Hebrews 9

Revised Geneva Translation

9 Then, indeed, the first Testament had ordinances of religion, and a worldly sanctuary.

² For the first Tabernacle was made - in which was the candlestick, and the table, and the showbread - which is called the Holy Place.

³ And after the second veil, the Tabernacle - which is called the Holiest of All -

⁴ which had the golden censer and the Ark of the Testament, overlaid all around with gold (in which was the golden pot which had manna and Aaron’s rod that had budded and the tables of the Testament).

⁵ And over the Ark were the glorious cherubims shadowing the mercy seat, of which we will not now speak particularly.

⁶ Now when these things were thus prepared, the priest always went into the first Tabernacle and completed the service.

⁷ But only the High Priest went into the second - once every year - and not without blood (which he offered for himself and for the people’s sins of ignorance).

⁸ By this, the Holy Ghost signified that the way into the Holiest of All was not yet revealed while the first tabernacle was still standing.

⁹ It was a symbol of that present time in which was offered gifts and sacrifices that could not make the worshiper holy concerning the conscience,

¹⁰ but consisted only of foods and drinks and diverse washings and carnal rituals imposed until the time of reformation.

¹¹ But Christ - being a High Priest of good things to come - came by a greater and more perfect Tabernacle (not made with hands - that is, not of this creation -

¹² nor by the blood of goats and calves, but by His own blood), entering in once to the Holy Place and obtaining eternal redemption.

¹³ For if the sprinkling of the blood of bulls and goats, and the ashes of a heifer, sanctifies those who are unclean (as touching the purifying of the flesh),

¹⁴ how much more shall the blood of Christ - Who, through the eternal Spirit, offered Himself without fault to God - purge your conscience from dead works, to serve the living God?

¹⁵ And because of this, He is the Mediator of the new Testament, so that through death (which was for the redemption of the transgressions in the former Testament) those who were called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.

¹⁶ For where there is a Testament, there must be the death of the one who made it.

¹⁷ For the Testament is confirmed after death. It is still of no force so long as the one who made it lives.

¹⁸ Therefore, nor was the first ordained without blood.

¹⁹ For when Moses had spoken every precept to the people (according to the Law), he took the blood of calves and goats, with water and purple wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book and all the people,

²⁰ saying, “This is the blood of the Testament which God has commanded you.”

²¹ Moreover, he likewise sprinkled the Tabernacle with blood, and all the implements of ministry.

²² And by the Law, almost all things are purged with blood. And there is no remission without shedding of blood.

²³ It was necessary, then, that the representations of heavenly things should be purified with such things. But the heavenly things themselves are purified with better sacrifices than these.

²⁴ For Christ has not entered into the Holy Places that are made with hands - which are representations of the true things - but into Heaven itself, to appear now in the sight of God for us.

²⁵ Not that He should offer himself often, as the High Priest entered into the Holy Place every year with others’ blood.

²⁶ For then He would have had to suffer often, since the foundation of the world. But now, in the end of the world, He has appeared once, to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.

²⁷ And as much as it has been appointed to man that he shall die once (and after that comes the Judgment),

²⁸ so Christ was once offered to take away the sins of many. And to those who look for Him, He shall appear a second time - without sin - for salvation.