A Superior Covenant

7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion for a second one. 8 But finding fault with His people, u He says: v

Look, the days are coming, says the Lord,

when I will make a new covenant

with the house of Israel

and with the house of Judah—

9 not like the covenant

that I made with their ancestors

on the day I took them by their hands

to lead them out of the land of Egypt.

I disregarded them, says the Lord,

because they did not continue in My covenant.

10 But this is the covenant

that I will make with the house of Israel

after those days, says the Lord:

I will put My laws into their minds

and write them on their hearts.

I will be their God,

and they will be My people. w

11 And each person will not teach his fellow citizen, x

and each his brother, saying, “Know the Lord,”

because they will all know Me,

from the least to the greatest of them. y

12 For I will be merciful to their wrongdoing,

and I will never again remember their sins. z a b

13 By saying, a new covenant, He has declared that the first is old. And what is old and aging is about to disappear. c