What Does Hebrews 8:8 Mean?
For finding fault with them, he says, 'Behold, the days are coming,' declares the LORD, 'when I will cut a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.'
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah:THE KEY
The fault is found with the people, yet the promise of a new covenant is spoken to both houses.
THE MEANING
The sentence holds human failure and a new covenant together: fault is found “with them,” yet the Lord speaks to the houses of Israel and Judah. It names the break plainly while keeping those same people within the promise.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that Israel and Judah’s failure leaves them abandoned: the promise is addressed to those same houses.
THE ROOT
διαθήκη
diathēkē
GROWS FROM
τίθημι (tithēmi), in διατίθημι (diatithēmi)
τίθημι means to set or place; διατίθημι means to arrange or establish.
The Greek word carries the sense of an established arrangement, while the verse names the people included: both houses. The covenant is spoken as a bond God sets in place with them.
ALSO GROWS
tithēmi: set, place
τίθημι
This root gives the covenant the sense of something established.
diatithēmi: arrange, establish
διατίθημι
This related verb names the making of an arrangement or covenant.
μέμφομαι
memphomai
GROWS FROM
μέμφ-
memph-
to blame or find fault with.
The Greek says “finding fault with them”; the object is people, not the covenant. The sentence locates the failure among those addressed, then speaks a new covenant to them.
ALSO GROWS
mempsis: blame, complaint
μέμψις
It carries the same fault-finding sense made explicit in this phrase.
amemptos: blameless, without blame
ἄμεμπτος
The related word shows the same stem in the contrasting idea of being without fault.
καινήν
kainēn
GROWS FROM
καινός
kainos
new, fresh.
“new” in this verse is kainēn. The Greek adjective brings newness into the covenant itself. Related forms speak of newness and renewal, keeping the freshness of the promise in view.
ALSO GROWS
kainotēs: newness
καινότης
The related noun carries the quality of being new.
anakainoō: renew, make new
ἀνακαινόω
This related verb shows the same newness expressed as renewal.
THE PATTERN
Covenant is framed as a bond God makes with a people and speaks in terms of shared belonging.
Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will cut a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.For this is the covenant that I will set in place with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD. I will give my instructions into their minds, and scratch them upon their hearts. And I will be to them a God, and they will be to me a people.Likewise also the cup after the meal, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood, poured out for you.THE THREAD
For this is the covenant that I will set in place with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD. I will give my instructions into their minds, and scratch them upon their hearts. And I will be to them a God, and they will be to me a people.It repeats διαθήκη (diathēkē, covenant), the same Greek noun used here, and shows the promise moving inward: instruction is placed in minds and written on hearts. The bond is described as God and people belonging to one another.
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