Chapter 8

A Better Ministry

1 Now the main point in what has been said is this: we have such a ahigh priest, who has taken His seat at bthe right hand of the throne of the bMajesty in the heavens,

2 a aminister 1in the sanctuary and 1in the btrue 2tabernacle, which the Lord cpitched, not man.

3 For every ahigh priest is appointed bto offer both gifts and sacrifices; so it is necessary that this high priest also have something to offer.

4 Now if He were on earth, He would not be a priest at all, since there are those who aoffer the gifts according to the Law;

5 who serve aa copy and bshadow of the heavenly things, just as Moses 1was cwarned by God when he was about to erect the 2tabernacle; for, “dSee,” He says, “that you make all things according to the pattern which was shown you on the mountain.”

6 But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, by as much as He is also the amediator of ba better covenant, which has been enacted on better promises.

A New Covenant

7 For aif that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion sought for a second.

8 For finding fault with them, He says,

“aBehold, days are coming, says the Lord,

1When I will effect ba new covenant

With the house of Israel and with the house of Judah;

9 aNot like the covenant which I made with their fathers

On the day when I took them by the hand

To lead them out of the land of Egypt;

For they did not continue in My covenant,

And I did not care for them, says the Lord.

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

After those days, says the Lord:

1I will put My laws into their minds,

And I will write them bon their hearts.

And I will be their God,

And they shall be My people.

11 “aAnd they shall not teach everyone his fellow citizen,

And everyone his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’

For ball will know Me,

From 1the least to the greatest of them.

12 “aFor I will be merciful to their iniquities,

bAnd I will remember their sins no more.”

13 1When He said, “aA new covenant,” He has made the first obsolete. bBut whatever is becoming obsolete and growing old is 2ready to disappear.