Hebrews 7-9
Complete Jewish Bible
7 This Malki-Tzedek, king of Shalem, a cohen of God Ha‘Elyon, met Avraham on his way back from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him; 2 also Avraham gave him a tenth of everything.[a]
Now first of all, by translation of his name, he is “king of righteousness”; and then he is also king of Shalem, which means “king of peace.”
3 There is no record of his father, mother, ancestry, birth or death; rather, like the Son of God, he continues as a cohen for all time.
4 Just think how great he was! Even the Patriarch Avraham gave him a tenth of the choicest spoils. 5 Now the descendants of Levi who became cohanim have a commandment in the Torah to take a tenth of the income of the people, that is, from their own brothers, despite the fact that they too are descended from Avraham. 6 But Malki-Tzedek, even though he was not descended from Levi, took a tenth from Avraham.
Also, he blessed Avraham, the man who received God’s promises; 7 and it is beyond all dispute that the one who blesses has higher status than the one who receives the blessing.
8 Moreover, in the case of the cohanim, the tenth is received by men who die; while in the case of Malki-Tzedek, it is received by someone who is testified to be still alive.
9 One might go even further and say that Levi, who himself receives tenths, paid a tenth through Avraham; 10 inasmuch as he was still in his ancestor Avraham’s body when Malki-Tzedek met him.
11 Therefore, if it had been possible to reach the goal through the system of cohanim derived from Levi (since in connection with it, the people were given the Torah), what need would there have been for another, different kind of cohen, the one spoken of as to be compared with Malki-Tzedek and not to be compared with Aharon? 12 For if the system of cohanim is transformed, there must of necessity occur a transformation of Torah. 13 The one about whom these things are said belongs to another tribe, from which no one has ever served at the altar; 14 for everyone knows that our Lord arose out of Y’hudah, and that Moshe said nothing about this tribe when he spoke about cohanim.
15 It becomes even clearer if a “different kind of cohen,” one like Malki-Tzedek, arises, 16 one who became a cohen not by virtue of a rule in the Torah concerning physical descent, but by virtue of the power of an indestructible life. 17 For it is stated,
“You are a cohen FOREVER,
to be compared with Malki-Tzedek.”[b]
18 Thus, on the one hand, the earlier rule is set aside because of its weakness and inefficacy 19 (for the Torah did not bring anything to the goal); and, on the other hand, a hope of something better is introduced, through which we are drawing near to God.
20 What is more, God swore an oath. For no oath was sworn in connection with those who become cohanim now; 21 but Yeshua became a cohen by the oath which God swore when he said to him,
“Adonai has sworn and will not change his mind,
‘You are a cohen forever.’”[c]
22 Also this shows how much better is the covenant of which Yeshua has become guarantor.
23 Moreover, the present cohanim are many in number, because they are prevented by death from continuing in office. 24 But because he lives forever, his position as cohen does not pass on to someone else; 25 and consequently, he is totally able to deliver those who approach God through him; since he is alive forever and thus forever able to intercede on their behalf.
26 This is the kind of cohen gadol that meets our need — holy, without evil, without stain, set apart from sinners and raised higher than the heavens; 27 one who does not have the daily necessity, like the other cohanim g’dolim, of offering up sacrifices first for their own sins and only then for those of the people; because he offered one sacrifice, once and for all, by offering up himself. 28 For the Torah appoints as cohanim g’dolim men who have weakness; but the text which speaks about the swearing of the oath, a text written later than the Torah, appoints a Son who has been brought to the goal forever.
8 Here is the whole point of what we have been saying: we do have just such a cohen gadol as has been described. And he does sit at the right hand of HaG’dulah in heaven.[d] 2 There he serves in the Holy Place, that is, in the true Tent of Meeting, the one erected not by human beings but by Adonai.
3 For every cohen gadol is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices; so this cohen gadol too has to have something he can offer. 4 Now if he were on earth, he wouldn’t be a cohen at all, since there already are cohanim offering the gifts required by the Torah. 5 But what they are serving is only a copy and shadow of the heavenly original; for when Moshe was about to erect the Tent, God warned him, “See to it that you make everything according to the pattern you were shown on the mountain.”[e]
6 But now the work Yeshua has been given to do is far superior to theirs, just as the covenant he mediates is better. For this covenant has been given as Torah on the basis of better promises. 7 Indeed, if the first covenant had not given ground for faultfinding, there would have been no need for a second one. 8 For God does find fault with the people when he says,
“‘See! The days are coming,’ says Adonai,
‘when I will establish
over the house of Isra’el and over the house of Y’hudah
a new covenant.
