaks of redemption and forgiveness, something better than Abel’s does (Gen 4:10; Heb 9:11-14; 11:4).

[9:27]  ²⁹ tn Heb “one seven” (also later in this line).

[9:27]  ³⁰ tn The referent of the Hebrew word כְּנַף (kÿnaf, “wing”) is unclear here. The LXX and Theodotion have “the temple.” Some English versions (e.g., NAB, NIV) take this to mean “a wing of the temple,” but this is not clear.

[9:27]  ³¹ tn The Hebrew text does not have this verb, but it has been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[26:28]  ³² tn Grk “for this is my blood of the covenant that is poured out for many.” In order to avoid confusion about which is poured out, the translation supplies “blood” twice so that the following phrase clearly modifies “blood,” not “covenant.”

[26:28]  ³³ tc Although most witnesses read καινῆς (kainhs, “new”) here, this is evidently motivated by the parallel in Luke 22:20. Apart from the possibility of homoioteleuton, there is no good reason for the shorter reading to have arisen later on. But since it is found in such good and diverse witnesses (e.g., Ì^37,45vid א B L Z Θ 0298^vid 33 pc mae), the likelihood of homoioteleuton becomes rather remote.

[14:24]  ³⁴ tn Grk “this is my blood of the covenant that is poured out for many.” In order to avoid confusion about which is poured out, the translation supplies “blood” twice so that the following phrase clearly modifies “blood,” not “covenant.”

[14:24]  ³⁵ tc Most mss (A Ë^1,13 Ï lat sy) have καινῆς (kainh", “new”) before διαθήκης (diaqhkh", “covenant”), a reading that is almost surely influenced by the parallel passage in Luke 22:20. Further, the construction τὸ τῆς καινῆς διαθήκης (to th" kainh" diaqhkh"), in which the resumptive article τό (referring back to τὸ αἷμα [to |aima, “the blood”]) is immediately followed by the genitive article, is nowhere else used in Mark except for constructions involving a genitive of relationship (cf. Mark 2:14; 3:17, 18; 16:1). Thus, on both transcriptional and intrinsic grounds, this reading looks to be a later addition (which may have derived from τὸ τῆς διαθήκης of D* W 2427). The most reliable mss, along with several others (א B C D^c L Θ Ψ 565), lack καινῆς. This reading is strongly preferred.

[22:20]  ³⁶ tn The words “he took” are not in the Greek text at this point, but are an understood repetition from v. 19.

[22:20]  ³⁷ tn The phrase “after they had eaten” translates the temporal infinitive construction μετὰ τὸ δειπνῆσαι (meta to deipnhsai), where the verb δειπνέω (deipnew) means “to eat a meal” or “to have a meal.”

[22:20]  ³⁸ sn Jesus’ death established the forgiveness promised in the new covenant of Jer 31:31. Jesus is reinterpreting the symbolism of the Passover meal, indicating the presence of a new era.

[22:1]  ³⁹ sn The Feast of Unleavened Bread was a week long celebration that followed the day of Passover, so one name was used for both feasts (Exod 12:1-20; 23:15; 34:18; Deut 16:1-8).

[1:25]  ⁴⁰ tn BDAG 697 s.v. οἰκονομία 1.b renders the term here as “divine office.”

[1:25]  ⁴¹ tn See BDAG 828 s.v. πληρόω 3. The idea here seems to be that the apostle wants to “complete the word of God” in that he wants to preach it to every person in the known world (cf. Rom 15:19). See P. T. O’Brien, Colossians, Philemon (WBC), 82.