Hebrews 8–10

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¹³By saying a new covenant, he has declared that the first is obsolete. And what is obsolete and growing old is about to pass away.^s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 impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

⁵Therefore, as he was coming into the world, he said:

You did not desire sacrifice and offering,

but you prepared a body for me.

⁶You did not delight

in whole burnt offerings and sin offerings.

⁷Then I said, “See—

it is written about me

in the scroll—

I have come to do your will, God.”^Ea

⁸After he says above, You did not desire or delight in sacrifices and offerings, whole burnt offerings and sin offerings (which are offered according to the law^b), ⁹he then says, See, I have come to do your will.^F He takes away the first to establish the second. ¹⁰By this will, we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all time.^c

¹¹Every priest stands day after day ministering and offering the same sacrifices time after time, which can never take away sins.^{d 12}But this man, after offering one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God.^{Ae 13}He is now waiting until his enemies are made his footstool.^{f 14}For by one offering he has perfected forever those who are sanctified. ¹⁵The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. For after he says:

¹⁶This is the covenant I will make with them

after those days,

the Lord says,

I will put my laws on their hearts

and write them on their minds,

¹⁷and I will never again remember

their sins and their lawless acts.^Bg

¹⁸Now where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer an offering for sin.

EXHORTATIONS TO GODLINESS

¹⁹Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have boldness to enter the sanctuary through the blood of Jesus^h—²⁰he has inaugurated^C for us a new and living way through the curtain (that is, through his fleshⁱ)—²¹and since we have a great high priest over the house of God,^{j 22}let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed in pure water.^{k 23}Let us hold on to the confession of our hope without wavering, since he who promised is faithful.^{l 24}And let us consider one another in order to provoke love and good works, ²⁵not neglecting to gather together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging each other,^m and all the more as you see the day approaching.

WARNING AGAINST DELIBERATE SIN

²⁶For if we deliberately go on sinning after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins,^{n 27}but a terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire about to consume the adversaries.^{o 28}Anyone who disregarded the law of Moses died without mercy, based on the testimony of two or three witnesses.^{p 29}How much worse punishment do you think one will deserve who has trampled on the Son of God, who has regarded as profane^D the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace?^{q 30}For we know the one who has said,

Vengeance belongs to me; I will repay,^EF

and again,

The Lord will judge his people.^Gr

³¹It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.^s

³²Remember the earlier days when, after you had been enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings.^{t 33}Sometimes you were publicly exposed to taunts and afflictions, and at other times you were companions of those who were treated that way.^{u 34}For you sympathized with the prisoners^H and accepted with joy…