<p class="bodytext">&#8220;Indeed, a time is coming,&#8221; says the <sc>Lordsc>,<n id="1" /> &#8220;when I will make a new covenant<n id="2" /> with the people of Israel and Judah.<n id="3" />

I will make a lasting covenant<n id="1" /> with them that I will never stop doing good to them.<n id="2" /> I will fill their hearts and minds with respect for me so that<n id="3" /> they will never again turn<n id="4" /> away from me.

&#8220;The <sc>Lordsc> God of Israel has a message for you.<n id="1" /> &#8216;I made a covenant with your ancestors<n id="2" /> when I brought them out of Egypt where they had been slaves.<n id="3" /> It stipulated,<n id="4" />

<p class="poetry">They will ask the way to Zion;p> <p class="poetry">they will turn their faces toward it.p> <p class="poetry">They will come<n id="1" /> and bind themselves to the <sc>Lordsc>p> <p class="poetry">in a lasting covenant that will never be forgotten.<n id="2" />p>

<p class="bodytext">&#8220;&#8216;For this is what the sovereign <sc>Lordsc> says: I will deal with you according to what you have done when you despised your oath by breaking your covenant.

He took one from the royal family,<n id="1" /> made a treaty with him, and put him under oath.<n id="2" /> He then took the leaders of the land

But this one from Israel&#8217;s royal family<n id="1" /> rebelled against the king of Babylon<n id="2" /> by sending his emissaries to Egypt to obtain horses and a large army. Will he prosper? Will the one doing these things escape? Can he break the covenant and escape?p>

<p class="bodytext">&#8220;&#8216;I will make a covenant of peace with them and will rid the land of wild beasts, so that they can live securely<n id="1" /> in the wilderness and even sleep in the woods.<n id="2" />

You, however, have turned from the way. You have caused many to violate the law;<n id="1" /> you have corrupted the covenant with Levi,&#8221;<n id="2" /> says the <sc>Lordsc> who rules over all.

<t /><p class="bodytext">Do we not all have one father?<n id="1" /> Did not one God create us? Why do we betray one another, in this way making light of the covenant of our ancestors?

That day the <sc>Lordsc> made a covenant<n id="1" /> with Abram: &#8220;To your descendants I give<n id="2" /> this land, from the river of Egypt<n id="3" /> to the great river, the Euphrates River &#8211;

<p class="bodytext">The <sc>Lordsc> said to Moses, &#8220;Write down<n id="1" /> these words, for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel.&#8221;

All the raised offerings of the holy things that the Israelites offer to the <sc>Lordsc>, I have given to you, and to your sons and daughters with you, as a perpetual ordinance. It is a covenant of salt<n id="1" /> forever before the <sc>Lordsc> for you and for your descendants with you.&#8221;p>

Be on guard so that you do not forget the covenant of the <sc>Lordsc> your God that he has made with you, and that you do not make an image of any kind, just as he<n id="1" /> has forbidden<n id="2" /> you.

At that time the <sc>Lordsc> set apart the tribe of Levi<n id="1" /> to carry the ark of the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s covenant, to stand before the <sc>Lordsc> to serve him, and to formulate blessings<n id="2" /> in his name, as they do to this very day.

<t /><p class="bodytext">Then Moses wrote down this law and gave it to the Levitical priests, who carry the ark of the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s covenant, and to all Israel&#8217;s elders.

and commanded the people: &#8220;When you see the ark of the covenant of the <sc>Lordsc> your God<n id="1" /> being carried by the Levitical priests, you must leave here<n id="2" /> and walk<n id="3" /> behind it.

The priests carrying the ark of the covenant of the <sc>Lordsc> stood firmly on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan. All Israel crossed over on dry ground until the entire nation was on the other side.<n id="1" />p>

tell them how the water of the Jordan stopped flowing<n id="1" /> before the ark of the covenant of the <sc>Lordsc>. When it crossed the Jordan, the water of the Jordan stopped flowing.<n id="2" /> These stones will be a lasting memorial for the Israelites.&#8221;p>

The priests carrying the ark of the covenant of the <sc>Lordsc> came up from the middle of the Jordan, and as soon as they set foot on dry land,<n id="1" /> the water of the Jordan flowed again and returned to flood stage.<n id="2" />p>