Hebrews 8–10

The Mediator of a New and Better Covenant

8Now this is the main point in what has been said: we have a high priest such as this, who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, ²a minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle which the Lord set up, not man. ³For every high priest is appointed in order to offer both gifts and sacrifices; therefore it was^* necessary for this one also to have something that he offers. ⁴Now if he were on earth, he would not even be a priest, because there^* are those who offer the gifts according to the law, ⁵who serve a sketch and shadow of the heavenly things, just as Moses was warned when he^* was about to complete the tabernacle, for he says, “See to it that you make everything according to the pattern which was shown to you on the mountain.”^{a 6}But now he has attained a more excellent ministry, by as much as he is also mediator of a better covenant which has been enacted upon better promises. ⁷For if that first covenant had been faultless, occasion would not have been sought for a second. ⁸For in finding fault with them he says,

“Behold, days are coming, says the Lord,

when I will complete a new covenant with the house of Israel

and with the house of Judah,

⁹not like the covenant which I made with their fathers

on the day I took hold of them by my hand

to lead them out of the land of Egypt,

because they did not continue in my covenant

and I disregarded them, says the Lord.

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

after those days, says the Lord:

I am putting my laws in their minds

and I will write them on their hearts,

and I will be their^b God

and they will be my^c people.

¹¹And they will not teach each one his fellow citizen

and each one his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’

because they will all know me,

from the least of them to the greatest.

¹²For I will be merciful toward their wrongdoings,

and I will not remember their sins any longer.”

¹³In calling it new, he has declared the former to be old. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is near to disappearing.

The Earthly Ministry of the Old Covenant

9Now^a the first covenant had regulations for worship and the earthly sanctuary. ²For a tent was prepared, the first one, in which were the lampstand and the table and the presentation of the loaves, which is called the holy place. ³And after the second curtain was a tent called the holy of holies, ⁴containing the golden incense altar and the ark of the covenant covered on all sides with gold, in which were a golden jar containing the manna and the rod of Aaron that budded and the tablets of the covenant. ⁵And above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat, about which it is not now possible to speak in detail.

⁶Now these things having been prepared in this way, the priests enter into the first tent continually^b as they^* accomplish their service, ⁷but only the high priest enters into the second tent once a year, not without blood, which he offers on behalf of himself and the sins of the people committed in ignorance. ⁸The Holy Spirit was making this clear, that the way into the holy place was not yet revealed, while^* the first tent was still in existence, ⁹which was a symbol for the present time, in which both the gifts and sacrifices which were offered were not able to perfect the worshiper with respect to the conscience, ¹⁰concerning instead only food and drink and different washings, regulations of outward things imposed until the time of setting things right.

The Heavenly Ministry of the New Covenant

¹¹But Christ has arrived as a high priest of the good things to come. Through the greater and more perfect tent not made by hands, that is, not of this creation, ¹²and not by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood, he entered once for all into the most holy place, obtaining eternal redemption. ¹³For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a young cow sprinkled on those who are defiled sanctify them for the ritual purity of the flesh, ¹⁴how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, cleanse our consciences from dead works to serve the living God?

¹⁵And because of this, he is the mediator of a new covenant, in order that, because^* a death has taken place for the redemption of transgressions committed during the first covenant, those who are the called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance. ¹⁶For where there is a will, it is a necessity for the death of the one who made the will to be established. ¹⁷For a will is in force concerning those who are dead, since it is never in force when the one who made the will is alive. ¹⁸Therefore not even the first covenant was ratified without blood. ¹⁹For when^* every commandment had been spoken by Moses to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves^c with water and scarlet wool and hyssop and sprinkled both the scroll itself and all the people, ²⁰saying,

“This is the blood of the covenant that God has commanded for you.”^d

²¹And likewise he sprinkled both the tabernacle and all the utensils of service with the blood. ²²Indeed, nearly everything is purified with blood according to the law, and apart from the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.

²³Therefore it was necessary for the sketches of the things in heaven to be purified with these sacrifices, but the heavenly things themselves to be purified with better sacrifices than these. ²⁴For Christ did not enter into a sanctuary made by hands, a mere copy of the true one, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf, ²⁵and not in order that he can offer himself many times, as the high priest enters into the sanctuary year by year^e with blood not his own, ²⁶since it would have been necessary for him to suffer many times from the foundation of the world, but now he has appeared once at the end of the ages for the removal of sin by the sacrifice of himself. ²⁷And just as^f it is destined for people to die once, and after this, judgment, ²⁸thus also Christ, having been offered once in order to bear the sins of many, will appear for the second time without reference to sin to those who eagerly await him for salvation.

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.

^32 …