Irony in Jeremiah's prophecy of a new covenant

Abstract

"Jeremiah 31 contains the promise of a new covenant, one of whose perplexing features is the nature of the new covenant, or more exactly, how it differs from other covenants. So soon as attention is given to each of the details stated by Jeremiah, our perplexity increases. Each of the items adduced is but a repetition of some familiar aspect of salvation already known in the Old Testament"