9 “‘It will not be like the covenant
which I made with their fathers
on the day when I took them by their hand
and led them forth out of the land of Egypt;
because they, for their part,
did not remain faithful to my covenant;
so I, for my part,
stopped concerning myself with them,’
says Adonai.
10 “‘For this is the covenant which I will make
with the house of Isra’el after those days,’
says Adonai:
‘I will put my Torah in their minds
and write it on their hearts;
I will be their God,
and they will be my people.
11 “‘None of them will teach his fellow-citizen
or his brother, saying, “Know Adonai!”
For all will know me,
from the least of them to the greatest,
12 because I will be merciful toward their wickednesses
and remember their sins no more.’”[f]
13 By using the term, “new,” he has made the first covenant “old”; and something being made old, something in the process of aging, is on its way to vanishing altogether.
9 Now the first covenant had both regulations for worship and a Holy Place here on earth. 2 A tent was set up, the outer one, which was called the Holy Place; in it were the menorah, the table and the Bread of the Presence. 3 Behind the second parokhet was a tent called the Holiest Place, 4 which had the golden altar for burning incense and the Ark of the Covenant, entirely covered with gold. In the Ark were the gold jar containing the man, Aharon’s rod that sprouted and the stone Tablets of the Covenant; 5 and above it were the k’ruvim representing the Sh’khinah, casting their shadow on the lid of the Ark — but now is not the time to discuss these things in detail.
6 With things so arranged, the cohanim go into the outer tent all the time to discharge their duties; 7 but only the cohen hagadol enters the inner one; and he goes in only once a year, and he must always bring blood, which he offers both for himself and for the sins committed in ignorance by the people. 8 By this arrangement, the Ruach HaKodesh showed that so long as the first Tent had standing, the way into the Holiest Place was still closed. 9 This symbolizes the present age and indicates that the conscience of the person performing the service cannot be brought to the goal by the gifts and sacrifices he offers. 10 For they involve only food and drink and various ceremonial washings — regulations concerning the outward life, imposed until the time for God to reshape the whole structure.
11 But when the Messiah appeared as cohen gadol of the good things that are happening already, then, through the greater and more perfect Tent which is not man-made (that is, it is not of this created world), 12 he entered the Holiest Place once and for all.
And he entered not by means of the blood of goats and calves, but by means of his own blood, thus setting people free forever. 13 For if sprinkling ceremonially unclean persons with the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer restores their outward purity; 14 then how much more the blood of the Messiah, who, through the eternal Spirit, offered himself to God as a sacrifice without blemish, will purify our conscience from works that lead to death, so that we can serve the living God!
15 It is because of this death that he is mediator of a new covenant [or will].[g] Because a death has occurred which sets people free from the transgressions committed under the first covenant, those who have been called may receive the promised eternal inheritance. 16 For where there is a will, there must necessarily be produced evidence of its maker’s death, 17 since a will goes into effect only upon death; it never has force while its maker is still alive.
18 This is why the first covenant too was inaugurated with blood. 19 After Moshe had proclaimed every command of the Torah to all the people, he took the blood of the calves with some water and used scarlet wool and hyssop to sprinkle both the scroll itself and all the people; 20 and he said, “This is the blood of the covenant which God has ordained for you.”[h] 21 Likewise, he sprinkled with the blood both the Tent and all the things used in its ceremonies. 22 In fact, according to the Torah, almost everything is purified with blood; indeed, without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.
23 Now this is how the copies of the heavenly things had to be purified, but the heavenly things themselves require better sacrifices than these. 24 For the Messiah has entered a Holiest Place which is not man-made and merely a copy of the true one, but into heaven itself, in order to appear now on our behalf in the very presence of God.
25 Further, he did not enter heaven to offer himself over and over again, like the cohen hagadol who enters the Holiest Place year after year with blood that is not his own; 26 for then he would have had to suffer death many times — from the founding of the universe on. But as it is, he has appeared once at the end of the ages in order to do away with sin through the sacrifice of himself. 27 Just as human beings have to die once, but after this comes judgment, 28 so also the Messiah, having been offered once to bear the sins of many,[i] will appear a second time, not to deal with sin, but to deliver those who are eagerly waiting for him.
