[3:187] And when God made covenant with those who had been given the Scripture, 'You shall expound it to people, and not conceal it'. But they rejected it behind their backs, and bought it with a small price; how evil is what they have bought!
He said that they made pledges to not fail in their living up to [the Scripture], but they broke the ties of the covenant by what they turned to in disbelief. Then it became clear that the comfortable substitutions they took in exchange for leaving religion would have no blessings for them.