Hebrews Chapter 8 verse 8 Holy Bible

Pulpit Commentary

Pulpit CommentaryVerses 8-12. - For finding fault with them (i.e. the people), he saith (or, as some take it, finding fault, he saith to them), Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will accomplish upon the house of Israel and the house of Judah a new covenant: not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts, and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people: and they shall not teach every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest. For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more. The passage is quoted from the LXX., with a few verbal differences which do not affect the meaning. In ver. 9 our A.V. renders the original in Jeremiah "although I was an Husband unto them," instead of "and I regarded them not (κἀγὼ ἠμέλησα αὐτῶν)." The LXX., followed in the text, gives the more probable meaning. On the whole passage be it observed: 1. "Behold, the days come," like "in that day," is a usual prophetic phrase for denoting the age of the Messiah. 2. The failure of the old covenant is attributed in the first place to the people's not continuing in it, and then, as a consequence, to the LORD'S withdrawal of his protection. The evidence of such withdrawal immediately before the prophet's view may be supposed to have been the Babylonian captivity. 3. The distinguishing characteristics of the new covenant are . . .

Ellicott's Commentary

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(8) Finding fault with them.--Not, "with it," but with those through whom the covenant had failed. The following quotation (Hebrews 8:8-12) is taken from Jeremiah 31:31-34. It is the crowning point of that collection of prophecies which is brought together in Heb 30-33, descriptive of the hope and salvation of Israel. The characteristics of the prophecy and its significance in this place will be noticed below (Hebrews 8:12). The quotation agrees in the main with the LXX. (and, except in Hebrews 8:11. with the text contained in the Alexandrian MS.), and in one clause only fails to represent the meaning of the Hebrew original. The only point requiring notice in this verse is the substitution of "I will accomplish" for "I will make." The new word closely answers to that which was used in Hebrews 8:6, "ordained." (See the Note.)