¹⁵ and it was slaughtered. Moses took the blood and with his finger put some on each of the horns of the altar, purifying the altar; then he poured out the blood at the base of the altar. Thus he consecrated it, to make atonement for it.^(A)

⁷ The priest shall put some of the blood on the horns of the altar of fragrant incense that is in the tent of meeting before the Lord, and the rest of the blood of the bull he shall pour out at the base of the altar of burnt offering, which is at the entrance of the tent of meeting.^(A)

¹⁸ Hence not even the first covenant was inaugurated without blood.^{(A) 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,^[a] with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the scroll itself and all the people,^{(B) 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^[b] and all the vessels used in worship.^{(C) 22} Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.^(D)

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.

¹⁷ Therefore he had to become like his brothers and sisters in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make a sacrifice of atonement for the sins of the people.^(A)

²¹ And you who were once estranged and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, ²² he has now reconciled^[a] in his fleshly body^[b] through death, so as to present you holy and blameless and irreproachable before him,^(A)

¹⁶ and might reconcile both to God in one body^[a] through the cross, thus putting to death that hostility through it.^[b](A)

¹⁸ All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation;^{(A) 19} that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself,^[a] not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us.^{(B) 20} So we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us; we entreat you on behalf of Christ: be reconciled to God.^{(C) 21} For our sake God made the one who knew no sin to be sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.^(D)

¹⁰ For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more surely, having been reconciled, will we be saved by his life.^(A)

²⁴ “Seventy weeks are decreed for your people and your holy city: to finish the transgression, to put an end to sin, and to atone for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal both vision and prophet, and to anoint a most holy place.^[a](A)