³ Not with our ancestors did the Lord make this covenant but with us, who are all of us here alive today.

¹⁰ “You stand assembled today, all of you, before the Lord your God—the leaders of your tribes,^[a] your elders, and your officials, all the men of Israel, ¹¹ your children, your women, and the aliens who are in your camp, both those who cut your wood and those who draw your water^(A)— ¹² to enter into the covenant of the Lord your God, sworn by an oath, which the Lord your God is making with you today, ¹³ in order that he may establish you today as his people and that he may be your God, as he promised you and as he swore to your ancestors, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.^{(B) 14} I am making this covenant, sworn by an oath, not only with you ¹⁵ who stand here with us today before the Lord our God but also with those who are not here with us today.

⁸ God^[a] finds fault with them when he says:

¹⁷ My point is this: the law, which came four hundred thirty years later, does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to nullify the promise.^{(A) 18} For if the inheritance comes from the law, it no longer comes from the promise, but God granted it to Abraham through the promise.^(B)

The Purpose of the Law

¹⁹ Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring^[a] would come to whom the promise had been made, and it was ordained through angels by a mediator.^{(C) 20} Now a mediator involves more than one party, but God is one.^(D)

²¹ Is the law then opposed to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could make alive, then righteousness would indeed come through the law.

¹⁷ Truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.^(A)