Jeremiah 31:31–34
Written in Their Hearts
Doctrine shiftedQuoted by the apostles in Hebrews 8:8–12, in the older Greek wording
One text says Yahuah turned from them. The other says He was their husband. Hebrews followed the first.
Side by Side
The Older Text
Septuagint, translated before Messiah (Jeremiah 38 in the Greek)
Not according to the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day when I took hold of their hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; for they abode not in my covenant, and I disregarded them, saith the Lord. For this is my covenant which I will make with the house of Israel; after those days, saith the Lord, I will surely put my laws into their mind, and write them on their hearts.
The Later Text
Masoretic, finished about 1,000 years after the cross
Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith Yahuah: But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith Yahuah, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts.
Quoted in Hebrews 8:9–10
The apostle’s Old Testament
Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts.
Your KJV reads: “I was an husband unto them” in Jeremiah, and “I regarded them not” in Hebrews.
See what changed and why ↓What Your Bible Says
Because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord.
Hebrews 8:9 KJV
Hebrews quotes Jeremiah at length to show that Yahuah promised a new covenant. In this line, Israel broke the covenant and Yahuah turned His attention from them.
What the Jewish Bible Says
Which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith Yahuah.
Jeremiah 31:32 KJV
Here Israel broke the covenant even though Yahuah was a faithful husband to them. The line speaks of His faithfulness, not His turning away.
What Changed
One line: how Yahuah answered the broken covenant. In the Greek and in Hebrews, He disregarded them. In the Hebrew, He had been their husband.
The two Hebrew words look almost alike. “I was husband” is ba’alti. Change the first letter from bet to gimel and it becomes ga’alti, “I loathed.” Some older commentators suggested the Greek translators had that second word in their copy.
What Did Not Change
Both texts agree on the heart of the promise:
I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.
Jeremiah 31:33 KJV
The new covenant does not bring a new Law. It moves the same Law from tablets of stone to the heart. Ezekiel says the same: “I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes” (Ezekiel 36:27). The fault was never in the Law. Hebrews says Yahuah was “finding fault with them” (Hebrews 8:8).
Which One Is Right?
The Greek Bible, translated before Messiah, reads “I disregarded them.”
Hebrews quoted that wording.
The Masoretic text reads “I was an husband unto them.”
Purpose of the Change
If a letter changed, the effect is a gentler verse: the covenant broken, but the marriage standing untouched. The Greek, and Hebrews, say the break had a cost. Yahuah turned from them, and that is why a new covenant was needed.
The Bottom Line
The two texts differ on one line, but agree on what matters most: the new covenant writes Yahuah’s Law on the heart.
The covenant promise of Jeremiah is spoken again at the end: “he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God” (Revelation 21:3).
Dig Deeper The evidence, for anyone who wants it
One Letter
The word for loathe, ga’al, appears in Jeremiah 14:19: “hath thy soul lothed Zion?” In Hebrew script, bet and gimel are different letters, but a worn or unclear copy could carry either. Older commentators already noticed this and some proposed that the Greek translators read gimel. It cannot be proven.
Old and Ready to Vanish
Hebrews 8:13 says the first covenant “decayeth and waxeth old.” What grew old was the arrangement the fathers broke, written on stone and kept by a people whose hearts were unchanged. The Law itself is not what vanishes. Jeremiah says the new covenant writes that Law on the heart. Paul agrees: “the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good” (Romans 7:12).
Law or Laws
The Hebrew says “my law,” one word, torah. The Greek and Hebrews say “my laws.” The meaning is the same: Yahuah’s own commandments, now carried inside His people.
The Order
Jeremiah ends with forgiveness: “I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more” (Jeremiah 31:34). Entry comes through forgiveness, by the blood. The Law written on the heart is the walk that follows.
An Honest Note
Some scholars read ba’alti itself as “I was lord over them” or even “I rejected them,” comparing a similar word in a related language. If so, the Greek is a translation, not a witness to a different letter. Neither view can be proven. This page does not claim tampering here, only that Hebrews followed the Greek.