Paul quoted Jeremiah 31:31-34, where Jehovah promised to “conclude with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah a new covenant.” Then the apostle wrote: “In his saying ‘a new covenant’ he has made the former one obsolete. Now that which is made obsolete and growing old is near to vanishing away.”​—Hebrews 8:13.

The prospective obsolescence that existed from when Jeremiah 31:31-34 was written became a full reality when Jesus’ death brought the Law to an end. So some 28 years later Paul could add in the next verse: “For its part, then, the former covenant used to have ordinances of sacred service and its mundane holy place.”​—Hebrews 9:1.