Hebrews 7–10

7For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of God Most High, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him, ²to whom also Abraham divided a tenth part of all (being first, by interpretation, King of righteousness, and then also King of Salem, which is, King of peace; ³without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like unto the Son of God), abideth a priest continually.

⁴Now consider how great this man was, unto whom Abraham, the patriarch, gave a tenth out of the chief spoils. ⁵And they indeed of the sons of Levi that receive the priest’s office have commandment to take tithes of the people according to the law, that is, of their brethren, though these have come out of the loins of Abraham: ⁶but he whose genealogy is not counted from them hath taken tithes of Abraham, and hath blessed him that hath the promises. ⁷But without any dispute the less is blessed of the better. ⁸And here men that die receive tithes; but there one, of whom it is witnessed that he liveth. ⁹And, so to say, through Abraham even Levi, who receiveth tithes, hath paid tithes; ¹⁰for he was yet in the loins of his father, when Melchizedek met him.

¹¹Now if there was perfection through the Levitical priesthood (for under it hath the people received the law), what further need was there that another priest should arise after the order of Melchizedek, and not be reckoned after the order of Aaron? ¹²For the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change also of the law. ¹³For he of whom these things are said belongeth to another tribe, from which no man hath given attendance at the altar. ¹⁴For it is evident that our Lord hath sprung out of Judah; as to which tribe Moses spake nothing concerning priests. ¹⁵And what we say is yet more abundantly evident, if after the likeness of Melchizedek there ariseth another priest, ¹⁶who hath been made, not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life: ¹⁷for it is witnessed of him,

Thou art a priest for ever

After the order of Melchizedek.

¹⁸For there is a disannulling of a foregoing commandment because of its weakness and unprofitableness ¹⁹(for the law made nothing perfect), and a bringing in thereupon of a better hope, through which we draw nigh unto God. ²⁰And inasmuch as it is not without the taking of an oath ²¹(for they indeed have been made priests without an oath; but he with an oath by him that saith of him,

The Lord sware and will not repent himself,

Thou art a priest for ever);

²²by so much also hath Jesus become the surety of a better covenant. ²³And they indeed have been made priests many in number, because that by death they are hindered from continuing: ²⁴but he, because he abideth for ever, hath his priesthood unchangeable. ²⁵Wherefore also he is able to save to the uttermost them that draw near unto God through him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.

²⁶For such a high priest became us, holy, guileless, undefiled, separated from sinners, and made higher than the heavens; ²⁷who needeth not daily, like those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people: for this he did once for all, when he offered up himself. ²⁸For the law appointeth men high priests, having infirmity; but the word of the oath, which was after the law, appointeth a Son, perfected for evermore.

8Now in the things which we are saying the chief point is this: We have such a high priest, who sat down on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, ²a minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, not man. ³For every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices: wherefore it is necessary that this high priest also have somewhat to offer. ⁴Now if he were on earth, he would not be a priest at all, seeing there are those who offer the gifts according to the law; ⁵who serve that which is a copy and shadow of the heavenly things, even as Moses is warned of God when he is about to make the tabernacle: for, See, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern that was showed thee in the mount. ⁶But now hath he obtained a ministry the more excellent, by so much as he is also the mediator of a better covenant, which hath been enacted upon better promises. ⁷For if that first covenant had been faultless, then would no place have been sought for a second. ⁸For finding fault with them, he saith,

Behold, the days come, saith the Lord,

That I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah;

⁹Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers

In the day that I took them by the hand to lead them forth out of the land of Egypt;

For they continued not in my covenant,

And I regarded them not, saith the Lord.

¹⁰For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel

After those days, saith the Lord;

I will put my laws into their mind,

And on their heart also will I write them:

And I will be to them a God,

And they shall be to me a people:

¹¹And they shall not teach every man his fellow-citizen,

And every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord:

For all shall know me,

From the least to the greatest of them.

¹²For I will be merciful to their iniquities,

And their sins will I remember no more.

¹³In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. But that which is becoming old and waxeth aged is nigh unto vanishing away.

9Now even the first covenant had ordinances of divine service, and its sanctuary, a sanctuary of this world. ²For there was a tabernacle prepared, the first, wherein were the candlestick, and the table, and the showbread; which is called the Holy place. ³And after the second veil, the tabernacle which is called the Holy of holies; ⁴having a golden altar of incense, and the ark of the covenant overlaid round about with gold, wherein was a golden pot holding the manna, and Aaron’s rod that budded, and the tables of the covenant; ⁵and above it cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy-seat; of which things we cannot now speak severally. ⁶Now these things having been thus prepared, the priests go in continually into the first tabernacle, accomplishing the services; ⁷but into the second the high priest alone, once in the year, not without blood, which he offereth for himself, and for the errors of the people: ⁸the Holy Spirit this signifying, that the way into the holy place hath not yet been made manifest, while the first tabernacle is yet standing; ⁹which is a figure for the time present; according to which are offered both gifts and sacrifices that cannot, as touching the conscience, make the worshipper perfect, ¹⁰being only (with meats and drinks and divers washings) carnal ordinances, imposed until a time of reformation.

¹¹But Christ having come a high priest of the good things to come, through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation, ¹²nor yet through the blood of goats and calves, but through his own blood, entered in once for all into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption. ¹³For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling them that have been defiled, sanctify unto the cleanness of the flesh: ¹⁴how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish unto God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? ¹⁵And for this cause he is the mediator of a new covenant, that a death having taken place for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first covenant, they that have been called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance. ¹⁶For where a testament is, there must of necessity be the death of him that made it. ¹⁷For a testament is of force where there hath been death: for it doth never avail while he that made it liveth. ¹⁸Wherefore even the first covenant hath not been dedicated without blood. ¹⁹For when every commandment had been spoken by Moses unto all the people according to the law, he took the blood of the calves and the goats, with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, ²⁰saying, This is the blood of the covenant which God commanded to you-ward. ²¹Moreover the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry he sprinkled in like manner with the blood. ²²And according to the law, I may almost say, all things are cleansed with blood, and apart from shedding of blood there is no remission.

²³It was necessary therefore that the copies of the things in the heavens should be cleansed with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. ²⁴For Christ entered not into a holy place made with hands, like in pattern to the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear before the face of God for us: ²⁵nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place year by year with blood not his own; ²⁶else must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once at the end of the ages hath he been manifested to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. ²⁷And inasmuch as it is appointed unto men once to die, and after this cometh judgment; ²⁸so Christ also, having been once offered to bear the sins of many, shall appear a second time, apart from sin, to them that wait for him, unto salvation.

10For the law having a shadow of the good things to come, not the very image of the things, can never with the same sacrifices year by year, which they offer continually, make perfect them that draw nigh. ²Else would they not have ceased to be offered? because the worshippers, having been once cleansed, would have had no more consciousness of sins. ³But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance made of sins year by year. ⁴For it is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins. ⁵…