And it shall be in those days when you become numerous and are fruitful in the land,” declares the Lord, “they will no longer say, ‘The ark of the covenant of the Lord.’ And it will not come to mind, nor will they remember it, nor miss it, nor will it be made again.

The Broken Covenant

The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying,

“Hear the words of this covenant, and speak to the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem;

and say to them, ‘This is what the Lord, the God of Israel says: “Cursed is the one who does not obey the words of this covenant

And the Lord said to me, “Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, saying, ‘Hear the words of this covenant and do them.

Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but walked in the stubbornness of their evil heart, each one of them; therefore I brought on them all the words of this covenant which I commanded them to do, but they did not.’”

They have turned back to the wrongdoings of their ancestors who refused to hear My words, and they have followed other gods to serve them. The house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken My covenant which I made with their fathers.”

Do not despise us, for the sake of Your own name; Do not disgrace the throne of Your glory. Remember and do not annul Your covenant with us.

Then they will answer, ‘Because they abandoned the covenant of the Lord their God and bowed down to other gods and served them.’”

A New Covenant

“Behold, days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of mankind and the seed of animals.

“Behold, days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah,

not like the covenant which I made with their fathers on the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them,” declares the Lord.

“For this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares the Lord: “I will put My law within them and write it on their heart; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.

I will make an everlasting covenant with them that I will not turn away from them, to do them good; and I will put the fear of Me in their hearts, so that they will not turn away from Me.

“This is what the Lord says: ‘If you can break My covenant for the day and My covenant for the night, so that day and night do not occur at their proper time,

then My covenant with David My servant may also be broken, so that he will not have a son to reign on his throne, and with the Levitical priests, My ministers.

This is what the Lord says: ‘If My covenant for day and night does not continue, and I have not established the fixed patterns of heaven and earth,

The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord after King Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people who were in Jerusalem, to proclaim release to them:

And all the officials and all the people obeyed who had entered into the covenant that each person was to set his male servant free and each his female servant, so that no one would keep them in bondage any longer; they obeyed, and set them free.

“This is what the Lord, the God of Israel says: ‘I made a covenant with your forefathers on the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, saying,

Although recently you had turned and done what is right in My sight, each one proclaiming release to his neighbor, and you had made a covenant before Me in the house which is called by My name.

I will give the people who have violated My covenant, who have not fulfilled the words of the covenant which they made before Me, when they cut the calf in two and passed between its parts—

They will ask for the way to Zion, turning their faces in its direction; they will come so that they may join themselves to the Lord in an everlasting covenant that will not be forgotten.