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)

²² accordingly Jesus has also become the guarantor of a better covenant.^(A)

⁶ who has made us qualified to be ministers of a new covenant, not of letter but of spirit, for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.^(A)

⁷ Now if the ministry of death, chiseled in letters on stone tablets,^[a] came in glory so that the people of Israel could not gaze at Moses’s face because of the glory of his face, a glory now set aside,^{(B) 8} how much more will the ministry of the Spirit come in glory? ⁹ For if there was glory in the ministry of condemnation,^[b] much more does the ministry of justification abound in glory!^{(C) 10} Indeed, what once had glory has in this respect lost its glory because of the greater glory, ¹¹ for if what was set aside came through glory, much more has the permanent come in glory!

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)

¹⁶ Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring;^[a] it does not say, “And to offsprings,”^[b] as of many, but it says, “And to your offspring,”^[c] that is, to one person, who is Christ.^{(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.^{(B) 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.^(C)

The Purpose of the Law

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

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.

²⁰ And he did the same with the cup after supper, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.^[a]

⁷ For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no need to look for a second one.^(A)

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

¹³ In speaking of a new covenant, he has made the first one obsolete, and what is obsolete and growing old will soon disappear.^(F)

² in the hope of eternal life that God, who never lies, promised before the ages began^(A)—

⁴ They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises;^(A)