Footnotes
- Hebrews 7:2 Genesis 14:17–20
- Hebrews 7:17 Psalm 110:4
- Hebrews 7:21 Psalm 110:4
- Hebrews 8:1 Psalm 110:1
- Hebrews 8:5 Exodus 25:40
- Hebrews 8:12 Jeremiah 31:30–33(31–34)
- Hebrews 9:15 Jeremiah 31:30(31)
- Hebrews 9:20 Exodus 24:8
- Hebrews 9:28 Isaiah 53:12
Yehudim in Moshiach 7-9
Orthodox Jewish Bible
7 For this MALKITZEDEK MELECH SHALEM KOHEN L’EL ELYON, the one "having met Avraham Avinu ACHAREI SHUVO ("after returning") from the slaughter of "the kings and having blessed him", BERESHIS 14:17-20)
2 With whom also "AVRAHAM avinu apportioned MA’ASER MIKOL (a tithe of everything." As for his Name, it is rendered "King of Tzedek (Righteousness)" and then also "Melech of SHALOM."
3 Without Av, without Em, without Yichus, having neither a techillah (beginning) leyamim (to days) of him nor a Ketz HaChayyim, but resembling HaBen HaElohim, he remains a “kohen perpetually,” (Ps 110:4).
4 Now consider how great among the Gedolim this one was to whom also Avraham Avinu gave from his booty a ma’aser (tithe).
5 And the ones of the Bnei Levi have received the Kehunah (Priesthood) and they have a mitzvah to collect the ma’aser (tithe) from the Am Brit, and they have this mitzvah according to the Torah, that is, to collect from their achim, though these also are descended from the loins of Avraham Avinu.
6 But, this man, though not tracing his descent from them, has received ma’aser (tithe) from Avraham Avinu and has given a bracha to the one having the havtachot (promises).
7 Now it is beyond all argument that the greater gives a bracha to the lesser.
8 Notice, in one case, ma’aser are received by mortal men; in the other case, ma’aser are received by one of whom we have solemn eidus (testimony) that hu Chai ("he lives!").
9 One could even go so far as to say that even Levi, who receives ma’aser, has paid ma’aser through Avraham Avinu,
10 For Levi was still in the loins of his ancestor Avraham when Malki-Tzedek met Avraham Avinu.
11 Now if shleimut (completeness) had been attainable through the Kehunah of Levi‖for under it came the Mattan Torah (giving of the Torah) to the Am Brit‖what further need would there have been to speak of another KOHEN arising "according to the order of Malki-Tzedek" TEHILLIM 110:4) rather than "al divrati Aharon"?
12 For when there is a "changing of the guard" of the Kehunah (Priesthood), this behechrach (necessarily) also affects the Torah [Isa 42:4].
13 For the One about whom these things are said belonged to a different shevet (tribe), from which no one has officiated at the Mizbe’ach.
14 For it is ugeret (easily seen, evident) that Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach Adoneinu was descended from Yehudah, and in connection with that shevet (tribe), Moshe Rabbeinu said nothing about kohanim.
15 And it is even more evident if another Kohen arises resembling Malki-Tzedek,
16 One who became a kohen, not by means of a mitzvat haTorah concerning yichus (lineage), but according to the gevurah of a Chayyei Ein Sof (Endless Life).
17 For of Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach comes the solemn eidus, "ATAH KOHEN L’OLAM AL DIVRATI MALKI TZEDEK" ("You are a kohen forever according to the order of Malki Tzedek" TEHILLIM 110:4).
18 For, on the one hand, there is an abrogation of an earlier mitzvah because of its weakness and ineffectuality
19 —For the Torah brought nothing to shleimut (perfection); on the other hand, there is the mavo (introduction) of a tikvah tovah yoter (a better hope) through which we draw near to Hashem—
20 This was attested with a shevu’ah (oath); for others who became kohanim were installed in the office of kehunah without a shevu’ah;
21 But the Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach became a kohen with a shevu’ah (oath) through the One saying to Him, "Hashem has made an oath and will not change his mind, You are a kohen forever" [TEHILLIM 110:4].
22 According to such a shevu’ah of Hashem, Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach Yehoshua has become the arev (surety, guarantee) of a tovah yoter HaBrit.
23 Not only this, but it was the fact that the former kohanim were many in number, because mavet prevented them from continuing in the office of kehunah.
24 But because Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach continues l’olam (forever), he has an unchangeable Kehunah.
25 From which also he is able to completely deliver to the Geulah (Redemption) and Yeshu’at Eloheinu the ones approaching Hashem through him, als (since) he has Chayyei Ein Sof (Endless Life) and always lives to intercede in techinnah (supplication) for them.
26 For such was for us, indeed, a bekavod (suitable) Kohen Gadol, chasid, tamim, tahor, nivdal from chote’im (separated from sinners) and exalted above HaShomayim;
27 A Kohen Gadol who does not have daily need—as do the other Kohanim Gedolim—on the one hand, to offer up zevakhim for his own averos, and then to offer up zevakhim for the averos of the Am Brit. For this Kohen Gadol offered up himself [Isa 53:10], once and for all.
