Hebrews 10–11

Christ’s One Sacrifice for Sin

10For the law, possessing a shadow of the good things that are about to come, not the form of things itself, is never able year by year^a by means of the same sacrifices which they offer without interruption to make perfect those who draw near. ²For otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, because the ones who worship, having been purified once and for all, would no longer have any consciousness of sins? ³But in them there is a reminder of sins year by year^b. ⁴For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

⁵Therefore, when he^* came into the world, he said,

“Sacrifice and offering you did not want,

but a body you prepared for me;

⁶you did not delight in whole burnt offerings and offerings for sins.

⁷Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come—

in the roll of the book it is written about me—

to do your will, O God.’

⁸When he says above,

“Sacrifices and offerings and whole burnt offerings and offerings for sin

you did not want, nor did you delight in,”^c

which are offered according to the law, ⁹then he has said,

“Behold, I have come to do your will.”^d

He takes away the first in order to establish the second, ¹⁰by which will we are made holy through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

¹¹And every priest stands every day serving and offering the same sacrifices many times, which are never able to take away sins. ¹²But this one, after he^* had offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, sat down at the right hand of God, ¹³from now on waiting until his enemies are made a footstool for his feet. ¹⁴For by one offering he has perfected for all time those who are made holy. ¹⁵And the Holy Spirit also testifies to us, for after saying,

¹⁶“This is the covenant that I will decree for them

after those days, says the Lord:

I am putting my laws on their hearts,

and I will write them on their minds.”^e

¹⁷He also says,

“Their sins and their lawless deeds I will never remember again.”^f

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

Hold Fast the Confession of Our Hope

¹⁹Therefore, brothers, since we^* have confidence for the entrance into the sanctuary by the blood of Jesus, ²⁰by the new and living way which he inaugurated for us through the curtain, that is, his flesh, ²¹and since we have^g a great priest over the house of God, ²²let us approach with a true heart in the full assurance of faith, our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. ²³Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for the one who promised is faithful. ²⁴And let us think about how to stir one another up to love^h and good works, ²⁵not abandoning our meeting togetherⁱ, as is the habit of some, but encouraging each other, and by so much more as you see the day drawing near.

A Serious Warning Against Continuing Deliberate Sin

²⁶For if^* we keep on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, ²⁷but a certain fearful expectation of judgment and a fury of fire that is about to consume the adversaries. ²⁸Anyone who rejected the law of Moses dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. ²⁹How much worse punishment do you think the person will be considered worthy of who treats with disdain the Son of God and who considers ordinary the blood of the covenant by which he was made holy and who insults the Spirit of grace? ³⁰For we know the one who said,

“Vengeance is mine, I will repay,”^j

and again,

“The Lord will judge his people.”^k

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

³²But remember the former days in which, after you^* were enlightened, you endured a great struggle with sufferings, ³³sometimes being publicly exposed both to insults and to afflictions, and sometimes becoming sharers with those who were treated in this way. ³⁴For you both sympathized with the prisoners and put up with the seizure of your belongings with joy because you^* knew that you yourselves had a better and permanent possession. ³⁵Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has great reward. ³⁶For you have need of endurance, in order that after you^* have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised. ³⁷For yet

“a very, very little while,

and the one who is coming will come and will not delay.

³⁸But my righteous one will live by faith,

and if he shrinks back, my soul is not well pleased with him.”^l

³⁹But we are not among those who shrink back to destruction, but among those who have faith to the preservation of our souls.

Examples of Faith in Action

11Now faith is the realization of what is hoped for, the proof of things not seen. ²For by this the people of old were approved. ³By faith we understand the worlds were created by the word of God, in order that what is seen did not come into existence from what is visible.

⁴By faith Abel offered to God a greater sacrifice than Cain, by which he was approved that he was righteous, because^* God approved him for his gifts, and through it^a he still speaks, although he^* is dead. ⁵By faith Enoch was taken up, so that he did not experience death, and he was not found, because God took him up. For before his removal, he had been approved as having been pleasing^b to God. ⁶Now without faith it is impossible to please him, for the one who approaches God must believe that he exists and is a rewarder of those who seek him. ⁷By faith Noah, having been warned about things not yet seen, out of reverence constructed an ark for the deliverance of his family, by which he pronounced sentence on the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.

⁸By faith Abraham, when he^* was called, obeyed to go out to a place that he was going to receive for an inheritance, and he went out, not knowing where he was going. ⁹By faith he lived in the land of promise as a stranger, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the fellow heirs of the same promise. ¹⁰For he was expecting the city that has foundations, whose architect and builder is God. ¹¹By faith also, with Sarah^c,^d he received the ability to procreate^e even past the normal age^f, because he regarded the one who had promised to be faithful. ¹²And therefore these were fathered from one man, and he being as good as dead, as the stars of heaven in number and like the innumerable sand by the shore of the sea.

¹³These all died in faith without receiving the promises, but seeing them from a distance and welcoming them, and admitting that they were strangers and temporary residents on the earth. ¹⁴For those who say such things make clear that they are seeking a homeland. ¹⁵And if they remember^g that land from which they went out, they would have had opportunity to return. ¹⁶But now they aspire to a better land, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed of them, to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.

¹⁷By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered Isaac, and the one who received the promises was ready to offer his one and only son, ¹⁸with reference to whom it was said, “In Isaac your descendants will be named,”^{h 19}having reasoned that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which he received him back also as a symbol. ²⁰By faith also Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things that were going to happen. ²¹By faith Jacob, as he^* was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph and worshiped, leaning on the top of his staff. ²²By faith Joseph, as he^* was dying, mentioned about the exodus of the sons of Israel and gave instructions about his bones.

²³By faith Moses, when he^* was born, was hidden for three months by his parents, because they saw the child was handsome, and they were not afraid of the edict of the king. ²⁴By faith Moses, when he^* was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, ²⁵choosing instead to be mistreated with the people of God rather than to experience the transitory enjoyment of sin, ²⁶considering reproach endured for the sake of Christⁱ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward. ²⁷By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the anger of the king, for he persevered as if he^* saw the invisible one. ²⁸By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, in order that the one who destroyed the firstborn would not touch them. ²⁹By faith they crossed the Red Sea as if on dry land; the Egyptians, when they made the attempt^j, were drowned. ³⁰By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they^* had been marched around for seven days. ³¹By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she^* welcomed the spies in peace.

³²And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, and Samuel and the prophets, ³³who through faith conquered kingdoms, accomplished justice, obtained what was promised, shut the mouths of lions, ³⁴extinguished the effectiveness of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong from weakness, became mighty in battle, put to flight enemy battle lines. ³⁵Women received back their dead by resurrection. But others were tortured, not accepting release, in order that they might gain a better resurrection. ³⁶And others experienced mocking and flogging^k, and in addition bonds and imprisonment. ³⁷They were stoned, they were sawed in two, they died by murder with a sword, they wandered about in sheepskins, in goatskins, impoverished, afflicted, mistreated, ³⁸of whom the world was not worthy, wandering about on deserts and mountains and in caves and in holes in the ground. ³⁹And although they^* all were approved^l through their faith, they did not receive what was promised, ⁴⁰because^* God had provided something better for us, so that they would not be made perfect without us.