²⁵ Now a discussion about purification arose between John’s disciples and a Jew.^[a]

⁶ Now standing there were six stone water jars for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons.^(A)

²¹ And baptism, which this prefigured, now saves you—not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for^[a] a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,^(A)

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,^{(A) 14} how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit^[a] offered himself without blemish to God, purify our^[b] conscience from dead works to worship the living God!^(B)

² instruction about baptisms and laying on of hands, resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment.^(A)

¹¹ “I baptize you with^[a] water for repentance, but the one who is coming after me is more powerful than I, and I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with^[b] the Holy Spirit and fire.^(A)

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.

¹⁰ but deal only with food and drink and various baptisms, regulations for the body imposed until the time comes to set things right.^(A)

⁸ “You abandon the commandment of God and hold to human tradition.”^(A)

² they noticed that some of his disciples were eating with defiled hands, that is, without washing them. ³ (For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, do not eat unless they wash their hands,^[a] thus observing the tradition of the elders,^{(A) 4} and they do not eat anything from the market unless they wash,^[b] and there are also many other traditions that they observe: the washing of cups and pots and bronze kettles and beds.^[c])^{(B) 5} So the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders but eat with defiled hands?”^(C)