Hebrews 9:11-10:18

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

¹¹ But when Christ came as a high priest of the good things that have come,^[a] then through the greater and more perfect tent^[b] (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation),^{(A) 12} he entered once for all into the holy place, not with the blood of goats and calves but with his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption.^{(B) 13} For if the blood of goats and bulls and the sprinkling of the ashes of a heifer sanctifies those who have been defiled so that their flesh is purified,^{(C) 14} how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit^[c] offered himself without blemish to God, purify our^[d] conscience from dead works to worship the living God!^(D)

¹⁵ For this reason he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, because a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions under the first covenant.^{[e](E) 16} Where a will^[f] is involved, the death of the one who made it must be established. ¹⁷ For a will^[g] takes effect only at death, since it is not in force as long as the one who made it is alive. ¹⁸ Hence not even the first covenant was inaugurated without blood.^{(F) 19} For when every commandment had been told to all the people by Moses in accordance with the law, he took the blood of calves and goats,^[h] with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the scroll itself and all the people,^{(G) 20} saying, “This is the blood of the covenant that God has ordained for you.” ²¹ And in the same way he sprinkled with the blood both the tent^[i] and all the vessels used in worship.^{(H) 22} Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.^(I)

Christ’s Sacrifice Takes Away Sin

²³ Thus it was necessary for the sketches of the heavenly things to be purified with these rites, but the heavenly things themselves need better sacrifices than these. ²⁴ For Christ did not enter a sanctuary made by human hands, a mere copy of the true one, but he entered into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf.^{(J) 25} Nor was it to offer himself again and again, as the high priest enters the holy place year after year with blood that is not his own, ²⁶ for then he would have had to suffer again and again since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to remove sin by the sacrifice of himself.^{(K) 27} And just as it is appointed for mortals to die once and after that the judgment,^{(L) 28} so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.^(M)

Christ’s Sacrifice Once for All

10 Since the law has only a shadow of the good things to come and not the true form of these realities, it^[j] can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered year after year, make perfect those who approach.^{(N) 2} Otherwise, would they not have ceased being offered, since the worshipers, cleansed once for all, would no longer have any consciousness of sin? ³ But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sin year after year.^{(O) 4} For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.^{(P) 5} Consequently, when Christ^[k] came into the world, he said,

⁸ When he said above, “You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings” (these are offered according to the law), ⁹ then he added, “See, I have come to do your will.” He abolishes the first in order to establish the second. ¹⁰ And it is by God’s will^[m] that we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.^(S)

¹¹ And every priest stands day after day at his service, offering again and again the same sacrifices that can never take away sins.^{(T) 12} But when Christ^[n] had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, “he sat down at the right hand of God,” ¹³ and since then has been waiting “until his enemies would be made a footstool for his feet.”^{(U) 14} For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are sanctified. ¹⁵ And the Holy Spirit also testifies to us, for after saying,

¹⁷ and he adds,

¹⁸ Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin.