Hebrews 8
The Message
A New Plan with Israel
8 1-2 In essence, we have just such a high priest: authoritative right alongside God, conducting worship in the one true sanctuary built by God.
3-5 The assigned task of a high priest is to offer both gifts and sacrifices, and it’s no different with the priesthood of Jesus. If he were limited to earth, he wouldn’t even be a priest. We wouldn’t need him since there are plenty of priests who offer the gifts designated in the law. These priests provide only a hint of what goes on in the true sanctuary of heaven, which Moses caught a glimpse of as he was about to set up the tent-shrine. It was then that God said, “Be careful to do it exactly as you saw it on the Mountain.”
6-13 But Jesus’ priestly work far surpasses what these other priests do, since he’s working from a far better plan. If the first plan—the old covenant—had worked out, a second wouldn’t have been needed. But we know the first was found wanting, because God said,
Heads up! The days are coming
when I’ll set up a new plan
for dealing with Israel and Judah.
I’ll throw out the old plan
I set up with their ancestors
when I led them by the hand out of Egypt.
They didn’t keep their part of the bargain,
so I looked away and let it go.
This new plan I’m making with Israel
isn’t going to be written on paper,
isn’t going to be chiseled in stone;
This time I’m writing out the plan in them,
carving it on the lining of their hearts.
I’ll be their God,
they’ll be my people.
They won’t go to school to learn about me,
or buy a book called God in Five Easy Lessons.
They’ll all get to know me firsthand,
the little and the big, the small and the great.
They’ll get to know me by being kindly forgiven,
with the slate of their sins forever wiped clean.
By coming up with a new plan, a new covenant between God and his people, God put the old plan on the shelf. And there it stays, gathering dust.
Hebrews 8
Easy-to-Read Version
Jesus Our High Priest
8 Here is the point of what we are saying: We have a high priest like that, who sits on the right side[a] of God’s throne in heaven. 2 Our high priest serves in the Most Holy Place.[b] He serves in the true place of worship[c] that was made by God, not by anyone here on earth.
3 Every high priest has the work of offering gifts and sacrifices to God. So our high priest must also offer something to God. 4 If our high priest were now living on earth, he would not be a priest. I say this because there are already priests here who follow the law by offering gifts to God. 5 The work that these priests do is really only a copy and a shadow of what is in heaven. That is why God warned Moses when he was ready to build the Holy Tent: “Be sure to make everything exactly like the pattern I showed you on the mountain.”[d] 6 But the work that has been given to Jesus is much greater than the work that was given to those priests. In the same way, the new agreement that Jesus brought from God to his people is much greater than the old one. And the new agreement is based on better promises.
7 If there was nothing wrong with the first agreement, then there would be no need for a second agreement. 8 But God found something wrong with the people. He said,
“The time is coming, says the Lord,
when I will give a new agreement
to the people of Israel and to the people of Judah.
9 It will not be like the agreement
that I gave to their fathers.
That is the agreement I gave when I took them by the hand
and led them out of Egypt.
They did not continue following the agreement I gave them,
and I turned away from them, says the Lord.
10 This is the new agreement I will give the people of Israel.
I will give this agreement in the future, says the Lord:
I will put my laws in their minds,
and I will write my laws on their hearts.
I will be their God,
and they will be my people.
11 Never again will anyone have to teach their neighbors
or their family to know the Lord.
All people—the greatest and the least important—will know me.
12 And I will forgive the wrongs they have done,
and I will not remember their sins.” (A)
13 God called this a new agreement, so he has made the first agreement old. And anything that is old and useless is ready to disappear.
Footnotes
- Hebrews 8:1 right side The place of honor and authority (power).
- Hebrews 8:2 Most Holy Place Literally, “holies” for “holy of holies,” the spiritual place where God lives and is worshiped.
- Hebrews 8:2 place of worship Literally, “Tabernacle” or “tent.”
- Hebrews 8:5
Quote from Ex. 25:40.
Hebrews 8
New King James Version
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.
Footnotes
- Hebrews 8:2 Lit. holies
- Hebrews 8:12 NU omits and their lawless deeds
Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson
Copyright © 2006 by Bible League International
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
