Hebrews 8:8-12

8:8 But ¹  showing its fault, ²  God ³  says to them, ⁴ 

“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 ⁵  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 ⁶  my laws in their minds ⁷  and I will inscribe them on their hearts. And I will be their God and they will be my people. ⁸ 

8:11 “And there will be no need at all ⁹  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. ¹⁰ 

8:12 “For I will be merciful toward their evil deeds, and their sins I will remember no longer.” ¹¹ 

Jeremiah 31:33-34

31:33 “But I will make a new covenant with the whole nation of Israel ¹²  after I plant them back in the land,” ¹³  says the Lord. ¹⁴  “I will ¹⁵  put my law within them ¹⁶  and write it on their hearts and minds. ¹⁷  I will be their God and they will be my people. ¹⁸ 

31:34 “People will no longer need to teach their neighbors and relatives to know me. ¹⁹  For all of them, from the least important to the most important, will know me,” ²⁰  says the Lord. “For ²¹  I will forgive their sin and will no longer call to mind the wrong they have done.”

Romans 11:27

11:27 And this is my covenant with them, ²² 

when I take away their sins.” ²³ 

[8:8]  ¹ tn Grk “for,” but providing an explanation of the God-intended limitation of the first covenant from v. 7.

[8:8]  ² 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]  ³ tn Grk “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[8:8]  ⁴ 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]  ⁵ tn Grk “not like the covenant,” continuing the description of v. 8b.

[8:10]  ⁶ tn Grk “putting…I will inscribe.”

[8:10]  ⁷ tn Grk “mind.”

[8:10]  ⁸ 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]  ⁹ tn Grk “they will not teach, each one his fellow citizen…” The Greek makes this negation emphatic: “they will certainly not teach.”

[8:11]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “from the small to the great.”

[8:12]  ¹¹ sn A quotation from Jer 31:31-34.

[31:33]  ¹² 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]  ¹³ 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]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[31:33]  ¹⁵ 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]  ¹⁶ 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]  ¹⁷ 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]  ¹⁸ sn Compare Jer 24:7; 30:22; 31:1 and see the study note on 30:2.

[31:34]  ¹⁹ 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]  ²⁰ 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]  ²¹ 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).

[11:27]  ²² sn A quotation from Isa 59:20-21.

[11:27]  ²³ sn A quotation from Isa 27:9; Jer 31:33-34.