2 Tawarikh 23:16

23:16 Jehoiada then drew up a covenant stipulating that he, all the people, and the king should be loyal to the Lord. ¹ 

2 Tawarikh 29:10

29:10 Now I intend ²  to make a covenant with the Lord God of Israel, so that he may relent from his raging anger. ³ 

Keluaran 24:6-8

24:6 Moses took half of the blood and put it in bowls, and half of the blood he splashed on the altar. ⁴  24:7 He took the Book of the Covenant ⁵  and read it aloud ⁶  to the people, and they said, “We are willing to do and obey ⁷  all that the Lord has spoken.” 24:8 So Moses took the blood and splashed it on ⁸  the people and said, “This is the blood of the covenant ⁹  that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words.”

Ulangan 29:1

Narrative Interlude

29:1 (28:69) ¹⁰  These are the words of the covenant that the Lord commanded Moses to make with the people of Israel in the land of Moab, in addition to the covenant he had made with them at Horeb. ¹¹ 

Ulangan 29:10-15

29:10 You are standing today, all of you, before the Lord your God – the heads of your tribes, ¹²  your elders, your officials, every Israelite man, 29:11 your infants, your wives, and the ¹³  foreigners living in your encampment, those who chop wood and those who carry water – 29:12 so that you may enter by oath into the covenant the Lord your God is making with you today. ¹⁴  29:13 Today he will affirm that you are his people and that he is your God, ¹⁵  just as he promised you and as he swore by oath to your ancestors ¹⁶  Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 29:14 It is not with you alone that I am making this covenant by oath, 29:15 but with whoever stands with us here today before the Lord our God as well as those not with us here today. ¹⁷ 

Yosua 24:25

24:25 That day Joshua drew up an agreement ¹⁸  for the people, and he established rules and regulations ¹⁹  for them in Shechem.

Nehemia 9:38

The People Pledge to be Faithful

9:38 (10:1) ²⁰  “Because of all of this we are entering into a binding covenant ²¹  in written form; ²²  our leaders, our Levites, and our priests have affixed their names ²³  on the sealed document.”

Nehemia 10:29

10:29 hereby participate with their colleagues the town leaders ²⁴  and enter into a curse and an oath ²⁵  to adhere to ²⁶  the law of God which was given through Moses the servant of God, and to obey ²⁷  carefully all the commandments of the LORD our Lord, ²⁸  along with his ordinances and his statutes.

Yeremia 50:5

50:5 They will ask the way to Zion;

they will turn their faces toward it.

They will come ²⁹  and bind themselves to the Lord

in a lasting covenant that will never be forgotten. ³⁰ 

Ibrani 8:6-13

8:6 But ³¹  now Jesus ³²  has obtained a superior ministry, since ³³  the covenant that he mediates is also better and is enacted ³⁴  on better promises. ³⁵ 

8:7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, no one would have looked for a second one. ³⁶  8:8 But ³⁷  showing its fault, ³⁸  God ³⁹  says to them, ⁴⁰ 

“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 ⁴¹  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 ⁴²  my laws in their minds ⁴³  and I will inscribe them on their hearts. And I will be their God and they will be my people. ⁴⁴ 

8:11 “And there will be no need at all ⁴⁵  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. ⁴⁶ 

8:12 “For I will be merciful toward their evil deeds, and their sins I will remember no longer.” ⁴⁷ 

8:13 When he speaks of a new covenant, ⁴⁸  he makes the first obsolete. Now what is growing obsolete and aging is about to disappear. ⁴⁹ 

[23:16]  ¹ tn Heb “and Jehoiada made a covenant between himself and [between] all the people and [between] the king, to become a people for the Lord.”

[29:10]  ² tn Heb “now it is with my heart.”

[29:10]  ³ tn Heb “so that the rage of his anger might turn from us.” The jussive with vav (ו) conjunctive indicates purpose/result after the preceding statement of intention.

[24:6]  ⁴ sn The people and Yahweh through this will be united by blood, for half was spattered on the altar and the other half spattered on/toward the people (v. 8).

[24:7]  ⁵ tn The noun “book” would be the scroll just written containing the laws of chaps. 20-23. On the basis of this scroll the covenant would be concluded here. The reading of this book would assure the people that it was the same that they had agreed to earlier. But now their statement of willingness to obey would be more binding, because their promise would be confirmed by a covenant of blood.

[24:7]  ⁶ tn Heb “read it in the ears of.”

[24:7]  ⁷ tn A second verb is now added to the people’s response, and it is clearly an imperfect and not a cohortative, lending support for the choice of desiderative imperfect in these commitments – “we want to obey.” This was their compliance with the covenant.

[24:8]  ⁸ tn Given the size of the congregation, the preposition might be rendered here “toward the people” rather than on them (all).

