¹⁰ Nothing was in the ark except the two tablets which Moses ^(A)put there at Horeb, ^[a]when the Lord made a covenant with the children of Israel, when they had come out of Egypt.

⁴ which had the ^(A)golden censer and ^(B)the ark of the covenant overlaid on all sides with gold, in which were ^(C)the golden pot that had the manna, ^(D)Aaron’s rod that budded, and ^(E)the tablets of the covenant;

¹¹ And there I have put the ark, ^(A)in which is the covenant of the Lord which He made with the children of Israel.”

² And I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke; and ^(A)you shall put them in the ark.’

³ “So I made an ark of acacia wood, hewed two tablets of stone like the first, and went up the mountain, having the two tablets in my hand. ⁴ And He wrote on the tablets according to the first writing, the Ten ^[a]Commandments, ^(B)which the Lord had spoken to you in the mountain from the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly; and the Lord gave them to me. ⁵ Then I turned and ^(C)came down from the mountain, and ^(D)put the tablets in the ark which I had made; ^(E)and there they are, just as the Lord commanded me.”

⁷ Then he ^(A)took the Book of the Covenant and read in the hearing of the people. And they said, “All that the Lord has said we will do, and be obedient.” ⁸ And Moses took the blood, sprinkled it on the people, and said, “This is ^(B)the blood of the covenant which the Lord has made with you according to all these words.”

⁵ Now ^(A)therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and ^(B)keep My covenant, then ^(C)you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is ^(D)Mine.

⁶ But now ^(A)He has obtained a more excellent ministry, inasmuch as He is also Mediator of a ^(B)better covenant, which was established on better promises.

A New Covenant^(C)

⁷ For if that ^(D)first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second. ⁸ Because finding fault with them, He says: ^(E)“Behold, 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 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 did not continue in My covenant, and I disregarded them, says the Lord. ¹⁰ For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the ^(F)Lord: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and ^(G)I will be their God, and they shall be My people. ^11 (H)None of them shall teach his neighbor, and none his brother, saying, ‘Know the ^(I)Lord,’ for all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them. ¹² For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, ^(J)and their sins ^[a]and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.”

^13 (K)In that He says, “A new covenant,” He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.

A New Covenant

³¹ “Behold, the ^(A)days are coming, 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 that I made with their fathers in the day that ^(B)I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, ^[a]though I was a husband to them, says the Lord. ^33 (C)But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: ^(D)I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their ^[b]hearts; ^(E)and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. ³⁴ No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for ^(F)they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord. For ^(G)I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”

¹⁰ “All of you stand today before the Lord your God: your leaders and your tribes and your elders and your officers, all the men of Israel, ¹¹ your little ones and your wives—also the stranger who is in your camp, from ^(A)the one who cuts your wood to the one who draws your water— ¹² that you may enter into covenant with the Lord your God, and ^(B)into His oath, which the Lord your God makes with you today, ¹³ that He may ^(C)establish you today as a people for Himself, and that He may be God to you, ^(D)just as He has spoken to you, and ^(E)just as He has sworn to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

¹⁴ “I make this covenant and this oath, ^(F)not with you alone,