Animal Sacrifices Insufficient

10 For the law, having a ^(A)shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things, ^(B)can never with these same sacrifices, which they offer continually year by year, make those who approach perfect. ² For then would they not have ceased to be offered? For the worshipers, once ^[a]purified, would have had no more consciousness of sins. ³ But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. ⁴ For ^(C)it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins.

Christ’s Death Fulfills God’s Will^(D)

⁵ Therefore, when He came into the world, He said:

⁸ Previously saying, “Sacrifice and offering, burnt offerings, and offerings for sin You did not desire, nor had pleasure in them” (which are offered according to the law), ⁹ then He said, “Behold, I have come to do Your will, ^[b]O God.” He takes away the first that He may establish the second. ^10 (F)By that will we have been ^[c]sanctified ^(G)through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

Christ’s Death Perfects the Sanctified

¹¹ And every priest stands ^(H)ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. ^12 (I)But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down ^(J)at the right hand of God, ¹³ from that time waiting ^(K)till His enemies are made His footstool. ¹⁴ For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being ^[d]sanctified.

¹⁵ But the Holy Spirit also witnesses to us; for after He had said before,

^16 (L)“This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them,” ¹⁷ then He adds, ^(M)“Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.” ¹⁸ Now where there is ^[e]remission of these, there is no longer an offering for sin.

Hold Fast Your Confession

¹⁹ Therefore, brethren, having ^(N)boldness^[f] to enter ^(O)the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, ²⁰ by a new and ^(P)living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, ²¹ and having a High Priest over the house of God, ²² let us ^(Q)draw near with a true heart ^(R)in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. ²³ Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for ^(S)He who promised is faithful. ²⁴ And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, ^25 (T)not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and ^(U)so much the more as you see ^(V)the Day approaching.

The Just Live by Faith

²⁶ For ^(W)if we sin willfully ^(X)after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there ^(Y)no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, ²⁷ but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and ^(Z)fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries. ²⁸ Anyone who has rejected Moses’ law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three ^(AA)witnesses. ^29 (AB)Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, ^(AC)counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, ^(AD)and insulted the Spirit of grace? ³⁰ For we know Him who said, ^(AE)“Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” ^[g]says the Lord. And again, ^(AF)“The Lord will judge His people.” ^31 (AG)It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

³² But ^(AH)recall the former days in which, after you were ^[h]illuminated, you endured a great struggle with sufferings: ³³ partly while you were made ^(AI)a spectacle both by reproaches and tribulations, and partly while ^(AJ)you became companions of those who were so treated; ³⁴ for you had compassion on ^[i]me ^(AK)in my chains, and ^(AL)joyfully accepted the plundering of your ^[j]goods, knowing that ^(AM)you have a better and an enduring possession for yourselves ^[k]in heaven. ³⁵ Therefore do not cast away your confidence, ^(AN)which has great reward. ^36 (AO)For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, ^(AP)you may receive the promise:

³⁹ But we are not of those ^(AT)who draw back to ^[o]perdition, but of those who ^(AU)believe to the saving of the soul.

The Race of Faith

12 Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, ^(A)let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and ^(B)let us run ^(C)with endurance the race that is set before us, ² looking unto Jesus, the ^[a]author and ^[b]finisher of our faith, ^(D)who for the joy that was set before Him ^(E)endured the cross, despising the shame, and ^(F)has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

The Discipline of God^(G)

^3 (H)For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, ^(I)lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls. ^4 (J)You have not yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin. ⁵ And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons:

^7 (M)If^[d] you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what ^(N)son is there whom a father does not chasten? ⁸ But if you are without chastening, ^(O)of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons. ⁹ Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to ^(P)the Father of spirits and live? ¹⁰ For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but He for our profit, ^(Q)that we may be partakers of His holiness. ¹¹ Now no ^[e]chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields ^(R)the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

Renew Your Spiritual Vitality^(S)

¹² Therefore ^(T)strengthen the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees, ¹³ and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be dislocated, but rather be healed.

^14 (U)Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, ^(V)without which no one will see the Lord: ¹⁵ looking carefully lest anyone ^(W)fall short of the grace of God; lest any ^(X)root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled; ¹⁶ lest there be any ^(Y)fornicator or ^[f]profane person like Esau, ^(Z)who for one morsel of food sold his birthright. ¹⁷ For you know that afterward, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was ^(AA)rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought it diligently with tears.

The Glorious Company

¹⁸ For you have not come ^[g]to ^(AB)the mountain that may be touched and that burned with fire, and to blackness and ^[h]darkness and tempest, ¹⁹ and the sound of a trumpet and the voice of words, so that those who heard it ^(AC)begged that the word should not be spoken to them anymore. ²⁰ (For they could not endure what was commanded: ^(AD)“And if so much as a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned ^[i]or shot with an arrow.” ²¹ And so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, ^(AE)“I am exceedingly afraid and trembling.”)

²² But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, ²³ to the ^[j]general assembly and church of ^(AF)the firstborn ^(AG)who are registered in heaven, to God ^(AH)the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men ^(AI)made perfect, ²⁴ to Jesus ^(AJ)the Mediator of the new covenant, and to ^(AK)the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things ^(AL)than that of Abel.

Hear the Heavenly Voice

²⁵ See that you do not refuse Him who speaks. For ^(AM)if they did not escape who refused Him who spoke on earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away from Him who speaks from heaven, ²⁶ whose voice then shook the earth; but now He has promised, saying, ^(AN)“Yet once more I ^[k]shake not only the earth, but also heaven.” ²⁷ Now this, “Yet once more,” indicates the ^(AO)removal of those things that are being shaken, as of things that are made, that the things which cannot be shaken may remain.

²⁸ Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we ^[l]may ^(AP)serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. ²⁹ For ^(AQ)our God is a consuming fire.