²² accordingly Jesus has also become the guarantor of a better covenant.^(A)

²⁵ In the same way he took the cup also, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”

⁶ But Jesus^[a] has now obtained a more excellent ministry, and to that degree he is the mediator of a better covenant, which has been enacted on the basis of better promises.^{(A) 7} For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no need to look for a second one.^(B)

⁸ God^[b] finds fault with them when he says:

³² For your servant became surety for the boy to my father, saying, ‘If I do not bring him back to you, then I will bear the blame in the sight of my father all my life.’^(A)

Benediction

²⁰ Now may the God of peace, who brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant,^(A)

²⁴ and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.^(A)

¹⁵ For this reason he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, because a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions under the first covenant.^{[a](A) 16} Where a will^[b] is involved, the death of the one who made it must be established. ¹⁷ For a will^[c] takes effect only at death, since it is not in force as long as the one who made it is alive. ¹⁸ Hence not even the first covenant was inaugurated without blood.^{(B) 19} For when every commandment had been told to all the people by Moses in accordance with the law, he took the blood of calves and goats,^[d] with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the scroll itself and all the people,^{(C) 20} saying, “This is the blood of the covenant that God has ordained for you.” ²¹ And in the same way he sprinkled with the blood both the tent^[e] and all the vessels used in worship.^{(D) 22} Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.^(E)

Christ’s Sacrifice Takes Away Sin

²³ Thus it was necessary for the sketches of the heavenly things to be purified with these rites, but the heavenly things themselves need better sacrifices than these.

⁹ I myself will be surety for him; you can hold me accountable for him. If I do not bring him back to you and set him before you, then let me bear the blame forever.^(A)

²⁰ And he did the same with the cup after supper, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.^[a]