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So with these things prepared like this, the priests enter continually into the outer tent[a] as they perform their duties. But only the high priest enters once a year into the inner tent,[b] and not without blood that he offers for himself and for the sins of the people committed in ignorance.[c] The Holy Spirit is making clear that the way into the Holy Place had not yet appeared as long as the old tabernacle[d] was standing. This was a symbol for the time then present, when gifts and sacrifices were offered that could not perfect the conscience of the worshiper. 10 They served only for matters of food and drink[e] and various ritual washings; they are external regulations[f] imposed until the new order came.[g]

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Footnotes

  1. Hebrews 9:6 tn Grk “the first tent.”
  2. Hebrews 9:7 tn Grk “the second tent.”
  3. Hebrews 9:7 tn Or perhaps “the unintentional sins of the people”; Grk “the ignorances of the people.” Cf. BDAG 13 s.v. ἀγνόημα, “sin committed in ignorance/unintentionally.” This term seems to be simply a synonym for “sins” (cf. Heb 5:2) and does not pick up the distinction made in Num 15:22-31 between unwitting sin and “high-handed” sin. The Day of Atonement ritual in Lev 16 covered all the sins of the people, not just the unwitting ones.
  4. Hebrews 9:8 tn Grk “the first tent.” The literal phrase “the first tent” refers to either (1) the outer chamber of the tabernacle in the wilderness (as in vv. 2, 6) or (2) the entire tabernacle as a symbol of the OT system of approaching God. The second is more likely given the contrast that follows in vv. 11-12.
  5. Hebrews 9:10 tn Grk “only for foods and drinks.”
  6. Hebrews 9:10 tc Most witnesses (D1 M) have “various washings, and external regulations” (βαπτισμοῖς καὶ δικαιώμασιν, baptismois kai dikaiōmasin), with both nouns in the dative. The translation “washings; they are…regulations” renders βαπτισμοῖς, δικαιώματα (baptismois, dikaiōmata; found in such significant mss as P46 א* A I P 0278 33 1739 1881 al sa) in which case δικαιώματα is taken as the nominative subject of the participle ἐπικείμενα (epikeimena). It seems far more likely that scribes would conform δικαιώματα to the immediately preceding datives and join it to them by καί than they would to the following nominative participle. Both on external and internal evidence the text is thus secure as reading βαπτισμοῖς, δικαιώματα.
  7. Hebrews 9:10 tn Grk “until the time of setting things right.”

Now these things having been prepared in this way, the priests enter into the first tent continually[a] as they[b] accomplish their service, but only the high priest enters into the second tent once a year, not without blood, which he offers on behalf of himself and the sins of the people committed in ignorance. The Holy Spirit was making this clear, that the way into the holy place was not yet revealed, while[c] the first tent was still in existence, which was a symbol for the present time, in which both the gifts and sacrifices which were offered were not able to perfect the worshiper with respect to the conscience, 10 concerning instead only food and drink and different washings, regulations of outward things imposed until the time of setting things right.

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Footnotes

  1. Hebrews 9:6 Literally “throughout all”
  2. Hebrews 9:6 Here “as” is supplied as a component of the temporal participle (“accomplish”)
  3. Hebrews 9:8 Here “while” is supplied as a component of the temporal participle (“was”)