The writer emphasizes once again that the new covenant is not merely better than the old but takes the place of the old. See the introduction to chapter 7. The meaning is not simply that talk of a “new” covenant makes the earlier covenant “old” by comparison, but that God himself, By speaking of a new covenant, has declared and therefore made the first one old. The tense of the Greek verb refers to a past event whose effect continues into the present.

The expression of means by a phrase such as By speaking of a new covenant may be difficult to render adequately in some languages. Sometimes such a phrase may be combined with what follows by the addition of an expression such as “in this way” or “thus”; for example, “God spoke about a new covenant and in this way he made the first one old” or “… thus he caused the first one to become old.”

Some languages have different words for “old,” one for referring to old people and another for referring to old cloth or similar objects. This latter meaning is more suited to this context.

Worn out means essentially the same as old; New English Bible has “old and ageing.” Both expressions may, if necessary, be translated by a single word.

The verb for disappear is sometimes used of laws which are abolished or which fall into disuse. The phrase will soon disappear may be expressed as “will soon no longer exist” or “in a short time will not exist.”

Quoted with permission from Ellingworth, Paul and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on The Letter of the Hebrews. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1983. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .