Hebrews 8:13

8:13 When he speaks of a new covenant, ¹  he makes the first obsolete. Now what is growing obsolete and aging is about to disappear. ² 

Hebrews 9:10

9:10 They served only for matters of food and drink ³  and various washings; they are external regulations ⁴  imposed until the new order came. ⁵ 

Hebrews 12:24

12:24 and to Jesus, the mediator ⁶  of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks of something better than Abel’s does. ⁷ 

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¹ tn Grk “when he says, ‘new,’” (referring to the covenant).

² tn Grk “near to disappearing.”

³ tn Grk “only for foods and drinks.”

⁴ tc Most witnesses (D¹ Ï) have “various washings, and external regulations” (βαπτισμοῖς καὶ δικαιώμασιν, baptismoi" kai dikaiwmasin), with both nouns in the dative. The translation “washings; they are… regulations” renders βαπτισμοῖς, δικαιώματα (baptismoi", dikaiwmata; found in such important mss as Ì⁴⁶ א* A I P 0278 33 1739 1881 al sa) in which case δικαιώματα is taken as the nominative subject of the participle ἐπικείμενα (epikeimena). It seems far more likely that scribes would conform δικαιώματα to the immediately preceding datives and join it to them by καί than they would to the following nominative participle. Both on external and internal evidence the text is thus secure as reading βαπτισμοῖς, δικαιώματα.

⁵ tn Grk “until the time of setting things right.”

⁶ tn The Greek word μεσίτης (mesith", “mediator”) in this context does not imply that Jesus was a mediator in the contemporary sense of the word, i.e., he worked for compromise between opposing parties. Here the term describes his function as the one who was used by God to enact a new covenant which established a new relationship between God and his people, but entirely on God’s terms.

⁷ sn Abel’s shed blood cried out to the Lord for justice and judgment, but Jesus’ blood speaks of redemption and forgiveness, something better than Abel’s does (Gen 4:10; Heb 9:11-14; 11:4).