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Then he took the blood and splashed it on the people, saying, “This is the blood of the covenant which the Lord has made with you according to all these words.”

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Moses then took the blood, sprinkled it on the people(A) and said, “This is the blood of the covenant(B) that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words.”

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who has indeed qualified us as ministers of a new covenant, not of letter but of spirit;(A) for the letter brings death, but the Spirit gives life.[a]

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Footnotes

  1. 3:6 This verse serves as a topic sentence for 2 Cor 3:7–6:10. For the contrast between letter and spirit, cf. Rom 2:29; 7:5–6.

He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant(A)—not of the letter(B) but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.(C)

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Now he has obtained so much more excellent a ministry as he is mediator of a better covenant, enacted on better promises.(A)

Old and New Covenants.[a] For if that first covenant had been faultless, no place would have been sought for a second one. But he finds fault with them and says:[b]

“Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord,(B)
    when I will conclude a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah.
It will not be like the covenant I made with their fathers
    the day I took them by the hand to lead them forth from the land of Egypt;
for they did not stand by my covenant
    and I ignored them, says the Lord.
10 But this is the covenant I will establish with the house of Israel
    after those days, says the Lord:
I will put my laws in their minds
    and I will write them upon their hearts.
I will be their God,
    and they shall be my people.(C)
11 And they shall not teach, each one his fellow citizen
    and kinsman, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’
for all shall know me,
    from least to greatest.
12 For I will forgive their evildoing
    and remember their sins no more.”

13 [c](D)When he speaks of a “new” covenant, he declares the first one obsolete. And what has become obsolete and has grown old is close to disappearing.

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Footnotes

  1. 8:7–13 Since the first covenant was deficient in accomplishing what it signified, it had to be replaced (Hb 8:7), as Jeremiah (Jer 31:31–34) had prophesied (Hb 8:8–12). Even in the time of Jeremiah, the first covenant was antiquated (Hb 8:13). In Hb 7:22–24, the superiority of the new covenant was seen in the permanence of its priesthood; here the superiority is based on better promises, made explicit in the citation of Jer 31:31–34 (LXX: 38), namely, in the immediacy of the people’s knowledge of God (Hb 8:11) and in the forgiveness of sin (Hb 8:12).
  2. 8:8–12 In citing Jeremiah the author follows the Septuagint; some apparent departures from it may be the result of a different Septuagintal text rather than changes deliberately introduced.
  3. 8:13 Close to disappearing: from the prophet’s perspective, not that of the author of Hebrews.

But in fact the ministry Jesus has received is as superior to theirs as the covenant(A) of which he is mediator(B) is superior to the old one, since the new covenant is established on better promises.

For if there had been nothing wrong with that first covenant, no place would have been sought for another.(C) But God found fault with the people and said[a]:

“The days are coming, declares the Lord,
    when I will make a new covenant(D)
with the people of Israel
    and with the people of Judah.
It will not be like the covenant
    I made with their ancestors(E)
when I took them by the hand
    to lead them out of Egypt,
because they did not remain faithful to my covenant,
    and I turned away from them,
declares the Lord.
10 This is the covenant(F) I will establish with the people of Israel
    after that time, declares the Lord.
I will put my laws in their minds
    and write them on their hearts.(G)
I will be their God,
    and they will be my people.(H)
11 No longer will they teach their neighbor,
    or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’
because they will all know me,(I)
    from the least of them to the greatest.
12 For I will forgive their wickedness
    and will remember their sins no more.(J)[b](K)

13 By calling this covenant “new,”(L) he has made the first one obsolete;(M) and what is obsolete and outdated will soon disappear.

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Footnotes

  1. Hebrews 8:8 Some manuscripts may be translated fault and said to the people.
  2. Hebrews 8:12 Jer. 31:31-34