The New Covenant

⁴ If this priest were on earth, he would not even be a priest, because there are priests^[a] who are designated by the law to offer gifts. ⁵ They serve at a place that is a copy and shadow of the heavenly sanctuary, a place exactly like that about which Moses was told when he was about to complete the tent.^[b] For God said, “See to it that you make everything according to the pattern shown to you on the mountain.”^[c]

⁶ But now, Jesus has obtained a ministry that is as much superior as the covenant that he mediates is better, because it has been established on the basis of better promises. ⁷ Indeed, if that first covenant were without fault, there would have been no reason to look for a second. ⁸ But because God found fault with the people, he said:^[d]

¹³ When God said “new,” he made the first covenant obsolete, and something that is obsolete and growing old is going to disappear.

You Have Come to Mount Zion

¹⁸ You have not come to a mountain that can be touched^[a] and to burning fire, to darkness, to gloom, to a raging storm, ¹⁹ to the sound of a trumpet, and to a voice that spoke. Those who heard the voice asked that not one more word be added, ²⁰ because they could not endure what was commanded: “If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned.”^{[b] 21} The sight was so terrifying that even Moses said, “I am trembling with fear.”^[c]

²² Instead, you have come to Mount Zion, the city of the living God; to the heavenly Jerusalem; to tens of thousands of angels in joyful assembly; ²³ to the church of the firstborn whose names are written in heaven; to God, who is the judge of all; to the spirits of righteous people who have been made perfect; ²⁴ to Jesus, the mediator of a new testament;^[d] and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better message than the blood of Abel.

Conclusion

²⁰ Now may the God of peace—who brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, in connection with his blood, which established the eternal testament^[a]—