Hebrews 7–10

THE GREATNESS OF MELCHIZEDEK

7For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of God Most High, met Abraham and blessed him as he returned from defeating the kings, ²and Abraham gave him a tenth of everything. First, his name means king of righteousness, then also, king of Salem, meaning king of peace. ³Without father, mother, or genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but resembling the Son of God,^k he remains a priest forever.

⁴Now consider how great this man was: even Abraham the patriarch^l gave a tenth of the plunder to him. ⁵The sons of Levi who receive the priestly office have a command according to the law to collect a tenth from the people^m—that is, from their brothers and sisters—though they have also descended from Abraham. ⁶But one without this^A lineage collected a tenth from Abraham and blessed the one who had the promises.^{n 7}Without a doubt, the inferior is blessed by the superior. ⁸In the one case, men who will die receive a tenth, but in the other case, Scripture testifies that he lives.^{o 9}And in a sense Levi himself, who receives a tenth, has paid a tenth through Abraham, ¹⁰for he was still within his ancestor^B when Melchizedek met him.

A SUPERIOR PRIESTHOOD

¹¹Now if perfection came through the Levitical priesthood (for on the basis of it the people received the law^p), what further need was there for another priest to appear, said to be according to the order of Melchizedek and not according to the order of Aaron?^{q 12}For when there is a change of the priesthood, there must be a change of law as well. ¹³For the one these things are spoken about belonged to a different tribe. No one from it has served at the altar. ¹⁴Now it is evident that our Lord came from Judah,^r and Moses said nothing about that tribe concerning priests.

¹⁵And this becomes clearer if another priest like Melchizedek appears, ¹⁶who did not become a priest based on a legal regulation about physical^C descent but based on the power of an indestructible life. ¹⁷For it has been testified:

You are a priest forever

according to the order of Melchizedek.^Ds

¹⁸So the previous command is annulled because it was weak and unprofitable^{t 19}(for the law perfected^u nothing), but a better hope is introduced, through which we draw near to God.^v

²⁰None of this happened without an oath. For others became priests without an oath, ²¹but he became a priest with an oath made by the one who said to him:

The Lord has sworn

and will not change his mind,

“You are a priest forever.”^Da

²²Because of this oath, Jesus has also become the guarantee of a better covenant.^b

²³Now many have become Levitical priests, since they are prevented by death from remaining in office. ²⁴But because he remains forever, he holds his priesthood permanently. ²⁵Therefore, he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, since he always lives to intercede^c for them.

²⁶For this is the kind of high priest we need: holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens.^{d 27}He doesn’t need to offer sacrifices every day, as high priests do—first for their own sins, then for those of the people. He did this once for all time when he offered himself.^{e 28}For the law appoints as high priests men who are weak, but the promise of the oath, which came after the law, appoints a Son,^f who has been perfected^g forever.

A HEAVENLY PRIESTHOOD

8Now the main point of what is being said is this: We have this kind of high priest, who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens,^{h 2}a minister of the sanctuary and the true tabernacle that was set up by the Lord and not man.^{i 3}For every high priest is appointed to offer gifts^j and sacrifices; therefore, it was necessary for this priest also to have something to offer. ⁴Now if he were on earth, he wouldn’t be a priest, since there are those^A offering the gifts prescribed by the law. ⁵These serve as a copy and shadow^k of the heavenly things, as Moses was warned when he was about to complete the tabernacle. For God said, Be careful that you make everything according to the pattern that was shown to you on the mountain.^{Bl 6}But Jesus has now obtained a superior ministry, and to that degree he is the mediator^m of a better covenant,ⁿ which has been established on better promises.^o

A SUPERIOR COVENANT

⁷For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion for a second one. ⁸But finding fault with his people,^C he says:^D

See, the days are coming, says the Lord,

when I will make a new covenant

with the house of Israel

and with the house of Judah—

⁹not like the covenant

that I made with their ancestors

on the day I took them by the hand

to lead them out of the land of Egypt.

I showed no concern for them, says the Lord,

because they did not continue in my covenant.

