Book of the Covenant (30:1-31:40) 469Jeremiah, on another occasion, says that Yahweh will give Israel a (new) heart
to know him (24:7; cf. Deut 30:6). Ezekiel, on his part, expects for Israel a new
heart and a new spirit (Ezek 11: 19; 18:31; 36:26), although in 18:31 people are
told to make both for themselves-a demand, needless to say, incapable of ful-
fillment. Ezekiel alone imagines that human beings have such a capacity
(M. Greenberg 1983: 341 ). The new heart and new spirit are otherwise under-
stood to be gifts of divine grace.
the house oflsrael. Hebrew bet yiira'el. A few MSS read bene yisra'el ("chil-
dren qf Israel"), which is less ambiguous because it includes both Israel and
Judah.
I will put my law in their inward parts, and upon their hearts I will write it. An-
other syntactic chiasmus with verbs at the extremes. Hebrew natattf is a perfect
form, which Weinfeld ( 1976: 27) says is usual in grant-type covenants. Even
though the new covenant is announced for the future, Yahweh has already car-
ried out the action, just as he did when calling Jeremiah to be a prophet (1:5)
and designating him for ministry ( l: l 0). Many Heb MSS have a waw conversive
on the verb, making it future: "And I will put." But the LXX (and Heb 8: 10 in
the NT) are without a conjunction.
in their inward parts. Hebrew beqirbam. The LXX: "in their mind" (eis ten
dianoian auton).
and upon their hearts I will write it. In ANE religion, oracles were inscribed
on the hearts and livers of both humans and animals (Hogg 1911: 60). Here the
new covenant will be written on hearts previously inscribed with sin (17:1).
Yahweh's future covenant action will be more individualized than it was in the
past (Giesebrecht; Peake; Hyatt), similar to what will occur in divine retribu-
tion, where each person will die for his own sin (31:30). Hyatt says that while
this new covenant is made with the nation, it nevertheless carries weighty im-
plications for personal religion. Sin and covenant become even more individ-
ualized in the Qumran Manual of Discipline and in the NT Letter to the
Hebrews (see Excurses IV and V).
And I will be God to them, and they, they will be a people to me. The same
formula used to describe the Sinai covenant. On its occurrence in Jeremiah
and elsewhere, see Note for 7:23.
- And they shall not again instruct each person his fellow and each person
his brother, saying, 'Know Yahweh,' for they, all of them, shall know me, from the
least of them to the greatest of them. In ancient Hebrew thinking, the "will" took
up residence in the heart (A. R. Johnson 1964: 77-79), so if the tora is to be
written on the human heart, people will have the will to obey it. Moreover,
they will no longer have to admonish one another to "Know Yahwehl" for
everyone will know him. "Knowing Yahweh" here as elsewhere requires the ex-
panded meaning of "knowing and doing the tora" (Hos 4:1-2; Jer 5:4-5). In
Deuteronomy, people had to be continually told: "Be careful to do (the com-
mands)" (5:1, 32; 6:3, 25; et passim), "Take heed ... lest you forget the cove-
nant/Yahweh" (4:23; 6:12; 8:11; et passim), the liturgical injunctions in 6:6-9