28 For the Torah of Moshe Rabbeinu appoints Bnei Adam as Kohanim Gedolim, Bnei Adam with frailties, but the dvar HaShevu’ah [Ps 110:4], which came later than the Torah of Moshe Rabbeinu, appoints HaBen [Ben HaElohim Moshiach] who came to shleimut (completeness) l’Olam.
8 Now the main point of what is being said is this: we in fact have such a Kohen Gadol, who has taken his moshav LIMIN HASHEM ("at the right hand of the kisse of the kavod in Shomayim" TEHILLIM 110:1).
2 Our Kohen Gadol is mesharet baKodesh (minister in the holy things) of the true Mishkan set up by Adoneinu and not by any mere mortal.
3 For every Kohen Gadol is ordained to offer both minchot and zevakhim, from which it was necessary for this Kohen Gadol to have something also which he might offer.
4 If, therefore, he were on ha’aretz he would not be a kohen, als there are kohanim who offer every korban (sacrifice) according to the Torah;
5 However, the avodas kodesh sherut of these kohanim is service of a copy and shadow of the things in Shomayim, just as Moshe Rabbeinu was warned, when he was about to complete the Mishkan for "URE’EH" ("Now see to it"), Hashem says, "VA’ASEH BETAVNITAM ASHER ATAH MAREH BAHAR" ("that you will make it according to the pattern having been shown to you on the mountain" SHEMOT 25:40).
6 But now our Kohen Gadol has attained a more fest (excellent) avodas kodesh sherut in as much as he is also the Metavekh (Job 33:23; Isa 43:27; 2Ch 32:31; Isa 42:4; cf. Dt 5:5, 22-31) of a more fest (excellent) Brit upon which more auspicious havtachot (promises) have been enacted.
7 For if the Brit HaRishonah had been without fault, it would not have been necessary to speak about a Brit HaShniyah [YIRMEYAH 31:30-33 (31-34)].
8 For, when Hashem finds fault with them, he says, "HINEI YAMIM BA’IM, NE’UM HASHEM, VKHARATI ES BEIS YISRAEL V’ES BEIS YEHUDAH BRIT CHADASHA"("Behold, days are coming, says Hashem, when I will establish with the Beis Yisroel and with the Beis Yehudah a Brit Chadasha”).
9 "Not like the Brit that I made with their forefathers on the day I took them by the hand to lead them out from the land of Egypt; because they broke my Brit, though I was a husband to them")
10 "KI ZOT HABRIT ASHER EKHROT ES BEIS YISROEL ACHAREI HAYAMIM HAHEM, NE’UM HASHEM; NATATI ES TORATI BEKIRBAM V’AL LIBAM EKHTAVENNAH, V’HAYITI LAHEM L’ELOHIM V’HEMMAH YIH’YU LI LE’AM" ("Because this is the Brit which I will make with the Beis Yisroel after those days, says Hashem: putting my Torah into the mind of them and upon the levavot of them I will write it and I will be to them G-d and they will be to Me a people"— see Jer 31:30-33; also Prov 30:4; 8:30;Yn 1:1; Rev 3:20).
11 "V’LO YELAMMEDU OD ISH ES RE’EHU V’ISH ES AKHIV LEMOR, DE’U ES HASHEM; KI KHULAM YEDE’U OTI LEMIKTANNAM V’AD GEDOLAM" ("No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying ‘Have da’as of Hashem,’ because they will all have da’as of Me, from the least of them to the greatest.")
12 "KI ESLACH LA’AVONAM U’LECHATTATAM LO EZKAR OD" ("For I will forgive the wickedness of them and their sin I will remember no more." Jer 31:30-33 [31-34]).
13 When Hashem uses the word "CHADASHA" he has thereby made the Brit HaRishonah yeshanah and a Brit thus made aging, is near to being yakhlof (vanished).
9 Now the Brit HaRishonah farshteit zich (of course) had regulations for avodas kodesh in an earthly Mikdash.
2 For the Mishkan was furnished, that is, hachitzon (the outer one) in which were both the Menorah and the Shulchan and the setting out of the Lechem HaPanim. This part is the Kodesh, the Holy Place.
3 And behind the Parokhet HaSheynit was the part of the Mishkan being called the Kodesh HaKodashim,
4 Having a golden Mizbe’ach of ketoret (incense) and the Aron HaBrit having been covered on all sides with gold, and in which was a golden jar holding the manna and the rod of Aharon which budded, and the Luchot haBrit (the tablets of the Covenant, the Decalogue, Aseret HaDibrot).
