Hebrews 8–10

The New Priestly Service

8Now this is the main point of the things we are saying: We have such a High Priest, ^awho is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, ²a Minister of ^bthe ¹sanctuary and of ^cthe true tabernacle which the Lord erected, and not man.

³For ^devery high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices. Therefore ^eit is necessary that this One also have something to offer. ⁴For if He were on earth, He would not be a priest, since there are priests who offer the gifts according to the law; ⁵who serve ^fthe copy and ^gshadow of the heavenly things, as Moses was divinely instructed when he was about to make the tabernacle. For He said, ^h“See that you make all things according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.” ⁶But now ⁱHe has obtained a more excellent ministry, inasmuch as He is also Mediator of a ^jbetter covenant, which was established on better promises.

A New Covenant

⁷For if that ^kfirst covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second. ⁸Because finding fault with them, He says: ^l“Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah—⁹not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the 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 make with the house of Israel after those days, says the ^mLord: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and ⁿI will be their God, and they shall be My people. ^11oNone of them shall teach his neighbor, and none his brother, saying, ‘Know the ^pLord,’ for all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them. ¹²For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, ^qand their sins ²and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.”

^13rIn that He says, “A new covenant,” He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.

The Earthly Sanctuary

9Then indeed, even the first covenant had ordinances of divine service and ^athe earthly sanctuary. ²For a tabernacle was prepared: the first part, in which was the lampstand, the table, and the showbread, which is called the ¹sanctuary; ^3band behind the second veil, the part of the tabernacle which is called the Holiest of All, ⁴which had the ^cgolden censer and ^dthe ark of the covenant overlaid on all sides with gold, in which were ^ethe golden pot that had the manna, ^fAaron’s rod that budded, and ^gthe tablets of the covenant; ⁵and ^habove it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat. Of these things we cannot now speak in detail.

Limitations of the Earthly Service

⁶Now when these things had been thus prepared, ⁱthe priests always went into the first part of the tabernacle, performing the services. ⁷But into the second part the high priest went alone ^jonce a year, not without blood, which he offered for ^khimself and for the people’s sins committed in ignorance; ⁸the Holy Spirit indicating this, that ^lthe way into the Holiest of All was not yet made manifest while the first tabernacle was still standing. ⁹It was symbolic for the present time in which both gifts and sacrifices are offered ^mwhich cannot make him who performed the service perfect in regard to the conscience—¹⁰concerned only with ⁿfoods and drinks, ^ovarious ²washings, ^pand fleshly ordinances imposed until the time of reformation.

The Heavenly Sanctuary

¹¹But Christ came as High Priest of ^qthe good things ³to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation. ¹²Not ^rwith the blood of goats and calves, but ^swith His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place ^tonce for all, ^uhaving obtained eternal redemption. ¹³For if ^vthe blood of bulls and goats and ^wthe ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, ⁴sanctifies for the ⁵purifying of the flesh, ¹⁴how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without ⁶spot to God, ^xcleanse your conscience from ^ydead works ^zto serve the living God? ¹⁵And for this reason ^aHe is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that ^bthose who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.

The Mediator’s Death Necessary

¹⁶For where there is a testament, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator. ¹⁷For ^ca testament is in force after men are dead, since it has no power at all while the testator lives. ^18dTherefore not even the first covenant was dedicated without blood. ¹⁹For when Moses had spoken every ⁷precept to all the people according to the law, ^ehe took the blood of calves and goats, ^fwith water, scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, ²⁰saying, ^g“This is the ^hblood of the covenant which God has commanded you.” ²¹Then likewise ⁱhe sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry. ²²And according to the law almost all things are ⁸purified with blood, and ^jwithout shedding of blood there is no ⁹remission.

Greatness of Christ’s Sacrifice

²³Therefore it was necessary that ^kthe copies of the things in the heavens should be ¹purified with these, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. ²⁴For ^lChrist has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are ²copies of ^mthe true, but into heaven itself, now ⁿto appear in the presence of God for us; ²⁵not that He should offer Himself often, as ^othe high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood of another—²⁶He then would have had to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. ^27pAnd as it is appointed for men to die once, ^qbut after this the judgment, ²⁸so ^rChrist was ^soffered once to bear the sins ^tof many. To those who ^ueagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation.

Animal Sacrifices Insufficient

10For the law, having a ^ashadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things, ^bcan never with these same sacrifices, which they offer continually year by year, make those who approach perfect. ²For then would they not have ceased to be offered? For the worshipers, once ¹purified, would have had no more consciousness of sins. ³But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. ⁴For ^cit is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins.

Christ’s Death Fulfills God’s Will

⁵Therefore, when He came into the world, He said:

^d“Sacrifice and offering You did not desire,

But a body You have prepared for Me.

⁶In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin

You had no pleasure.

⁷Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come—

In the volume of the book it is written of Me—

To do Your will, O God.’ ”

⁸Previously saying, “Sacrifice and offering, burnt offerings, and offerings for sin You did not desire, nor had pleasure in them” (which are offered according to the law), ⁹then He said, “Behold, I have come to do Your will, ²O God.” He takes away the first that He may establish the second. ^10eBy that will we have been ³sanctified ^fthrough the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

Christ’s Death Perfects the Sanctified

¹¹And every priest stands ^gministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. ^12hBut this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down ⁱat the right hand of God, ¹³from that time waiting ^jtill His enemies are made His footstool. ¹⁴For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being ⁴sanctified.

¹⁵But the Holy Spirit also witnesses to us; for after He had said before,

^16k“This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them,” ¹⁷then He adds, ^l“Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.” ¹⁸Now where there is ⁵remission of these, there is no longer an offering for sin.

Hold Fast Your Confession

¹⁹Therefore, brethren, having ^mboldness ⁶to enter ⁿthe Holiest by the blood of Jesus, ²⁰by a new and ^oliving way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, ²¹and having a High Priest over the house of God, ²²let us ^pdraw near with a true heart ^qin full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. ²³Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for ^rHe who promised is faithful. ²⁴And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, ^25snot forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and ^tso much the more as you see ^uthe Day approaching.

The Just Live by Faith

²⁶For ^vif we sin willfully ^wafter we have received the knowledge of the truth, there ^xno longer remains a sacrifice for sins, ²⁷but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and ^yfiery indignation which will devour the adversaries. ²⁸Anyone who has rejected Moses’ law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three ^zwitnesses. ^29aOf how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, ^bcounted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, ^cand insulted the Spirit of grace? ³⁰For we know Him who said, ^d“Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” ⁷says the Lord. And again, ^e“The Lord will judge His people.” ^31fIt is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

³²But ^grecall the former days in which, after you were ⁸illuminated, you endured a great struggle with sufferings: ³³partly while you were made ^ha spectacle both by reproaches and tribulations, and partly while ⁱyou became…