Would you indeed annul ¹  my justice? Would you declare me guilty so that you might be right?

Then I cut the second staff “Binders” in two in order to annul the covenant of brotherhood between Judah and Israel.

Your treaty with death will be dissolved; ¹  your agreement ²  with Sheol will not last. ³  When the overwhelming judgment sweeps by, ⁴  you will be overrun by it. ⁵ 

What I am saying is this: The law that came four hundred thirty years later does not cancel a covenant previously ratified by God, ¹  so as to invalidate the promise.

Indeed, ¹  the Lord who commands armies has a plan, and who can possibly frustrate it? His hand is ready to strike, and who can possibly stop it? ² 

Then I took my staff “Pleasantness” and cut it in two to annul my covenant that I had made with all the people.

So it was annulled that very day, and then the most afflicted of the flock who kept faith with me knew that that was the word of the Lord.

Brothers and sisters, ¹  I offer an example from everyday life: ²  When a covenant ³  has been ratified, ⁴  even though it is only a human contract, no one can set it aside or add anything to it.

“Any vow or sworn obligation that would bring affliction to her, ¹  her husband can confirm or nullify. ² 

If those people to whom the word of God came were called ‘gods’ (and the scripture cannot be broken), ¹ 

But if her husband clearly nullifies ¹  them when he hears them, then whatever she says ²  by way of vows or obligations will not stand. Her husband has made them void, and the Lord will release her from them.

On the one hand a former command is set aside ¹  because it is weak and useless, ² 

But if when her husband hears it he overrules her, then he will nullify ¹  the vow she has taken, ²  and whatever she uttered impulsively which she has pledged for herself. And the Lord will release her from it.

But if he should nullify them after he has heard them, then he will bear her iniquity.” ¹ 

However, the Pharisees ¹  and the experts in religious law ²  rejected God’s purpose ³  for themselves, because they had not been baptized ⁴  by John. ⁵ ) ⁶ 

Even if he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times returns to you saying, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive ¹  him.”

For if they become heirs by the law, faith is empty and the promise is nullified. ¹ 

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 

then he says, “Here I am: I have come to do your will.” ¹  He does away with ²  the first to establish the second.

For the honor of your name, ¹  do not treat Jerusalem ²  with contempt. Do not treat with disdain the place where your glorious throne sits. ³  Be mindful of your covenant with us. Do not break it! ⁴