(Solomon had made a bronze platform and put it in the middle of the courtyard. It was eight feet square and five feet high. He mounted this platform, knelt down where everyone could see him, and raised his hands toward heaven.)

But in the seventh year Jehoiada the priest sent for the officers in charge of the royal bodyguard and of the palace guards, and told them to come to the Temple, where he made them agree under oath to what he planned to do. He showed them King Ahaziah's son Joash

He stood by the royal column and made a covenant with the LORD to obey him, to keep his laws and commands with all his heart and soul, and to put into practice the demands attached to the covenant, as written in the book. And all the people promised to keep the covenant.

The ruling prince will go from the outer courtyard into the entrance room of the gateway and stand beside the posts of the gate while the priests burn his sacrifices whole and offer his fellowship offerings. There at the gate he must worship and then go back out. The gate must not be shut until evening.

The priest Jehoiada had King Joash and the people join him in making a covenant that they would be the LORD's people.

"I have now decided to make a covenant with the LORD, the God of Israel, so that he will no longer be angry with us.

Moses took half of the blood of the animals and put it in bowls; and the other half he threw against the altar.

Then Moses took the blood in the bowls and threw it on the people. He said, "This is the blood that seals the covenant which the LORD made with you when he gave all these commands."

These are the terms of the covenant that the LORD commanded Moses to make with the people of Israel in the land of Moab; all this was in addition to the covenant which the LORD had made with them at Mount Sinai.

"Today you are standing in the presence of the LORD your God, all of you---your leaders and officials, your men,

You are here today to enter into this covenant that the LORD your God is making with you and to accept its obligations,

You are not the only ones with whom the LORD is making this covenant with its obligations.

So Joshua made a covenant for the people that day, and there at Shechem he gave them laws and rules to follow.

Because of all that has happened, we, the people of Israel, hereby make a solemn written agreement, and our leaders, our Levites, and our priests put their seals to it.

do hereby join with our leaders in an oath, under penalty of a curse if we break it, that we will live according to God's Law, which God gave through his servant Moses; that we will obey all that the LORD, our Lord, commands us; and that we will keep all his laws and requirements.

They will ask the way to Zion and then go in that direction. They will make an eternal covenant with me and never break it.

But now, Jesus has been given priestly work which is superior to theirs, just as the covenant which he arranged between God and his people is a better one, because it is based on promises of better things.

But God finds fault with his people when he says, "The days are coming, says the Lord, when I will draw up a new covenant with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah.

Now, this is the covenant that I will make with the people of Israel in the days to come, says the Lord: I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.

I will forgive their sins and will no longer remember their wrongs."

Your commandments are my eternal possession; they are the joy of my heart.

I have decided to obey your laws until the day I die.

They made a covenant in which they agreed to worship the LORD, the God of their ancestors, with all their heart and soul.

All the people of Judah were happy because they had made this covenant with all their heart. They took delight in worshiping the LORD, and he accepted them and gave them peace on every side.

He was successful, because everything he did for the Temple or in observance of the Law, he did in a spirit of complete loyalty and devotion to his God.

Love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.

The man answered, " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind'; and 'Love your neighbor as you love yourself.' "

But the teacher of the Law wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, "Who is my neighbor?"

I will keep my solemn promise to obey your just instructions.