^11 (A)and that you may teach the children of Israel all the statutes which the Lord has spoken to them by the hand of Moses.”

¹⁸ I have taken the Levites instead of all the firstborn of the children of Israel.

¹⁹ And ^(A)I have given the Levites as a gift to Aaron and his sons from among the children of Israel, to do the work for the children of Israel in the tabernacle of meeting, and to make atonement for the children of Israel, ^(B)that there be no plague among the children of Israel when the children of Israel come near the sanctuary.”

²³ But ^(A)each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ’s at His coming.

^18 (A)Of His own will He brought us forth by the ^(B)word of truth, ^(C)that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures.

The New Priestly Service

8 Now this is the main point of the things we are saying: We have such a High Priest, ^(A)who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens,

² a Minister of ^(A)the ^[a]sanctuary and of ^(B)the true tabernacle which the Lord erected, and not man.

²² But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, ²³ to the ^[a]general assembly and church of ^(A)the firstborn ^(B)who are registered in heaven, to God ^(C)the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men ^(D)made perfect, ²⁴ to Jesus ^(E)the Mediator of the new covenant, and to ^(F)the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things ^(G)than that of Abel.

¹⁹ For ^(A)the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. ²⁰ For ^(B)the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; ²¹ because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of ^[a]corruption into the glorious ^(C)liberty of the children of God. ²² For we know that the whole creation ^(D)groans and labors with birth pangs together until now.