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The High Priest of a Better Covenant

Now the main point of what we are saying is this:[a] We have such a high priest, one who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven,[b] a minister in the sanctuary and the true tabernacle that the Lord, not man, set up. For every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices. So this one too had to have something to offer. Now if he were on earth, he would not be a priest, since there are already priests who offer[c] the gifts prescribed by the law. The place where they serve is[d] a sketch[e] and shadow of the heavenly sanctuary, just as Moses was warned by God as he was about to complete the tabernacle. For he says, “See that you make everything according to the design[f] shown to you on the mountain.”[g]

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Footnotes

  1. Hebrews 8:1 tn Grk “the main point of the things being said.”
  2. Hebrews 8:1 sn An allusion to Ps 110:1; see Heb 1:3, 13.
  3. Hebrews 8:4 tn Grk “there are those who offer.”
  4. Hebrews 8:5 tn Grk “who serve in,” referring to the Levitical priests, but focusing on the provisional and typological nature of the tabernacle in which they served.
  5. Hebrews 8:5 tn Or “prototype,” “outline.” The Greek word ὑπόδειγμα (hupodeigma) does not mean “copy,” as it is often translated; it means “something to be copied,” a basis for imitation. BDAG 1037 s.v. 2 lists both Heb 8:5 and 9:23 under the second category of usage, “an indication of someth. that appears at a subsequent time,” emphasizing the temporal progression between the earthly and heavenly sanctuaries.sn There are two main options for understanding the conceptual background of the heavenly sanctuary imagery. The first is to understand the imagery to be functioning on a vertical plane. This background is Hellenistic, philosophical, and spatial in orientation and sees the earthly sanctuary as a copy of the heavenly reality. The other option is to see the imagery functioning on a horizontal plane. This background is Jewish, eschatological, and temporal and sees the heavenly sanctuary as the fulfillment and true form of the earthly sanctuary which preceded it. The second option is preferred, both for lexical reasons (see tn above) and because it fits the Jewish context of the book (although many scholars prefer to emphasize the relationship the book has to Hellenistic thought).
  6. Hebrews 8:5 tn The word τύπος (tupos) here has the meaning “an archetype serving as a model, type, pattern, model” (BDAG 1020 s.v. 6.a). This is in keeping with the horizontal imagery accepted for this verse (see sn on “sketch” earlier in the verse). Here Moses was shown the future heavenly sanctuary which, though it did not yet exist, became the outline for the earthly sanctuary.
  7. Hebrews 8:5 sn A quotation from Exod 25:40.

Now de the crowning affirmation kephalaion to epi what ho we are saying legō is this: we do have echō such toioutos a high archiereus priest , who hos has taken his seat kathizō at en the right dexios hand of the ho throne thronos of the ho Majesty megalōsynē in en · ho heaven ouranos, an officiating priest leitourgos of ho holy hagios things and kai of the ho true alēthinos tabernacle skēnē · ho which hos the ho Lord kyrios put up pēgnymi, not ou man anthrōpos.

For gar every pas high priest archiereus is appointed kathistēmi to eis offer prospherō both te gifts dōron and kai sacrifices thusia; so hothen it was necessary anankaios for this houtos high priest also kai to have echō something tis to offer prospherō. So oun if ei he had been eimi on epi earth , he would an not oude be eimi a priest hiereus, since there are eimi already those ho who offer prospherō the ho gifts dōron prescribed by kata the law nomos. The place where they hostis serve latreuō is a shadowy skia suggestion hypodeigma · kai of the ho heavenly epouranios sanctuary, just as kathōs Moses Mōysēs was warned chrēmatizō by God when he was about mellō to erect epiteleō the ho tabernacle skēnē; for gar he said phēmi, “ See horaō that you make poieō everything pas according to kata the ho pattern typos · ho shown deiknymi you sy on en the ho mountain oros.”

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