Book of the Covenant (30:1-31:40) 467terpreted by the Christian Church, but the promise as given is not that
inclusive.
not like the covenant that I cut with their fathers. The "fathers" here are the
Exodus generation, making this the Sinai covenant. In the Qumran Temple
Scroll (llQT 29:10) is the phrase "according to the covenant which I have
made with Jacob at Bethel," which is thought by some to give the phrase here
a positive but different interpretation. The Qumran covenant, according to
members of that community, was to be just like the covenant made with the
patriarchs (Yadin 1983: 129; Swanson 1994; Brooke 1997: 202-3).
I took them by the hand. A metaphor of parental guidance derived perhaps
from Hos 11:3 but not otherwise used to describe the Exodus deliverance. See
later Isa 40:llb; 41:13; and 42:6.
my covenant that they, they broke, though I, I was their master. The added
pronouns here and elsewhere in the passage are for emphasis. The people have
broken the covenant, not Yahweh who was their master or husband (Heb b<l
can mean "be master over" or "be husband" -terms largely interchangeable in
ancient culture, especially when used metaphorically). The metaphors have
now shifted from father-son to husband-wife (cf. 3:19-20). The seeds of de-
struction for the Sinai covenant were sown at the very beginning, when the
people made a golden calf in the Wilderness (Exodus 32) and Moses, in his
anger, broke (sbr) the tablets on which the Ten Commandments were written
(v 19). The verb prr H-stem here in the present verse is strong ("break, render
ineffectual"), occurring elsewhere in the OT with reference to a breaking of the
Mosaic covenant (11:10; Deut 31:16, 20; Lev 26:15; Ezek 16:59; 44:7). In Hos
8: 1, Yahweh says the people "have transgressed my covenant" (<aberil berftf),
which is not quite as strong (but see RSV: "they have broken my covenant"). A
phrase corresponding to the present one has turned up in the Qumran Temple
Scroll ( l lQT 59:8): 'sr f:zprw bryty, "according to which they broke my cove-
nant" (Yadin 1983: 267; Brooke 1997: 202). The LXX reads the present phrase
differently: hoti autoi ouk enemeinan en te diatheke mou, kai ego emelesa auton
("because they did not continue in my covenant, and I neglected them"),
which gives a reason for making the new covenant and states that disregard of
the old resulted in divine neglect. This translation carries over into Heb 8:9 of
the NT. Some suggest reading 'aser as a conjunction instead of as a relative
pronoun (Aq also hoti), and emending ba<altf ("I was master") to ga<altf ("I ab-
horred"; cf. 14: 19), but the LXX translation is still not vindicated and is rightly
rejected by both commentators and the modern Versions. Moreover, the ex-
pression, "for I, I am your master" ( kf 'anokf ha< altf) occurs in 3: 14, supporting
the MT (Renaud 1999).
3 3. But this is the covenant that I will cut with the house of Israel after those
days ... I will put my law in their inward parts, and upon their hearts I will write
it. The law (tOril) will remain in the new covenant and the obligation to com-
ply with its demands will still exist; nevertheless, conditions will be vastly im-
proved because Yahweh promises to write the law on the human heart.
Jeremiah does not specify what this law will consist of, but it is only reasonable