Jeremiah 31:33-34

31:33 “But I will make a new covenant with the whole nation of Israel ¹  after I plant them back in the land,” ²  says the Lord. ³  “I will ⁴  put my law within them ⁵  and write it on their hearts and minds. ⁶  I will be their God and they will be my people. ⁷ 

31:34 “People will no longer need to teach their neighbors and relatives to know me. ⁸  For all of them, from the least important to the most important, will know me,” ⁹  says the Lord. “For ¹⁰  I will forgive their sin and will no longer call to mind the wrong they have done.”

Jeremiah 32:39

32:39 I will give them a single-minded purpose to live in a way that always shows respect for me. They will want to do that for ¹¹  their own good and the good of the children who descend from them.

Deuteronomy 30:6

30:6 The Lord your God will also cleanse ¹²  your heart and the hearts of your descendants ¹³  so that you may love him ¹⁴  with all your mind and being and so that you may live.

Ezekiel 11:19-20

11:19 I will give them one heart and I will put a new spirit within them; ¹⁵  I will remove the hearts of stone from their bodies ¹⁶  and I will give them tender hearts, ¹⁷  11:20 so that they may follow my statutes and observe my regulations and carry them out. Then they will be my people, and I will be their God. ¹⁸ 

Ezekiel 36:24-28

36:24 “‘I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries; then I will bring you to your land. 36:25 I will sprinkle you with pure water ¹⁹  and you will be clean from all your impurities. I will purify you from all your idols. 36:26 I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit within you. I will remove the heart of stone ²⁰  from your body and give you a heart of flesh. ²¹  36:27 I will put my Spirit within you; ²²  I will take the initiative and you will obey my statutes ²³  and carefully observe my regulations. ²⁴  36:28 Then you will live in the land I gave to your fathers; you will be my people, and I will be your God. ²⁵ 

[31:33]  ¹ 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]  ² 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]  ³ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[31:33]  ⁴ 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]  ⁵ 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]  ⁶ 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]  ⁷ sn Compare Jer 24:7; 30:22; 31:1 and see the study note on 30:2.

[31:34]  ⁸ 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]  ⁹ 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]  ¹⁰ 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).

[32:39]  ¹¹ tn Heb “I will give to them one heart and one way to [= in order that they may] fear me all the days for good to them.” The phrase “one heart” refers both to unanimity of will and accord (cf. 1 Chr 12:38 [12:39 HT]; 2 Chr 30:12) and to singleness of purpose or intent (cf. Ezek 11:19 and see BDB 525 s.v. ֵלב 4 where reference is made to “inclinations, resolutions, and determinations of the will”). The phrase “one way” refers to one way of life or conduct (cf. BDB 203 s.v. דֶּרֶךְ 6.a where reference is made to moral action and character), a way of life that is further qualified by the goal of showing “fear, reverence, respect” for the Lord. The Hebrew sentence has been broken up to avoid a long complex sentence in English which is contrary to contemporary English style. However, an attempt has been made to preserve all the connections of the original.

[30:6]  ¹² tn Heb “circumcise” (so KJV, NAB, NIV, NRSV); TEV “will give you and your descendents obedient hearts.” See note on the word “cleanse” in Deut 10:16.

[30:6]  ¹³ tn Heb “seed” (so KJV, ASV).

[30:6]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “the Lord your God.” See note on the second occurrence of the word “he” in v. 3.

[11:19]  ¹⁵ tc The MT reads “you”; many Hebrew mss along with the LXX and other ancient versions read “within them.”

[11:19]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “their flesh.”

[11:19]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “heart of flesh.”

[11:20]  ¹⁸ sn The expression They will be my people, and I will be their God occurs as a promise to Abraham (Gen 17:8), Moses (Exod 6:7), and the nation (Exod 29:45).

[36:25]  ¹⁹ sn The Lord here uses a metaphor from the realm of ritual purification. For the use of water in ritual cleansing, see Exod 30:19-20; Lev 14:51; Num 19:18; Heb 10:22.

[36:26]  ²⁰ sn That is, a heart which symbolizes a will that is stubborn and unresponsive (see 1 Sam 25:37). In Rabbinic literature a “stone” was associated with an evil inclination (b. Sukkah 52a).

[36:26]  ²¹ sn That is, a heart which symbolizes a will that is responsive and obedient to God.

[36:27]  ²² tn Or “in the midst of you.” The word “you” is plural.

[36:27]  ²³ tn Heb “and I will do that which in my statutes you will walk.” The awkward syntax (verb “to do, act” + accusative sign + relative clause + prepositional phrase + second person verb) is unique, though Eccl 3:14 contains a similar construction. In the last line of that verse we read that “God acts so that (relative pronoun) they fear before him.” However, unlike Ezek 36:27, the statement has no accusative sign before the relative pronoun.

[36:27]  ²⁴ tn Heb “and my laws you will guard and you will do them.” Jer 31:31-34 is parallel to this passage.

[36:28]  ²⁵ sn This promise reflects the ancient covenantal ideal (see Exod 6:7).