Hebrews 8-9
EasyEnglish Bible
Jesus helps us as God's special priest
8 The most important thing that we are saying is this: In Jesus, we do have this kind of special priest. He has now sat down to rule with God in heaven. He sits at the right side of God, who rules with all authority. 2 He serves as priest in heaven on our behalf. He is in God's very special place, near to God himself. That is like the special place in the tabernacle of long ago. But it is not a tent that people have made. The Lord himself has made this special place, and it is the true one.
3 It is the duty of every special priest to offer gifts and sacrifices to God. So Jesus, as our special priest, must also have something to offer. 4 If he was living on earth, then he would not be a priest. There are already priests on earth who offer gifts to God. They do this in the way that Moses' law tells them. 5 But the way that those Levite priests work is only like a picture of the true things in heaven. It is like a shadow of what would happen in heaven. Long ago, when Moses was ready to make the tabernacle, God warned him about it. God said to Moses, ‘Be careful to make everything just like the plan which I showed you on the mountain.’[a]
6 But now God has given Jesus a much better way to serve him as a priest. The new agreement that God makes with his people is possible because of Jesus. Because of Jesus' work on our behalf, the new agreement is better than the old one. It is much better because it started with better promises.
7 If there had been nothing wrong with that first agreement, then nobody would have needed a second agreement. 8 But God did find something wrong with it. As a result, he said this to his people:
‘Listen to this! The Lord says:
A time will come when I make a new agreement with my people.
That is, with Israel's people and with Judah's people.[b]
9 It will not be like the old agreement that I made with their ancestors.
At that time, I brought my people safely out of Egypt.
I led them like a father who takes his child's hand.
But they did not continue to obey my agreement with them.
So I turned away from them.
That is what the Lord says.
10 But now the Lord says this:
After the time of that old agreement
I will make a new agreement with Israel's people.
It will be like this:
I will put my laws into their thoughts.
I will write my laws deep inside them.
I will be their God and they will be my people.
11 As a result, nobody will have to teach their friends or their family about me.
They will never need to say, “You should know the Lord.”
This is because everyone will already know me.
The most important people will know me,
as well as the least important people.
12 I will be kind to them.
I will forgive them for the wicked things that they have done.
I will not continue to think about their sins.
That is what the Lord says.’[c]
13 We see that God was speaking about a new agreement. That shows that he has caused the first agreement to become old. And anything that is becoming old like that will soon finish.[d]
The old agreement and the tabernacle
9 The first agreement included rules about how people should worship God. It also spoke about a special place for people to worship God on this earth. 2 Israel's people made a special tent for God.[e] The first room in that tent was called the holy place. The special lampstand was in this room. The special table with the bread which they offered to God was there too.[f]
3 Behind a second curtain, there was a very special room. It was called the Most Holy Place. 4 The gold altar for incense was in there.[g] The Covenant Box was there too.[h] The box had gold on all its sides. Inside the box was the gold pot that contained the special food called manna.[i] The box also contained Aaron's stick that had grown leaves.[j] It also contained the two flat stones on which God had written the rules of his agreement with his people. 5 The shapes of two special angels stood on the top of the box. They were made from gold and they showed that God was there with great power. The angels held out their wings over the lid of the box. That lid was the place where God forgave the people's sins. But we cannot explain everything about these things now.
6 So that was how they prepared the special tent. Then the priests would go into the first room of the tent every day. They went in there to serve God, as his rules taught. 7 But only the special leader of the priests could go into the second room. He went in there only once every year.[k] He had to take with him blood from an animal that they had killed. He offered the blood to God on his own behalf, so that God would forgive his sins. He also offered it on behalf of the people. Then God would forgive their mistakes too.
