OT in NT (7b): Examples — Heb 10:16–17

ὅτι αὕτη ἡ διαθήκη, ἣν διαθήσομαι τῷ οἴκῳ Ισραηλ μετὰ τὰς ἡμέρας ἐκείνας, φησὶ κύριος Διδοὺς δώσω νόμους μου εἰς τὴν διάνοιαν αὐτῶν καὶ ἐπὶ καρδίας αὐτῶν γράψω αὐτούς· … καὶ τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν αὐτῶν οὐ μὴ μνησθῶ ἔτι.

“Instead, this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days”—the LORD’S declaration. “I will place My law within them and write it on their hearts… and never again remember their sin.”

Jeremiah 31:33–34 (LXX 38:33–34)

ὅτι αὕτη ἡ διαθήκη, ἣν διαθήσομαι τῷ οἴκῳ Ἰσραὴλ
μετὰ τὰς ἡμέρας ἐκείνας, λέγει κύριος·
διδοὺς νόμους μου εἰς τὴν διάνοιαν αὐτῶν
καὶ ἐπὶ καρδίας αὐτῶν ἐπιγράψω αὐτούς,
… καὶ τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν αὐτῶν οὐ μὴ μνησθῶ ἔτι.

“But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” says the Lord: “I will put My laws into their minds, and I will write them on their hearts,
… and I will never again remember their sins.”

Hebrews 8:10, 12

αὕτη ἡ διαθήκη ἣν διαθήσομαι πρὸς αὐτοὺς
μετὰ τὰς ἡμέρας ἐκείνας, λέγει κύριος·
διδοὺς νόμους μου ἐπὶ καρδίας αὐτῶν
καὶ ἐπὶ τὴν διάνοιαν αὐτῶν ἐπιγράψω αὐτούς,
καὶ τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν αὐτῶν καὶ τῶν ἀνομιῶν αὐτῶν οὐ μὴ μνησθήσομαι ἔτι.

This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws on their hearts, and I will write them on their minds, I will never again remember their sins and their lawless acts.

Hebrews 10:16–17

Hebrews 8:10, 12 and 10:16—17 are citations of Jeremiah 38:33—34 (LXX) that display three verbal changes, although the first two are minor. Firstly, Jeremiah~38 reads Διδοὺς δώσω, while Hebrews drops the finite verb δώσω leaving only the participle. The LXX version is possibly a Hebraism (although not present in the MT) that has been ‘corrected’ in Hebrews. This participle is in any case subordinate to the prior διαθήσομαι, so the sense is essentially unaltered. Secondly, γράψω in Jeremiah is changed to ἐπιγράψω, although there appears to be little change in meaning with the addition of the preposition.^[1]

Thirdly, the familiar aorist subjunctive to future indicative change occurs with μνησθῶ and μνησθήσομαι in Heb 10:17 (NB. unchanged in 8:12). Once again the OT elements retain their perfective aspect and are cast as (explicitly) referring to the future (the future relative to, in this case, Jeremiah). In the context of Hebrews 10 this is in reference to the current state of the people of God in Christ.^[2]

Our present reality is that we are sanctified by his will, perfected forever by his one offering (Heb 10:10, 14).^[3] The citation of God’s promise in Jeremiah is a testimony of this by the Holy Spirit (10:15), leading to an exhortation to draw near to God with boldness (10:19—22). This present reality is brought about by Jesus’ establishment of the ‘new covenant’ of Jeremiah.^[4] The author therefore ensures we notice the futurity of the promise in the original context by using μνησθήσομαι, so that the theological conclusion can be drawn that the fulfilment of this promise is the present age in Christ.

[2] William L. Lane, Hebrews 9–13 (Word Biblical Commentary Series; Dallas: Word Books, 1991), 269–70. ↩

[3] Lane, Hebrews 9–13, 271. ↩

[4] Paul Ellingworth, 􏰕e Epistle to the Hebrews: A Commentary on the Greek Text (NIGTC; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1993), 512, 514. ↩