The New Testament with Commentary
Hebrews 8
Priest and Mediator of a better covenant
Now the main point of the things we are saying is this: We do have such a High Priest, who sat down1 at the right of the Majesty's throne in the heavens, Minister of the Holy Places, that is, of the true Tabernacle which the Lord set up, not man. Every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices (it follows that it is necessary for this One also to have something He might offer) —if He were on earth He would not be a priest, there already being priests who offer the gifts according to the Law;2 who serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things3 (that is why Moses was warned by God when he was ready to assemble the Tabernacle: “See to it,” He says, “that you make everything according to the pattern shown to you on the mountain”)— but now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, just as He is Mediator of a better covenant, which was enacted as law on the basis of better promises.4
A new covenant
Now if there had been nothing wrong with that first covenant, no place would have been sought for a second one; but finding fault with them5 He says:
“Listen! Days are coming,” says the Lord,
“when I will establish a new covenant
with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah6
—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,7
because they did not abide by my covenant
and so I disregarded them,” says the Lord.
“Now this is the covenant that I will make
with the house of Israel after those days,” says the Lord,8
“I will put my laws into their mind
and write them on their hearts;
and I will be their God
and they will be my people.
Further, not one of them will teach his neighbor
and not one his brother saying, ‘Get to know the Lord!’
because they all will know me,
from the least of them to the greatest of them.
For I will be merciful to their wrongdoings;
I will not at all remember their sins and their lawless deeds.”9
By saying ‘new’ He has made the first one ‘old’; and what is obsolete and aging is near the end.
Source notes (9)
- Footnote He took His seat; it was His prerogative.
- Footnote This presumably indicates that this missive was written before the destruction of the temple in 70 AD, when the sacrifices ceased.
- Footnote The Tabernacle assembled by Moses was but a ‘shadow’ of the real thing; which probably means that the spiritual realm is more ‘real’ than the physical one—which is difficult for us to believe, so very few live on that basis.
- Footnote Wow! How is that for convoluted syntax—verses 3-6 form a single sentence. It almost feels ‘Pauline’!
- Footnote That is right, the people, since they did not live up to the covenant. The following quote is from Jeremiah 31:31-34.
- Footnote The author equates the second covenant, inaugurated by Christ, with Jeremiah's new covenant, so the reference to ‘the house of Israel’ and ‘the house of Judah’ means that there are no ‘lost’ tribes—God knows who they are and where they are (see Revelation 7:4-8).
- Footnote “I took them by the hand”—recall that they were led by the column of cloud/fire from the very first.
- Footnote “The house of Israel” is not the Church! I would say that verses 10 and 11 here will be fulfilled during the Messianic Millennial Kingdom. Notice “they will be my people”.
- Footnote Some 3.5% of the Greek manuscripts omit “and their lawless deeds” (as in NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc.).
The New Testament with Commentary. Copyright © 2016 Wilbur N. Pickering, ThM, PhD. Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: eBible.org. Typeset from the source files; no intended changes to scripture wording. BibleKenya is not endorsed by the rights holder.
Full source notice & licence · CC BY-SA 4.0 · SourceEdition imported 2026-10-25.