Read the New Testament in 24 Weeks

The Mediator of a New and Better Covenant

8 Now this is the main point in what has been said: we have a high priest such as this, who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, ² a minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle which the Lord set up, not man. ³ For every high priest is appointed in order to offer both gifts and sacrifices; therefore it was^[a] necessary for this one also to have something that he offers. ⁴ Now if he were on earth, he would not even be a priest, because there^[b] are those who offer the gifts according to the law, ⁵ who serve a sketch and shadow of the heavenly things, just as Moses was warned when he^[c] was about to complete the tabernacle, for he says, “See to it that you make everything according to the pattern which was shown to you on the mountain.”^{[d] 6} But now he has attained a more excellent ministry, by as much as he is also mediator of a better covenant which has been enacted upon better promises. ⁷ For if that first covenant had been faultless, occasion would not have been sought for a second. ⁸ For in finding fault with them he says,

¹³ In calling it new, he has declared the former to be old. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is near to disappearing.

The Earthly Ministry of the Old Covenant

9 Now^[g] the first covenant had regulations for worship and the earthly sanctuary. ² For a tent was prepared, the first one, in which were the lampstand and the table and the presentation of the loaves, which is called the holy place. ³ And after the second curtain was a tent called the holy of holies, ⁴ containing the golden incense altar and the ark of the covenant covered on all sides with gold, in which were a golden jar containing the manna and the rod of Aaron that budded and the tablets of the covenant. ⁵ And above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat, about which it is not now possible to speak in detail.

⁶ Now these things having been prepared in this way, the priests enter into the first tent continually^[h] as they^[i] accomplish their service, ⁷ but only the high priest enters into the second tent once a year, not without blood, which he offers on behalf of himself and the sins of the people committed in ignorance. ⁸ The Holy Spirit was making this clear, that the way into the holy place was not yet revealed, while^[j] the first tent was still in existence, ⁹ which was a symbol for the present time, in which both the gifts and sacrifices which were offered were not able to perfect the worshiper with respect to the conscience, ¹⁰ concerning instead only food and drink and different washings, regulations of outward things imposed until the time of setting things right.

The Heavenly Ministry of the New Covenant

¹¹ But Christ has arrived as a high priest of the good things to come. Through the greater and more perfect tent not made by hands, that is, not of this creation, ¹² and not by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood, he entered once for all into the most holy place, obtaining eternal redemption. ¹³ For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a young cow sprinkled on those who are defiled sanctify them for the ritual purity of the flesh, ¹⁴ how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, cleanse our consciences from dead works to serve the living God?

¹⁵ And because of this, he is the mediator of a new covenant, in order that, because^[k] a death has taken place for the redemption of transgressions committed during the first covenant, those who are the called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance. ¹⁶ For where there is a will, it is a necessity for the death of the one who made the will to be established. ¹⁷ For a will is in force concerning those who are dead, since it is never in force when the one who made the will is alive. ¹⁸ Therefore not even the first covenant was ratified without blood. ¹⁹ For when^[l] every commandment had been spoken by Moses to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves^[m] with water and scarlet wool and hyssop and sprinkled both the scroll itself and all the people, ²⁰ saying,

²¹ And likewise he sprinkled both the tabernacle and all the utensils of service with the blood. ²² Indeed, nearly everything is purified with blood according to the law, and apart from the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.

²³ Therefore it was necessary for the sketches of the things in heaven to be purified with these sacrifices, but the heavenly things themselves to be purified with better sacrifices than these. ²⁴ For Christ did not enter into a sanctuary made by hands, a mere copy of the true one, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf, ²⁵ and not in order that he can offer himself many times, as the high priest enters into the sanctuary year by year^[o] with blood not his own, ²⁶ since it would have been necessary for him to suffer many times from the foundation of the world, but now he has appeared once at the end of the ages for the removal of sin by the sacrifice of himself. ²⁷ And just as^[p] it is destined for people to die once, and after this, judgment, ²⁸ thus also Christ, having been offered once in order to bear the sins of many, will appear for the second time without reference to sin to those who eagerly await him for salvation.