²⁸ for this is my blood of the^[a] covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.^(A)

³ Moses went and told the people all the words of the Lord and all the ordinances, and all the people answered with one voice and said, “All the words that the Lord has spoken we will do.”^{(A) 4} And Moses wrote down all the words of the Lord. He rose early in the morning, built an altar at the foot of the mountain, and set up twelve pillars, corresponding to the twelve tribes of Israel.^{(B) 5} He sent young men of the Israelites, who offered burnt offerings and sacrificed oxen as offerings of well-being to the Lord. ⁶ Moses took half of the blood and put it in basins, and half of the blood he dashed against the altar.^{(C) 7} Then he took the book of the covenant and read it in the hearing of the people, and they said, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient.”^{(D) 8} Moses took the blood and dashed it on the people, and said, “Here is the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words.”^(E)

Benediction

²⁰ Now may the God of peace, who brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant,^(A)

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)

¹¹ But when Christ came as a high priest of the good things that have come,^[a] then through the greater and more perfect tent^[b] (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation),^{(B) 12} he entered once for all into the holy place, not with the blood of goats and calves but with his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption.^{(C) 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,^{(D) 14} how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit^[c] offered himself without blemish to God, purify our^[d] conscience from dead works to worship the living God!^(E)

¹⁵ For this reason he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, because a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions under the first covenant.^{[e](F) 16} Where a will^[f] is involved, the death of the one who made it must be established. ¹⁷ For a will^[g] takes effect only at death, since it is not in force as long as the one who made it is alive. ¹⁸ Hence not even the first covenant was inaugurated without blood.^{(G) 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,^[h] with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the scroll itself and all the people,^{(H) 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^[i] and all the vessels used in worship.^{(I) 22} Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.^(J)

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.

²⁴ and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.^(A)

¹³ And may he so strengthen your hearts in holiness that you may be blameless before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints.^[a](A)

² He said,