8 In this way, God's Holy Spirit was showing that the most holy place was not yet open to everyone. While the tent with its first room was still there, those were the rules for people to worship God. 9 This is like a picture that means something for us today. It teaches us about the gifts and sacrifices that people offered to God, to worship him. When someone gave those things to God, it could not make him clean again in his mind. 10 The old rules taught people about different kinds of food and drink. They taught about how people should wash in special ways. Those rules were about people's bodies. They had authority only until the time when God would make things new and better.
God's new agreement
11 But now Christ has come as our special priest. He brings us the good things that are now here. He has gone into God's own place in heaven. That is a greater and much better tent than the old tabernacle. No person made this tent. It does not belong to this world at all. 12 Christ went into the Most Holy Place on our behalf. He did this once, for all time. He did not take with him the blood of goats or young cows when he went in there. Instead, he took the blood of his own death to offer to God. In that way, he made us free from sin for ever. 13 The old rules said that the priest must use the blood of goats or bulls to make people clean. Or he could burn a young cow and mix the ashes with water.[l] He would then splash the blood or the ashes over the people who were unclean. Then those people became clean again in their bodies, and they could worship God.
14 But the blood of Christ's sacrifice will do much more than that! Christ offered himself to God, in the power of his Spirit, who lives for ever. That sacrifice was completely good. There was no wrong thing in Christ. He offered his own blood to make us completely clean inside ourselves. We no longer have to do things that lead to death. Instead, we can serve the God who lives for ever. 15 So, by Christ's death, God brings a new agreement between him and his people. God's people receive from him the good things that will be with them for ever. God has promised to give those things to the people that he has chosen. Christ's death has made them free from their sins. God will no longer punish them like the first agreement says should happen.
16 Think about this. A person may make an agreement about who will receive his things after his death. But nobody receives anything until it is clear that the person has really died. 17 The agreement only has authority after the death of the person who made it. It has no authority while that person is still alive.
18 So even God's first agreement with his people needed the blood of an animal. The agreement only had authority after a death. 19 It was like this. Moses read God's laws aloud to all Israel's people. He told them every rule that God had given them. After that, Moses killed some young cows and goats. He took some of their blood and he mixed it with water. He threw some of the blood to drop onto the book of God's laws. He also caused some to drop onto all the people. He used red sheep's hair and some small branches of a plant called hyssop to throw the blood and water. 20 When Moses did this, he said to the people, ‘This blood shows that God's agreement with you has authority.’ 21 In the same way, Moses threw some of the blood onto the tabernacle. He also caused blood to drop onto all the things that the priests used to serve God there.[m] 22 God's Law taught that blood was necessary to make almost everything clean. We see that God does not forgive people for their sins unless there is blood from a death.
Christ's sacrifice on the cross
23 The tabernacle and the things that were in it needed animals' blood to make them clean. That was a picture of the true place in heaven where people worship God. But the true things in heaven need better sacrifices to make them clean than the sacrifices of animals. 24 Christ did not go into a holy place that people had made on earth. A place like that is only a picture of the true place in heaven. No, Christ went into heaven itself, where God is. Now he is there with God and he speaks to God on our behalf.
25 The leader of the priests here on earth goes into the Most Holy Place every year. Each time, he takes with him the blood of an animal and he offers it to God. But when Christ went into heaven to offer himself to God, he did not do that again and again. 26 To do that, he would need to die again and again, many times since the world began. No! Christ has appeared just once. He has appeared now, when time is near its end. He came and he died as a sacrifice. In that way, he has removed the power of sin. 27 Every person must die once. After death, God will judge each person. 28 Christ also died only once as a sacrifice. In this way, he took God's punishment for the sins of many people. Christ will return to earth a second time, but that will not be as a sacrifice for sins. That time, he will come to save those people who are waiting patiently for him.
Footnotes
- 8:5 Many years ago, God met Moses on Sinai mountain. In that place, God gave Moses his laws. God told Moses to make a special tent, called the tabernacle. He told him everything about how he should make it. See Exodus 24:15-18; 25:40; 26:30.
