Hebrews 9:13-10:18

New Century Version

¹³ The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a cow are sprinkled on the people who are unclean, and this makes their bodies clean again. ¹⁴ How much more is done by the blood of Christ. He offered himself through the eternal Spirit^[a] as a perfect sacrifice to God. His blood will make our consciences pure from useless acts so we may serve the living God.

¹⁵ For this reason Christ brings a new agreement from God to his people. Those who are called by God can now receive the blessings he has promised, blessings that will last forever. They can have those things because Christ died so that the people who lived under the first agreement could be set free from sin.

¹⁶ When there is a will,^[b] it must be proven that the one who wrote that will is dead. ¹⁷ A will means nothing while the person is alive; it can be used only after the person dies. ¹⁸ This is why even the first agreement could not begin without blood to show death. ¹⁹ First, Moses told all the people every command in the law. Next he took the blood of calves and mixed it with water. Then he used red wool and a branch of the hyssop plant to sprinkle it on the book of the law and on all the people. ²⁰ He said, “This is the blood that begins the Agreement that God commanded you to obey.”^{[c] 21} In the same way, Moses sprinkled the blood on the Holy Tent and over all the things used in worship. ²² The law says that almost everything must be made clean by blood, and sins cannot be forgiven without blood to show death.

Christ’s Death Takes Away Sins

²³ So the copies of the real things in heaven had to be made clean by animal sacrifices. But the real things in heaven need much better sacrifices. ²⁴ Christ did not go into the Most Holy Place made by humans, which is only a copy of the real one. He went into heaven itself and is there now before God to help us. ²⁵ The high priest enters the Most Holy Place once every year with blood that is not his own. But Christ did not offer himself many times. ²⁶ Then he would have had to suffer many times since the world was made. But Christ came only once and for all time at just the right time to take away all sin by sacrificing himself. ²⁷ Just as everyone must die once and then be judged, ²⁸ so Christ was offered as a sacrifice one time to take away the sins of many people. And he will come a second time, not to offer himself for sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.

10 The law is only an unclear picture of the good things coming in the future; it is not the real thing. The people under the law offer the same sacrifices every year, but these sacrifices can never make perfect those who come near to worship God. ² If the law could make them perfect, the sacrifices would have already stopped. The worshipers would be made clean, and they would no longer have a sense of sin. ³ But these sacrifices remind them of their sins every year, ⁴ because it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

⁵ So when Christ came into the world, he said:

⁸ In this Scripture he first said, “You do not want sacrifices and offerings. You do not ask for burnt offerings and offerings to take away sins.” (These are all sacrifices that the law commands.) ⁹ Then he said, “Look, I have come to do what you want.” God ends the first system of sacrifices so he can set up the new system. ¹⁰ And because of this, we are made holy through the sacrifice Christ made in his body once and for all time.

¹¹ Every day the priests stand and do their religious service, often offering the same sacrifices. Those sacrifices can never take away sins. ¹² But after Christ offered one sacrifice for sins, forever, he sat down at the right side of God. ¹³ And now Christ waits there for his enemies to be put under his power. ¹⁴ With one sacrifice he made perfect forever those who are being made holy.

¹⁵ The Holy Spirit also tells us about this. First he says:

¹⁷ Then he says:

¹⁸ Now when these have been forgiven, there is no more need for a sacrifice for sins.