5 And above the Aron HaBrit the k’ruvim of kavod overshadowing the kapporet, about which things it is not possible to speak now in praht (detail).
6 Now these things having been prepared, the kohanim go continually into the Mishkan, the hachitzon (the outer one), performing the avodas kodesh sherut.
7 But into the Kodesh HaKodashim only the Kohen Gadol goes, and only once a year, and not without DAHM (blood) which he offers for himself and for the shiggot haAm (unintentional sins of the people).
8 By this the Ruach Hakodesh signifies that the Derech into the Kodesh HaKodashim has not yet been revealed while the Mishkan, the hachitzon (the outer one), is still standing,
9 Which is a mashal for the present time. Accordingly both minchot and zevakhim are being offered which cannot fulfill with respect to the matzpun (conscience) of the worshiper,
10 Als (since) they deal only with okhel and mashkeh (drink) and different tevilot, external regulations being imposed until the time of the Tikkun (Restoration).
11 But when Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach came as the Kohen Gadol of the coming tovot (good things), he entered through the Mishkan Gadol, the greater and more perfect Mishkan, not made with hands, that is, not of this B’ri’ah (Creation);
12 Not through the dahm of se’irim (goats) and of agalim (bulls) but through his own dahm [Isa 52:15] he entered the Kodesh HaKodashim once and for all, having secured for us the Geulah Olamim.
13 For if the dahm of se’irim (goats) and parim (young bulls) and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have become tum’a (uncleanness), if this dahm sets apart for kedushah for the tohorah (purification) of the basar,
14 By how much more will the dahm of Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach who through the eternal Ruach Hakodesh offered himself without MUM (defect, VAYIKRA 22:20) to G-d, by how much more will his DAHM (Isa 52:15) purify our matzpun (conscience) from ma’asim metim (dead works) in order to serve the Elohim Chayyim.
15 And for this reason Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach is the Metavekh of a Brit Chadasha in order that those who are HaKeru’im (the Called ones) may receive the nachalat olam (eternal inheritance) of the Havtachah (Promise), because a mavet, a kapparat hapeysha’im has taken place that gives them pedut (ransom for redemption, Geulah) from peysha’im (transgressions, Isa 53:5) that were committed under HaBrit HaRishonah.
16 For where there is a brit or a tzavva’a (will), it is aizen (well founded, incontrovertible) that the histalkus (passing) of the one who made it must be established.
17 For a Brit, a tzavv’a (covenant, will) is valid only when Bnei Adam have died, for it is never validly executed as long as the ba’al tzavva’a (testator, person who makes the will) lives.
18 Hence the Brit HaRishonah was not cut without DAHM. [Ex 24:8]
19 For when every mitzvah had been spoken by Moshe Rabbeinu to all the Am Brit according to the Torah, he took the dahm of se’irim and of agalim with mayim and scarlet wool and hyssop and sprinkled both the sefer itself and all the people,
20 Saying, "HINEI DAHM HABRIT ("This is the blood of the Covenant"—Ex 24:8) which Hashem commanded you.
21 And in the same way he sprinkled both the Mishkan and also all the k’lei haSherut (vessels of service in the Mishkan) with dahm.
22 Indeed, according to the Torah, almost everything is metohar (purified) by dahm, and without a kapporah by means of shefach dahm (the shedding of blood) there is no selicha (forgiveness).
23 Therefore, it was necessary for the tavnit (pattern, copy, SHEMOT 25:40) of the things in Shomayim be metohar (purified) with these, but the things of Shomayim themselves with better zevakhim than these.
24 For Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach did not enter into a Kodesh HaKodashim made by human hands, a mere TAVNIT (pattern, copy Ex 25:40) of the true Kodesh HaKodashim, but Moshiach entered into Shomayim itself, now to appear before the face of Hashem for us.
25 Nor was it so that he may offer himsef again and again, as the Kohen Gadol enters the Kodesh HaKodashim yearly with dahm not his own;
26 For then it would have been necessary for him to suffer often from the hivvased tevel (foundation of the world); but now, once at the Ketz HaOlamim, he has appeared to put away averos (sins) by the korban of himself (Isa 53:10).
27 And in as much as it is appointed for men to die once and after this HaMishpat [Yom HaDin],
28 So he, having been offered up once in order that HU NASA CHET RABBIM ("he bore away the sin of many" YESHAYAH 53:12) and shall appear sheynit (a second time) for Yeshu’at Eloheinu without reference to chet for those who expectantly khakeh levo’o shel (await the arrival of) Moshiach.
Copyright © 1998 by David H. Stern. All rights reserved.
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