Hebrews 8-11

1The point of what we are saying is this: We do have such a high priest, who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven,

2and who ministers in the sanctuary and true tabernacle set up by the Lord, not by man.

3And since every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices, it was necessary for this One also to have something to offer.

4Now if He were on earth, He would not be a priest, since there are already priests who offer gifts according to the law.

5The place where they serve is a copy and shadow of what is in heaven. This is why Moses was warned when he was about to build the tabernacle: “See to it that you make everything according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.”

6Now, however, Jesus has received a much more excellent ministry, just as the covenant He mediates is better and is founded on better promises.

7For if that first covenant had been without fault, no place would have been sought for a second.

8But God found fault with the people and said: “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.

9It will not be like the covenant I made with their fathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, because they did not abide by My covenant, and I disregarded them, declares the Lord.

10For this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord. I will put My laws in their minds and inscribe them on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they will be My people.

11No longer will each one teach his neighbor or his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest.

12For I will forgive their iniquities and will remember their sins no more.”

13By speaking of a new covenant, He has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and aging will soon disappear.

1Now the first covenant had regulations for worship and also an earthly sanctuary.

2A tabernacle was prepared. In its first room were the lampstand, the table, and the consecrated bread. This was called the Holy Place.

3Behind the second curtain was a room called the Most Holy Place,

4containing the golden altar of incense and the gold-covered ark of the covenant. Inside the ark were the gold jar of manna, Aaron’s staff that had budded, and the stone tablets of the covenant.

5Above the ark were the cherubim of glory, overshadowing the mercy seat. But we cannot discuss these things in detail now.

6When everything had been prepared in this way, the priests entered regularly into the first room to perform their sacred duties.

7But only the high priest entered the second room, and then only once a year, and never without blood, which he offered for himself and for the sins the people had committed in ignorance.

8By this arrangement the Holy Spirit was showing that the way into the Most Holy Place had not yet been disclosed as long as the first tabernacle was still standing.

9It is an illustration for the present time, because the gifts and sacrifices being offered were unable to cleanse the conscience of the worshiper.

10They consist only in food and drink and special washings—external regulations imposed until the time of reform.

11But when Christ came as high priest of the good things that have come, He went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not made by hands and is not a part of this creation.

12He did not enter by the blood of goats and calves, but He entered the Most Holy Place once for all by His own blood, thus securing eternal redemption.

13For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that their bodies are clean,

14how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself unblemished to God, purify our consciences from works of death, so that we may serve the living God!

15Therefore Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, now that He has died to redeem them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.

16In the case of a will, it is necessary to establish the death of the one who made it,

17because a will does not take effect until the one who made it has died; it cannot be executed while he is still alive.

18That is why even the first covenant was not put into effect without blood.

19For when Moses had proclaimed every commandment of the law to all the people, he took the blood of calves and goats, along with water, scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled the scroll and all the people,

20saying, “This is the blood of the covenant, which God has commanded you to keep.”

21In the same way, he sprinkled with blood the tabernacle and all the vessels used in worship.

22According to the law, in fact, nearly everything must be purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.

23So it was necessary for the copies 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 man-made copy of the true sanctuary, but He entered heaven itself, now to appear on our behalf in the presence of God.

25Nor did He enter heaven to offer Himself again and again, as the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own.

26Otherwise, Christ would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But now He has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of Himself.

27Just as man is appointed to die once, and after that to face judgment,

28so also Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many; and He will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who eagerly await Him.

1For the law is only a shadow of the good things to come, not the realities themselves. It can never, by the same sacrifices offered year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship.

2If it could, would not the offerings have ceased? For the worshipers would have been cleansed once for all, and would no longer have felt the guilt of their sins.

3Instead, those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins,

4because it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

5Therefore, when Christ came into the world, He said: “Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, but a body You prepared for Me.

6In burnt offerings and sin offerings You took no delight.

7Then I said, ‘Here I am, it is written about Me in the scroll: I have come to do Your will, O God.’”

8In the passage above He says, “Sacrifices and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings You did not desire, nor did You delight in them” (although they are offered according to the law).

9Then He adds, “Here I am, I have come to do Your will.” He takes away the first to establish the second.

10And by that will, we have been sanctified through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

11Day after day every priest stands to minister and to offer again and again the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins.

12But when this Priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, He sat down at the right hand of God.

