Hebrews 8:8
Hebrews 8:88But God found fault with the people and said: “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.
quotes — "I will conclude with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah a new covenant." JWs read this as a covenant made specifically with "spiritual Israel" — the 144,000 anointed Christians — by typological extension from natural Israel. The "great crowd" of other sheep are not parties to this covenant; they benefit indirectly through the anointed. The verse becomes the structural anchor for the two-class soteriology.
introduces , and the verses immediately following are decisive against the two-class reading. Verse 11 promises that "they will all know me, from the least one to the greatest one" — language that explicitly excludes internal stratification. Verse 12 grounds the covenant in forgiveness of sins, a universal human need. The Watchtower inherits the "house of Israel and house of Judah" language as a typological pointer but then re-restricts the covenant to a smaller subset within the church — exactly the move Hebrews 8 is arguing against. Pair with ("if you belong to Christ, you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise") and (the new covenant blessings come to every believer approaching Mount Zion).