Hebrews 8:8

αὐτοὺς אADK. αὐτοῖς BEL followed by the rec. and most editors, but not Westc. Hort. The αὐτοὺς must be construed with μεμφ. but αὐτοῖς with λέγει.

8. μεμφόμενος γὰρ αὐτοῖς. The “for” introduces his proof that “place for a better covenant was being sought for.” The persons blamed are not expressed, unless we read αὐτούς. Perhaps the meaning is “blaming the first covenant, He says to them” (who were under it). The “He” is God speaking to the Prophet. This would (reading αὐτοῖς) however have been expressed more naturally by πρὸς αὐτούς. If it can mean “He says to them,” the blame is, with delicate rhetoric, transferred from the covenant to those who received it.

Ἰδοὺ κ.τ.λ. The quotation is from Jeremiah 31:31-34.

συντελέσω. “I will accomplish.” The Hebrew word means literally “I will cut,” alluding perhaps to the slaying of victims at the inauguration of a covenant. But the LXX. and the writer of the Epistle substitute a less literal word.