Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
The purpose of the blood
15 For this reason, Jesus is the mediator of the new covenant. The purpose was that those who are called should receive the promised inheritance of the age to come, since a death has occurred which provides redemption from transgressions committed under the first covenant.
16 Where there is a covenant, you see, it is vital to establish the death of the one who made it. 17 A will laid down in covenant only takes effect after death; it has no validity during the lifetime of the one who made it. 18 That’s why even the first covenant was not inaugurated without blood. 19 For when every commandment had been read out to the people by Moses, he took the blood of calves and goats, with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled the book itself and all the people, 20 saying, “This is the blood of the covenant which God has made with you.” 21 Then, in the same way, he sprinkled with blood the Tabernacle, and all the vessels used in worship. 22 In fact, according to the law more or less everything is purified with blood; sins are not remitted unless blood is shed!
The Messiah’s work in the heavenly sanctuary
23 That’s why it was necessary for the copies of the heavenly objects to be purified in this way, while the heavenly things themselves require better sacrifices than these. 24 For the Messiah did not enter into a sanctuary made by human hands, the copy and pattern of the heavenly one, but into the heavenly one itself, where he now appears in God’s presence on our behalf.
Scripture quotations from The New Testament for Everyone are copyright © Nicholas Thomas Wright 2011, 2018, 2019.