22 In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood,u and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.v

23 It was necessary, then, for the copiesw of the heavenly things to be purified with these sacrifices, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. 24 For 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 Placea 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 appearedd once for alle 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 salvationl to those who are waiting for him.m

Christ’s Sacrifice Once for All

10 The law is only a shadown of the good thingso that are coming—not the realities themselves.p For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfectq 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 goatsu to take away sins.v

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

“Sacrifice and offering you did not desire,

but a body you prepared for me;x

6 with burnt offerings and sin offerings

you were not pleased.

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

I have come to do your will, my God.’ ”a z

8 First 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. 9 Then he said, “Here I am, I have come to do your will.”b He sets aside the first to establish the second. 10 And by that will, we have been made holyc through the sacrifice of the bodyd of Jesus Christ once for all.e

11 Day 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