- 8:8 Judah was one of Jacob's 12 sons. God gave Jacob the name Israel. When Jeremiah spoke this, Judah's people and Israel's people were two separate kingdoms. See Jeremiah 31:31-34.
- 8:12 God's prophet Jeremiah spoke this message from God long ago. See Jeremiah 31:31-34.
- 8:13 The old agreement that God made with his people included many rules. If the people obeyed all those rules, then their lives would be happy. See Deuteronomy 5:32-33; 8:1. But the people could not obey all the rules. Those rules could not really make them right with God. The rules could not make them become new people. The rules could not make them love God. So they needed a better agreement, that could make them different inside. Jesus has made that new agreement possible for us. We can become right with God and we can know him because of Jesus.
- 9:2 Exodus 26; 27:9-19 describe the special tent that God told Moses to make.
- 9:2 Exodus 25:31-39; 25:23-30 describe the gold lampstand and the special table for bread.
- 9:4 Exodus 30:1-10 describes the gold table where they burned incense.
- 9:4 Exodus 25:10-22 describes the special Covenant Box.
- 9:4 Exodus 16:14-31 describes how God supplied manna for Israel's people to eat in the wilderness. Exodus 16:32-34 describes how Aaron put some of this special food in a pot to keep it.
- 9:4 Numbers 17:1-11 describes how Aaron's stick grew leaves, flowers and fruit. This showed people that God had really chosen Moses and Aaron to be the leaders of Israel's people.
- 9:7 Leviticus 16 describes how the chief priest went into the Most Holy Place once a year.
- 9:13 Numbers 19:1-22 describes how the ashes of a young, red cow could make people clean for God.
- 9:21 Exodus 24:3-8 describes the events that these verses are talking about.
Hebrews 8-9
American Standard Version
8 [a]Now [b]in the things which we are saying the chief point is this: We have such a high priest, who sat down on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, 2 a minister of [c]the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, not man. 3 For every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices: wherefore it is necessary that this high priest also have somewhat to offer. 4 Now if he were on earth, he would not be a priest at all, seeing there are those who offer the gifts according to the law; 5 who serve that which is a copy and shadow of the heavenly things, even as Moses is warned of God when he is about to [d]make the tabernacle: for, [e]See, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern that was showed thee in the mount. 6 But now hath he obtained a ministry the more excellent, by so much as he is also the mediator of a better covenant, which hath been enacted upon better promises. 7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, then would no place have been sought for a second. 8 For [f]finding fault with them, he saith,
[g]Behold, the days come, saith the Lord,
That I will [h]make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah;
9 Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers
In the day that I took them by the hand to lead them forth out of the land of Egypt;
For they continued not in my covenant,
And I regarded them not, saith the Lord.
10 For this is the covenant that [i]I will make with the house of Israel
After those days, saith the Lord;
I will put my laws into their mind,
And on their heart also will I write them:
And I will be to them a God,
And they shall be to me a people:
11 And they shall not teach every man his fellow-citizen,
And every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord:
For all shall know me,
From the least to the greatest of them.
12 For I will be merciful to their iniquities,
And their sins will I remember no more.
13 In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. But that which is becoming old and waxeth aged is nigh unto vanishing away.
9 Now even the first covenant had ordinances of divine service, and its sanctuary, a sanctuary of this world. 2 For there was a tabernacle prepared, the first, wherein [j]were the candlestick, and the table, and [k]the showbread; which is called the Holy place. 3 And after the second veil, the tabernacle which is called the Holy of holies; 4 having a golden [l]altar of incense, and the ark of the covenant overlaid round about with gold, wherein [m]was a golden pot holding the manna, and Aaron’s rod that budded, and the tables of the covenant; 5 and above it cherubim of glory overshadowing [n]the mercy-seat; of which things we cannot now speak severally. 6 Now these things having been thus prepared, the priests go in continually into the first tabernacle, accomplishing the services; 7 but into the second the high priest alone, once in the year, not without blood, which he offereth for himself, and for the [o]errors of the people: 8 the Holy Spirit this signifying, that the way into the holy place hath not yet been made manifest, while the first tabernacle is yet standing; 9 which is a figure for the time present; according to which are offered both gifts and sacrifices that cannot, as touching the conscience, make the worshipper perfect, 10 being only (with meats and drinks and divers washings) carnal ordinances, imposed until a time of reformation.
