⁵ They shall ask the way to Zion, with faces turned toward it, and they shall come and join themselves to the Lord by an everlasting covenant that will never be forgotten.

⁴⁰ I will make an everlasting covenant with them, never to draw back from doing good to them, and I will put the fear of me in their hearts, so that they may not turn from me.

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

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

⁷ I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you.^(A)

⁵ and not as we expected. Instead, they gave themselves first to the Lord and, by the will of God, to us,

²³ When he came and saw the grace of God, he rejoiced, and he exhorted them all to remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast devotion,^(A)