The covenant given at Mount Sinai promised either blessings or curses—blessings for obedience or curses for disobedience. After entering Canaan, half of the tribes stood at Mount Gerizim to hear the covenant blessings, and half stood at Mount Ebal for the covenant curses (Deuteronomy 11:29; 27:4-26; Joshua 8:30-35).
Sadly, the Israelites brought the curses of the law down upon themselves. In due course, they suffered many disasters and defeats. Their enemies scattered them as slaves among many nations. But even as this tragedy unfolded, God pointed to the brighter future that He had planned. The Israelites had broken His covenant beyond repair. Therefore, God planned a new and better covenant, quite different from the covenant given at Mount Sinai.
Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the LORD. (Jeremiah 31:31-32)