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Hebrews

About this book
Chapter 8

1 Now the main point of what we are saying is this: We have such a high priest, one who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven,⁠ 2 a minister in the sanctuary and the true tabernacle that the Lord, not man, set up. 3 For every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices. So this one, too, had to have something to offer. 4 Now if he were on earth, he would not be a priest, since there are already priests who offer the gifts prescribed by the law. 5 The place where they serve is a sketch and shadow of the heavenly sanctuary,⁠ just as Moses was warned by God as he was about to complete the tabernacle. For he says, “See that you make everything according to the design shown to you on the mountain.”⁠ 6 But now Jesus has obtained a superior ministry, since the covenant that he mediates is also better and is enacted on better promises. 7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, no one would have looked for a second one. 8 But showing its fault, God says to them, “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. 9 It will not be like the covenant 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.⁠ 10 For this is the covenant that 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 inscribe them on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they will be my people. 11 And there will be no need at all 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. 12 For I will be merciful toward their evil deeds, and their sins I will remember no longer.” 13 When he speaks of a new covenant, he makes the first obsolete. Now what is growing obsolete and aging is about to disappear.

Texts in conversation

Compare LXX Jeremiah 38:32 and Hebrews 8:9

Septuagint · New Testament

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Summary

Hebrews 8 quotes the Greek Septuagint translation of Jeremiah 38 to present the new covenant as part of a recurring pattern, first seen in Exodus, where exile is followed by rescue and covenant. Hebrews presents its community as following this pattern.

Passages

LXX Jeremiah 38:32

Septuagint
31 Look, the days come, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: 32 not according to the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day when I took hold of their hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; for they did not remain in my covenant, and I disregarded them, says the Lord. 33 For this is my covenant which I will make with the house of Israel; after those days, says the Lord, I will surely put my laws into their mind, and write them on their hearts; and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people.
100–1 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in LXX Jeremiah

Hebrews 8:9

New Testament
8 But showing its fault, God says to them, “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. 9 It will not be like the covenant 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. 10 For this is the covenant that 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 inscribe them on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they will be my people.
80–90 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Hebrews

References

"... Several further echoes of Isaiah 41:10 (LXX) are to be found in Hebrews, too: Israel is urged not to fear (compare Hebrews 2:15), nor to go astray compare Hebrews 3:10) 'because I have helped you' (compare Hebrews 2:18), the help coming a term which might well have a Christological sense for the author of Hebrews (compare 1:3, 13); the passage also contains the divine promise (41:9, compare Hebrews 13:5) and a reference to the earth as the place from which salvation is needed (41:9). This last unites it with Jeremiah 38:32 (LXX = 31:32 MT), quoted in Hebrews 8:9, in which the Exodus is described as the place of bondage out of which God leads his people. A third passage is also worth quoting: Wisdom exalts her sons, and gives help to those who seek her' (Sirach 4:11), a verse which has much in common with the letter's thought about exaltation, sonship and 'drawing near' to God through Christ (4:16, 7:25) ..."
John Dunnill, Covenant and Sacrifice in the Letter to the Hebrews, SNTSMS 75 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992), 215–216.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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LXX Jeremiah 38:32 and Hebrews 8:9

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