Book of Common Prayer

¹¹ Every priest stands day after day doing his work. He makes the same sacrifices many times. But these sacrifices can never clean away the wrong things people have done.

¹² But Christ made one sacrifice to clean away their wrong ways for ever. Then he sat down beside God.

¹³ Since then, he is waiting till his enemies are put under him.

¹⁴ By one sacrifice Christ has made right for ever all those people who are being made holy.

¹⁵ The Holy Spirit tells us about this also.

¹⁶ First he said, `This is the agreement that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their hearts. I will write them in their minds.'

¹⁷ Then he also said, `I will never remember the wrong things they have done and the times they did not obey.'

¹⁸ When these wrong things have been forgiven, a sacrifice is not needed for them again.

¹⁹ So, my brothers, we can go into the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus.

²⁰ He made a new and living way for us. He opened up God's way specially for us. It lets us through the big curtain or cloth which hides God from us. This happened when Jesus gave his body as a sacrifice.

²¹ Also, we have a high priest who has charge of God's people.

²² So let us come to him with a true heart. Let us come because we believe all these things. Let us come with our hearts washed clean from our wrong ways. Let us come with our bodies washed with clean water.

²³ We must hold on to God's promise that we have said we believed. And we must never let go. He has promised and he will do it.

²⁴ Let us think of one another and help one another to love and to do good things.

²⁵ Do not stop going to church meetings. Some people do stop. But help each other to be strong. You must do it all the more as you see the Great Day coming closer.

6 Then Jesus crossed over the sea of Galilee. (Another name for this sea was Tiberias.)

² Many people followed him because they saw the big works he had done in healing the sick people.

³ Jesus went up on a hill and sat down with his disciples.

⁴ The time for the Passover Feast of the Jews was near.

⁵ When Jesus looked up, he saw many people coming to him. He said to Philip, `Where shall we buy food for these people to eat?'

⁶ Jesus knew what he himself would do, but he said this to see what Philip would do.

⁷ Philip answered him, `It would take nearly a year's wages to buy enough food for them, even if each one gets only a little.'

⁸ One of Jesus' disciples, Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, talked to Jesus.

⁹ He said, `A boy here has five loaves of bread and two small fish. But what can that little bit of food do for so many people?'

¹⁰ Jesus said, `Tell the people to sit down.' Much grass was there. The number of men who sat down was about five thousand.

¹¹ Then Jesus took the bread and thanked God for it. He gave it to the disciples and they divided it among those who were sitting. He did the same thing with the fish. The people had all they wanted.

¹² When they had eaten enough, he said to his disciples, `Gather up all the pieces that are left so that nothing will be lost.'

¹³ They gathered all the pieces of the five loaves. Twelve baskets full were left over after all the people had eaten enough.

¹⁴ When those men saw the big work that Jesus did, they said, `Truly, this is the Prophet that is to come into the world.'

¹⁵ The people wanted to take Jesus by force to make him a king. When he saw this, he left again and went on the hill by himself.