This book examines the reception history of “New Covenant” in Jer 31:31–34 in Jewish sources through the time of Abravanel (d. 1508). It identifies and analyzes the sources that use this phrase and interpret the passage. Little scholarship has addressed the Jewish understanding of the New Covenant; this study also provides new English translations of relevant passages.

It begins with exegesis of Jer 31, focusing on “covenant.” From the Late Second Temple period onward, Jewish interpretations generally narrowed towards Torah as Israel’s chief relational marker, leading to the demise of covenant in Jewish self-understanding. This shows in the literature from the Late Second Temple: The New Covenant and Jer 31:31–34 received little attention, except in the New Testament.

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From the Midrashic period onward, a standard interpretation expected the New Covenant’s fulfilment in the Messianic Era, when the Torah would be internalized. This inner transformation would remove the persistent Evil Inclination, whose presence troubled the interpreters. They described the internalized Torah through the images of the “new heart” and “new spirit” (Ezek 36:26) and the “circumcision of the heart” (Deut 30:6). This inner change would solve the recurring problem of covenant failure.

 

In the Middle Ages, polemical interpretations of Jer 31 emerged, especially in defense of Torah. They responded primarily to Christian supersessionism, which challenged Jewish communal identity grounded in the Torah. Yet the underlying Midrashic expectation of future fulfilment remained. These interpreters wrote for Jewish audiences, yet some envisioned a universal transformation of the heart. Abravanel developed these themes to comfort fellow Jews after the Iberian expulsions, holding out hope for full national and spiritual restoration.