Our Compassionate High Priest

¹⁴ Seeing then that we have a great ^(A)High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, ^(B)let us hold fast our confession. ¹⁵ For ^(C)we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but ^(D)was in all points tempted as we are, ^(E)yet without sin. ^16 (F)Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Qualifications for High Priesthood

5 For every high priest taken from among men ^(G)is appointed for men in things pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins. ² He can ^[a]have compassion on those who are ignorant and going astray, since he himself is also subject to ^(H)weakness. ³ Because of this he is required as for the people, so also for ^(I)himself, to offer sacrifices for sins. ⁴ And no man takes this honor to himself, but he who is called by God, just as ^(J)Aaron was.

A Priest Forever

^5 (K)So also Christ did not glorify Himself to become High Priest, but it was He who said to Him:

⁶ As He also says in another place:

⁷ who, in the days of His flesh, when He had ^(N)offered up prayers and supplications, ^(O)with vehement cries and tears to Him ^(P)who was able to save Him from death, and was heard ^(Q)because of His godly fear, ⁸ though He was a Son, yet He learned ^(R)obedience by the things which He suffered. ⁹ And ^(S)having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him, ¹⁰ called by God as High Priest ^(T)“according to the order of Melchizedek,”

The New Priestly Service

8 Now this is the main point of the things we are saying: We have such a High Priest, ^(A)who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, ² a Minister of ^(B)the ^[a]sanctuary and of ^(C)the true tabernacle which the Lord erected, and not man.

³ For ^(D)every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices. Therefore ^(E)it is necessary that this One also have something to offer. ⁴ For if He were on earth, He would not be a priest, since there are priests who offer the gifts according to the law; ⁵ who serve ^(F)the copy and ^(G)shadow of the heavenly things, as Moses was divinely instructed when he was about to make the tabernacle. For He said, ^(H)“See that you make all things according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.” ⁶ But now ^(I)He has obtained a more excellent ministry, inasmuch as He is also Mediator of a ^(J)better covenant, which was established on better promises.

A New Covenant^(K)

⁷ For if that ^(L)first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second. ⁸ Because finding fault with them, He says: ^(M)“Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will 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 when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they did not continue in My covenant, and I disregarded them, says the Lord. ¹⁰ For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the ^(N)Lord: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and ^(O)I will be their God, and they shall be My people. ^11 (P)None of them shall teach his neighbor, and none his brother, saying, ‘Know the ^(Q)Lord,’ for all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them. ¹² For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, ^(R)and their sins ^[b]and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.”

^13 (S)In that He says, “A new covenant,” He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.