11 But Christ having come a high priest of [p]the good things to come, through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation, 12 nor yet through the blood of goats and calves, but through his own blood, entered in once for all into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption. 13 For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling them that have been defiled, sanctify unto the cleanness of the flesh: 14 how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through [q]the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish unto God, cleanse [r]your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? 15 And for this cause he is the mediator of a new [s]covenant, that a death having taken place for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first [t]covenant, they that have been called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance. 16 For where a [u]testament is, there must of necessity [v]be the death of him that made it. 17 For a [w]testament is of force [x]where there hath been death: [y]for it doth never avail while he that made it liveth. 18 Wherefore even the first covenant hath not been dedicated without blood. 19 For when every commandment had been spoken by Moses unto all the people according to the law, he took the blood of the calves and the goats, with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, 20 saying, [z]This is the blood of the [aa]covenant which God commanded to you-ward. 21 Moreover the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry he sprinkled in like manner with the blood. 22 And according to the law, I may almost say, all things are cleansed with blood, and apart from shedding of blood there is no remission.
23 It was necessary therefore that the copies of the things in the heavens should be cleansed with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. 24 For Christ entered not into a holy place made with hands, like in pattern to the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear before the face of God for us: 25 nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place year by year with blood not his own; 26 else must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once at the [ab]end of the ages hath he been manifested to put away sin [ac]by the sacrifice of himself. 27 And inasmuch as it is [ad]appointed unto men once to die, and after this cometh judgment; 28 so Christ also, having been once offered to bear the sins of many, shall appear a second time, apart from sin, to them that wait for him, unto salvation.
Footnotes
- Hebrews 8:1 Or, Now to sum up what we are saying: We have etc.
- Hebrews 8:1 Greek upon.
- Hebrews 8:2 Or, holy things
- Hebrews 8:5 Or, complete
- Hebrews 8:5 Ex. 25:40.
- Hebrews 8:8 Some ancient authorities read finding fault with it, he saith unto them etc.
- Hebrews 8:8 Jer. 31:31ff.
- Hebrews 8:8 Greek accomplish.
- Hebrews 8:10 Greek I will covenant.
- Hebrews 9:2 Or, are
- Hebrews 9:2 Greek the setting forth of the loaves.
- Hebrews 9:4 Or, censer. 2 Chr. 26:19; Ezek. 8:11.
- Hebrews 9:4 Or, is
- Hebrews 9:5 Greek the propitiatory.
- Hebrews 9:7 Greek ignorances. Ecclus. 23:2f.
- Hebrews 9:11 Some ancient authorities read the good things that are come.
- Hebrews 9:14 Or, his eternal spirit
- Hebrews 9:14 Many ancient authorities read our.
- Hebrews 9:15 The Greek word here used signifies both covenant and testament.
- Hebrews 9:15 The Greek word here used signifies both covenant and testament.
- Hebrews 9:16 The Greek word here used signifies both covenant and testament.
- Hebrews 9:16 Greek be brought.
- Hebrews 9:17 The Greek word here used signifies both covenant and testament.
- Hebrews 9:17 Greek over the dead.
- Hebrews 9:17 Or, for doth it ever . . . liveth?
- Hebrews 9:20 Ex. 24:8.
- Hebrews 9:20 The Greek word here used signifies both covenant and testament.
- Hebrews 9:26 Or, consummation
- Hebrews 9:26 Or, by his sacrifice
- Hebrews 9:27 Greek laid up for. Col. 1:5; 2 Tim. 4:8.
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