²⁰ Now a mediator involves more than one party, but God is one.^(A)

⁵ For

⁴ “Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone.^[a](A)

¹⁵ For this reason he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, because a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions under the first covenant.^[a](A)

⁶ But Jesus^[a] has now obtained a more excellent ministry, and to that degree he is the mediator of a better covenant, which has been enacted on the basis of better promises.^(A)

²⁴ and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.^(A)

²⁹ Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of gentiles also? Yes, of gentiles also, ³⁰ since God is one, and he will justify the circumcised on the ground of faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith.^(A)

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)

The Death of Herod

²⁰ Now Herod^[a] was angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon. So they came to him in a body, and after winning over Blastus, the king’s personal attendant, they asked for a reconciliation, because their country depended on the king’s country for food.^(A)