[24:8]  ⁹ sn The construct relationship “the blood of the covenant” means “the blood by which the covenant is ratified” (S. R. Driver, Exodus, 254). The parallel with the inauguration of the new covenant in the blood of Christ is striking (see, e.g., Matt 26:28, 1 Cor 11:25). When Jesus was inaugurating the new covenant, he was bringing to an end the old.

[29:1]  ¹⁰ sn Beginning with 29:1, the verse numbers through 29:29 in the English Bible differ from the verse numbers in the Hebrew text (BHS), with 29:1 ET = 28:69 HT, 29:2 ET = 29:1 HT, 29:3 ET = 29:2 HT, etc., through 29:29 ET = 29:28 HT. With 30:1 the verse numbers in the ET and HT are again the same.

[29:1]  ¹¹ sn Horeb is another name for Mount Sinai (which some English versions substitute here for clarity, cf. NCV, TEV, CEV, NLT).

[29:10]  ¹² tc Heb “your heads, your tribes.” The Syriac presupposes either “heads of your tribes” or “your heads, your judges,” etc. (reading שֹׁפְטֵכֶם [shofÿtekhem] for שִׁבְטֵיכֶם [shivtekhem]). Its comparative difficulty favors the originality of the MT reading. Cf. KJV “your captains of your tribes”; NRSV “the leaders of your tribes”; NLT “your tribal leaders.”

[29:11]  ¹³ tn Heb “your.”

[29:12]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “for you to pass on into the covenant of the Lord your God and into his oath, which the Lord your God is cutting with you today.”

[29:13]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “in order to establish you today to him for a people and he will be to you for God.” Verses 10-13 are one long sentence in Hebrew. The translation divides this into two sentences for stylistic reasons.

[29:13]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “fathers” (also in v. 25).

[29:15]  ¹⁷ tn This is interpreted by some English versions as a reference to generations not yet born (cf. TEV, CEV, NLT).

[24:25]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “cut a covenant.”

[24:25]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “a statute and a judgment.”

[9:38]  ²⁰ sn Beginning with 9:38, the verse numbers through 10:39 in the English Bible differ from the verse numbers in the Hebrew text (BHS), with 9:38 ET = 10:1 HT, 10:1 ET = 10:2 HT, 10:2 ET = 10:3 HT, etc., through 10:39 ET = 10:40 HT. Beginning with 11:1 the verse numbers in the ET and HT are again the same.

[9:38]  ²¹ tn Heb “we are cutting.”

[9:38]  ²² tn Heb “and writing.”

[9:38]  ²³ tn Heb “our leaders, our Levites, and our priests on the sealed document.” The Hebrew text is elliptical here; the words “have affixed their names” are supplied in the translation for clarity and for stylistic reasons. Cf. v. 2.

[10:29]  ²⁴ tn Heb “the nobles.”

[10:29]  ²⁵ tn The expression “a curse and an oath” may be a hendiadys, meaning “an oath with penalties.”

[10:29]  ²⁶ tn Heb “to walk in.”

[10:29]  ²⁷ tn Heb “keep.” See the note on the word “obey” in Neh 1:5.

[10:29]  ²⁸ tn The Hebrew term translated “Lord” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).

[50:5]  ²⁹ tc The translation here assumes that the Hebrew בֹּאוּ (bo’u; a Qal imperative masculine plural) should be read בָּאוּ (ba’u; a Qal perfect third plural). This reading is presupposed by the Greek version of Aquila, the Latin version, and the Targum (see BHS note a, which mistakenly assumes that the form must be imperfect).

[50:5]  ³⁰ sn See Jer 32:40 and the study note there for the nature of this lasting agreement.

[8:6]  ³¹ 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]  ³² tn Grk “he”; in the translation the referent (Jesus) has been specified for clarity.

[8:6]  ³³ tn Grk “to the degree that.”

[8:6]  ³⁴ tn Grk “which is enacted.”

[8:6]  ³⁵ 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]  ³⁶ tn Grk “no occasion for a second one would have been sought.”

[8:8]  ³⁷ tn Grk “for,” but providing an explanation of the God-intended limitation of the first covenant from v. 7.

[8:8]  ³⁸ 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]  ³⁹ tn Grk “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[8:8]  ⁴⁰ 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]  ⁴¹ tn Grk “not like the covenant,” continuing the description of v. 8b.

[8:10]  ⁴² tn Grk “putting…I will inscribe.”

[8:10]  ⁴³ tn Grk “mind.”

[8:10]  ⁴⁴ 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]  ⁴⁵ tn Grk “they will not teach, each one his fellow citizen…” The Greek makes this negation emphatic: “they will certainly not teach.”

[8:11]  ⁴⁶ tn Grk “from the small to the great.”

[8:12]  ⁴⁷ sn A quotation from Jer 31:31-34.

[8:13]  ⁴⁸ tn Grk “when he says, ‘new,’” (referring to the covenant).

[8:13]  ⁴⁹ tn Grk “near to disappearing.”