13Since that time, He waits for His enemies to be made a footstool for His feet,

14because by a single offering He has made perfect for all time those who are being sanctified.

15The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. First He says:

16“This is the covenant I will make with them after those days, declares the Lord. I will put My laws in their hearts and inscribe them on their minds.”

17Then He adds: “Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more.”

18And where these have been forgiven, an offering for sin is no longer needed.

19Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus,

20by the new and living way opened for us through the curtain of His body,

21and since we have a great priest over the house of God,

22let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

23Let us hold resolutely to the hope we profess, for He who promised is faithful.

24And let us consider how to spur one another on to love and good deeds.

25Let us not neglect meeting together, as some have made a habit, but let us encourage one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

26If we deliberately go on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no further sacrifice for sins remains,

27but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume all adversaries.

28Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses.

29How much more severely do you think one deserves to be punished who has trampled on the Son of God, profaned the blood of the covenant that sanctified him, and insulted the Spirit of grace?

30For we know Him who said, “Vengeance is Mine; I will repay,” and again, “The Lord will judge His people.”

31It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

32Remember the early days that you were in the light. In those days, you endured a great conflict in the face of suffering.

33Sometimes you were publicly exposed to ridicule and persecution; at other times you were partners with those who were so treated.

34You sympathized with those in prison and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property, knowing that you yourselves had a better and permanent possession.

35So do not throw away your confidence; it holds a great reward.

36You need to persevere, so that after you have done the will of God, you will receive what He has promised.

37For, “In just a little while, He who is coming will come and will not delay.

38But My righteous one will live by faith; and if he shrinks back, I will take no pleasure in him.”

39But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.

1Now faith is the assurance of what we hope for and the certainty of what we do not see.

2This is why the ancients were commended.

3By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.

4By faith Abel offered God a better sacrifice than Cain did. By faith he was commended as righteous when God gave approval to his gifts. And by faith he still speaks, even though he is dead.

5By faith Enoch was taken up so that he did not see death: “He could not be found, because God had taken him away.” For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God.

6And without faith it is impossible to please God. For anyone who approaches Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.

7By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in godly fear built an ark to save his family. By faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.

8By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, without knowing where he was going.

9By faith he dwelt in the promised land as a stranger in a foreign country. He lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise.

10For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.

11By faith Sarah, even though she was barren and beyond the proper age, was enabled to conceive a child, because she considered Him faithful who had promised.

12And so from one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.

13All these people died in faith, without having received the things they were promised. However, they saw them and welcomed them from afar. And they acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.

14Now those who say such things show that they are seeking a country of their own.

15If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return.

16Instead, they were longing for a better country, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them.

17By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac on the altar. He who had received the promises was ready to offer his one and only son,

18even though God had said to him, “Through Isaac your offspring will be reckoned.”

19Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead, and in a sense, he did receive Isaac back from death.

20By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning the future.

21By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of Joseph’s sons and worshiped as he leaned on the top of his staff.

22By faith Joseph, when his end was near, spoke about the exodus of the Israelites and gave instructions about his bones.

23By faith Moses’ parents hid him for three months after his birth, because they saw that he was a beautiful child, and they were unafraid of the king’s edict.

24By faith Moses, when he was grown, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter.

25He chose to suffer oppression with God’s people rather than to experience the fleeting enjoyment of sin.

26He valued disgrace for Christ above the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking ahead to his reward.

27By faith Moses left Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger; he persevered because he saw Him who is invisible.

28By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn would not touch Israel’s own firstborn.

29By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as on dry land; but when the Egyptians tried to follow, they were drowned.

30By faith the walls of Jericho fell, after the people had marched around them for seven days.

31By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies in peace, did not perish with those who were disobedient.

32And what more shall I say? Time will not allow me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and the prophets,

33who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions,

34quenched the raging fire, and escaped the edge of the sword; who gained strength from weakness, became mighty in battle, and put foreign armies to flight.

35Women received back their dead, raised to life again. Others were tortured and refused their release, so that they might gain a better resurrection.

36Still others endured mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment.

37They were stoned, they were sawed in two, they were put to death by the sword. They went around in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, oppressed, and mistreated.

38The world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and hid in caves and holes in the ground.

39These were all commended for their faith, yet they did not receive what was promised.

40God had planned something better for us, so that together with us they would be made perfect.