Hebrews 8–10

The High Priest of a New Covenant

8Now the main point of what we are saying is this: We do have such a high priest,^s who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven,^{t 2}and who serves in the sanctuary, the true tabernacle^u set up by the Lord, not by a mere human being.

³Every high priest^v is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices,^w and so it was necessary for this one also to have something to offer.^{x 4}If he were on earth, he would not be a priest, for there are already priests who offer the gifts prescribed by the law.^{y 5}They serve at a sanctuary that is a copy^z and shadow^a of what is in heaven. This is why Moses was warned^b when he was about to build the tabernacle: “See to it that you make everything according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.”^{ac 6}But in fact the ministry Jesus has received is as superior to theirs as the covenant^d of which he is mediator^e is superior to the old one, since the new covenant is established on better promises.

⁷For if there had been nothing wrong with that first covenant, no place would have been sought for another.^{f 8}But God found fault with the people and said^b:

“The days are coming, declares the Lord,

when I will make a new covenant^g

with the people of Israel

and with the people of Judah.

⁹It will not be like the covenant

I made with their ancestors^h

when I took them by the hand

to lead them out of Egypt,

because they did not remain faithful to my covenant,

and I turned away from them,

declares the Lord.

¹⁰This is the covenantⁱ I will establish with the people of Israel

after that time, declares the Lord.

I will put my laws in their minds

and write them on their hearts.^j

I will be their God,

and they will be my people.^k

¹¹No longer will they teach their neighbor,

or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’

because they will all know me,^l

from the least of them to the greatest.

¹²For I will forgive their wickedness

and will remember their sins no more.^m”^cn

¹³By calling this covenant “new,”^o he has made the first one obsolete;^p and what is obsolete and outdated will soon disappear.

Worship in the Earthly Tabernacle

9Now the first covenant had regulations for worship and also an earthly sanctuary.^{q 2}A tabernacle^r was set up. In its first room were the lampstand^s and the table^t with its consecrated bread;^u this was called the Holy Place.^{v 3}Behind the second curtain was a room called the Most Holy Place,^{w 4}which had the golden altar of incense^x and the gold-covered ark of the covenant.^y This ark contained the gold jar of manna,^z Aaron’s staff that had budded,^a and the stone tablets of the covenant.^{b 5}Above the ark were the cherubim of the Glory,^c overshadowing the atonement cover.^d But we cannot discuss these things in detail now.

⁶When everything had been arranged like this, the priests entered regularly^e into the outer room to carry on their ministry. ⁷But only the high priest entered^f the inner room,^g and that only once a year,^h and never without blood,ⁱ which he offered for himself^j and for the sins the people had committed in ignorance.^{k 8}The Holy Spirit was showing^l by this that the way^m into the Most Holy Place had not yet been disclosed as long as the first tabernacle was still functioning. ⁹This is an illustrationⁿ for the present time, indicating that the gifts and sacrifices being offered^o were not able to clear the conscience^p of the worshiper. ¹⁰They are only a matter of food^q and drink^r and various ceremonial washings^s—external regulations^t applying until the time of the new order.

The Blood of Christ

¹¹But when Christ came as high priest^u of the good things that are now already here,^av he went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle^w that is not made with human hands,^x that is to say, is not a part of this creation. ¹²He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves;^y but he entered the Most Holy Place^z once for all^a by his own blood,^b thus obtaining^b eternal redemption. ¹³The blood of goats and bulls^c and the ashes of a heifer^d sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. ¹⁴How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit^e offered himself^f unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences^g from acts that lead to death,^ch so that we may serve the living God!ⁱ

¹⁵For this reason Christ is the mediator^j of a new covenant,^k that those who are called^l may receive the promised^m eternal inheritanceⁿ—now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant.^o

¹⁶In the case of a will,^d it is necessary to prove the death of the one who made it, ¹⁷because a will is in force only when somebody has died; it never takes effect while the one who made it is living. ¹⁸This is why even the first covenant was not put into effect without blood.^{p 19}When Moses had proclaimed^q every command of the law to all the people, he took the blood of calves,^r together with water, scarlet wool and branches of hyssop, and sprinkled the scroll and all the people.^{s 20}He said, “This is the blood of the covenant, which God has commanded you to keep.”^{et 21}In the same way, he sprinkled with the blood both the tabernacle and everything used in its ceremonies. ²²In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood,^u and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.^v

²³It was necessary, then, for the copies^w of the heavenly things to be purified with these sacrifices, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. ²⁴For Christ did not enter a sanctuary made with human hands that was only a copy of the true one;^x he entered heaven itself,^y now to appear for us in God’s presence.^{z 25}Nor did he enter heaven to offer himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the Most Holy Place^a every year with blood that is not his own.^{b 26}Otherwise Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world.^c But he has appeared^d once for all^e at the culmination of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself.^{f 27}Just as people are destined to die once,^g and after that to face judgment,^{h 28}so Christ was sacrificed onceⁱ to take away the sins of many; and he will appear a second time,^j not to bear sin,^k but to bring salvation^l to those who are waiting for him.^m

Christ’s Sacrifice Once for All

10The law is only a shadowⁿ of the good things^o that are coming—not the realities themselves.^p For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect^q those who draw near to worship.^{r 2}Otherwise, would they not have stopped being offered? For the worshipers would have been cleansed once for all, and would no longer have felt guilty for their sins.^{s 3}But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins.^{t 4}It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats^u to take away sins.^v

⁵Therefore, when Christ came into the world,^w he said:

“Sacrifice and offering you did not desire,

but a body you prepared for me;^x

⁶with burnt offerings and sin offerings

you were not pleased.

⁷Then I said, ‘Here I am—it is written about me in the scroll^y—

I have come to do your will, my God.’ ”^az

⁸First he said, “Sacrifices and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not desire, nor were you pleased with them”^a—though they were offered in accordance with the law. ⁹Then he said, “Here I am, I have come to do your will.”^b He sets aside the first to establish the second. ¹⁰And by that will, we have been made holy^c through the sacrifice of the body^d of Jesus Christ once for all.^e

¹¹Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices,^f which can never take away sins.^{g 12}But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins,^h he sat down at the right hand of God,^{i 13}and since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool.^{j 14}For by one sacrifice he has made perfect^k forever those who are being made holy.^l

¹⁵The Holy Spirit also testifies^m to us about this. First he says:

¹⁶“This is the covenant I will make with them

after that time, says the Lord.

I will put my laws in their hearts,

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

¹⁷Then he adds:

“Their sins and lawless acts

I will remember no more.”^co

¹⁸And where these have been forgiven, sacrifice for sin is no longer necessary.

A Call to Persevere in Faith

¹⁹Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence^p to enter the Most Holy Place^q by the blood of Jesus, ²⁰by a new and living way^r opened for us through the curtain,^s that is, his body, ²¹and since we have a great priest^t over the house of God,^{u 22}let us draw near to God^v with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings,^w having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience^x and having our bodies washed with pure water.^{y 23}Let us hold unswervingly to the hope^z we profess,^a for he who promised is faithful.^{b 24}And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds,^{c 25}not giving up meeting together,^d as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another^e—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.^f

²⁶If we deliberately keep on sinning^g after we have received the knowledge of the truth,^h no sacrifice for sins is left, ²⁷but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fireⁱ that will consume the enemies of God. ²⁸Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses.^{j 29}How much more severely do you think someone deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God^k underfoot,^l who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant^m that sanctified them,ⁿ and who has insulted the Spirit^o of grace?^{p 30}For we know him who said, “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,”^dq and again, “The Lord will judge his people.”^{er 31}It is a dreadful thing^s to fall into the hands^t of the living…