¹⁰For this is the covenant

that I will make with the house of Israel

after those days, says the Lord:

I will put my laws into their minds

and write them on their hearts.

I will be their God,

and they will be my people.^p

¹¹And each person will not teach his fellow citizen,^E

and each his brother or sister, saying, “Know the Lord,”

because they will all know me,

from the least to the greatest of them.^q

¹²For I will forgive their wrongdoing,

and I will never again remember their sins.^ABr

¹³By saying a new covenant, he has declared that the first is obsolete. And what is obsolete and growing old is about to pass away.^s

OLD COVENANT MINISTRY

9Now the first covenant also had regulations for ministry and an earthly sanctuary. ²For a tabernacle was set up, and in the first room, which is called the holy place, were the lampstand, the table, and the presentation loaves.^{t 3}Behind the second curtain was a tent called the most holy place.^{u 4}It had the gold altar of incense and the ark of the covenant, covered with gold on all sides, in which was a gold jar containing the manna, Aaron’s staff that budded, and the tablets of the covenant.^{v 5}The cherubim of glory were above the ark overshadowing the mercy seat. It is not possible to speak about these things in detail right now.^a

⁶With these things prepared like this, the priests enter the first room repeatedly, performing their ministry.^{b 7}But the high priest alone enters the second room, and he does that only once a year, and never without blood, which he offers for himself and for the sins the people had committed in ignorance.^{c 8}The Holy Spirit was making it clear that the way into the most holy place had not yet been disclosed while the first tabernacle was still standing.^{d 9}This is a symbol for the present time, during which gifts and sacrifices are offered that cannot perfect the worshiper’s conscience.^{e 10}They are physical regulations and only deal with food, drink, and various washings imposed until the time of the new order.^f

NEW COVENANT MINISTRY

¹¹But Christ has appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come.^C In the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands (that is, not of this creation^g), ¹²he entered the most holy place once for all time, not by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption.^{h 13}For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a young cow, sprinkling those who are defiled, sanctify for the purification of the flesh,^{i 14}how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit^j offered himself without blemish to God, cleanse our^D consciences from dead works so that we can serve the living God?^k

¹⁵Therefore, he is the mediator^l of a new covenant,^m so that those who are called might receive the promiseⁿ of the eternal inheritance, because a death has taken place for redemption from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.^{o 16}Where a will exists, the death of the one who made it must be established. ¹⁷For a will is valid only when people die, since it is never in effect while the one who made it is living. ¹⁸That is why even the first covenant was inaugurated with blood. ¹⁹For when every command had been proclaimed by Moses to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and goats,^A along with water, scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled the scroll itself and all the people,^{p 20}saying, This is the blood of the covenant that God has ordained for you.^{Bq 21}In the same way, he sprinkled the tabernacle and all the articles of worship with blood.^{r 22}According to the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.^s

²³Therefore, it was necessary for the copies of the things in the heavens to be purified with these sacrifices, but the heavenly things themselves to be purified with better sacrifices than these.^{t 24}For Christ did not enter a sanctuary made with hands (only a model^C of the true one) but into heaven itself, so that he might now appear in the presence of God for us.^{u 25}He did not do this to offer himself many times, as the high priest enters the sanctuary yearly with the blood of another.^{v 26}Otherwise, he would have had to suffer many times since the foundation of the world. But now he has appeared one time, at the end of the ages,^w for the removal of sin by the sacrifice of himself.^{x 27}And just as it is appointed for people to die once—and after this, judgment^y—²⁸so also Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many,^z will appear a second time,^aa not to bear sin, but^D to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.^ab

THE PERFECT SACRIFICE

10Since the law has only a shadow of the good things^ac to come, and not the reality itself of those things, it can never perfect the worshipers by the same sacrifices they continually offer year after year. ²Otherwise, wouldn’t they have stopped being offered, since the worshipers, purified once and for all, would no longer have any consciousness of sins? ³But in the sacrifices there is a reminder of sins year after year. ⁴For it is…