Hebrews 8:13

The context

Hebrews has been arguing that Christ's priesthood is superior because it rests on a different order, and it now cites the promise of a new covenant from Jeremiah. That promise supplies the premise: if a new covenant is announced, the earlier one is being superseded. Verse thirteen draws the inference.

What it establishes

It establishes the logic of the letter's argument: the very promise of renewal implies that what came before is obsolete. The conclusion is drawn from the citation, not asserted independently of it.

What it does not establish

It does not say the scriptures are discarded. The author's whole case is built from those scriptures, which he treats as God's speech. Nor does the verse supply a date for the old order's disappearance; growing old implies a process, not a moment.

Short note, first pass, October 2026. Corrections welcome.

Cited in these answers

• So you believe in a book full of contradictions, one that endorses slavery, incest, murder, drowning babies, genocide and stoning homosexuals?

Part of Scripture, Opened — the exegetical layer behind every citation on this site. Scripture quotations are from the ESV.