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If there had been nothing wrong with the first covenant, there would have been no need for a second one. (A)But God finds fault with his people when he says,

“The days are coming, says the Lord,
    when I will draw up a new covenant with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah.
It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors
    on the day I took them by the hand and led them out of Egypt.
They were not faithful to the covenant I made with them,
    and so I paid no attention to them.
10 Now, this is the covenant that I will make with the people of Israel
    in the days to come, says the Lord:
I will put my laws in their minds
    and write them on their hearts.
I will be their God,
    and they will be my people.
11 None of them will have to teach their friends
    or tell their neighbors,
    ‘Know the Lord.’
For they will all know me,
    from the least to the greatest.
12 I will forgive their sins
    and will no longer remember their wrongs.”

13 By speaking of a new covenant, God has made the first one old; and anything that becomes old and worn out will soon disappear.

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If the first covenant had been without fault, it wouldn’t have made sense to expect a second. But God did find fault with them, since he says,

Look, the days are coming, says the Lord,
        when I will make a covenant with the house of Israel,
        and I will make a new covenant with the house of Judah.
It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors
    on the day I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt,
        because they did not continue to keep my covenant,
        and I lost interest in them, says the Lord.
10 This is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel
        after those days, says the Lord.
I will place my laws in their minds,
        and write them on their hearts.
I will be their God,
    and they will be my people.
11     And each person won’t ever teach a neighbor
    or their brother or sister, saying,Know the Lord,
        because they will all know me,
            from the least important of them to the most important;
12         because I will be lenient toward their unjust actions,
            and I won’t remember their sins anymore.[a]

13 When it says new, it makes the first obsolete. And if something is old and outdated, it’s close to disappearing.

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