glorious ministry was already in the process of being abolished because of what was to come (so Belleville, Reflections of Glory, 217–25). If this line of interpretation is correct, what follows also falls into place. Paul can now say that the very same veil “remains” (menei, the verb used to express the permanence of the new covenant!) at the reading of the “old covenant” (palaias diathēkēs). Although this is the only use of the phrase “old covenant” in the Old or New Testament, it makes perfect