⁷ But only the high priest ever entered the Most Holy Place, and only once a year. And he always offered blood for his own sins and for the sins the people had committed in ignorance.

³⁴ This is a permanent law for you, to purify the people of Israel from their sins, making them right with the Lord once each year.”

Moses followed all these instructions exactly as the Lord had commanded him.

¹⁸ For a guilt offering, you must bring to the priest your own ram with no defects, or you may buy one of equal value. Through this process the priest will purify you from your unintentional sin, making you right with the Lord, and you will be forgiven.

A Call to Persevere

¹⁹ And so, dear brothers and sisters,^[a] we can boldly enter heaven’s Most Holy Place because of the blood of Jesus. ²⁰ By his death,^[b] Jesus opened a new and life-giving way through the curtain into the Most Holy Place.

²⁷ Unlike those other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices every day. They did this for their own sins first and then for the sins of the people. But Jesus did this once for all when he offered himself as the sacrifice for the people’s sins.

¹⁰ “Once a year Aaron must purify^[a] the altar by smearing its horns with blood from the offering made to purify the people from their sin. This will be a regular, annual event from generation to generation, for this is the Lord’s most holy altar.”

²⁴ For Christ did not enter into a holy place made with human hands, which was only a copy of the true one in heaven. He entered into heaven itself to appear now before God on our behalf. ²⁵ And he did not enter heaven to offer himself again and again, like the high priest here on earth who enters the Most Holy Place year after year with the blood of an animal.