Hebrews 8:1-10:23

GOD’S WORD Translation

Jesus’ Priestly Work Is Superior to Other Priests’ Work

8 The main point we want to make is this: We do have this kind of chief priest. This chief priest holds the honored position—the one next to the majestic God [the Father] on the heavenly throne. ² He serves as priest of the holy place and of the true tent set up by the Lord and not by any human.

³ Every chief priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices. Therefore, this chief priest had to offer something. ⁴ If he were on earth, he would not even be a priest. On earth ⌞other⌟ priests offer gifts by following the instructions that Moses gave. ⁵ They serve at a place that is a pattern, a shadow, of what is in heaven. When Moses was about to make the tent, God warned him, “Be sure to make everything based on the plan I showed you on the mountain.”

⁶ Jesus has been given a priestly work that is superior to the Levitical priests’ work. He also brings a better promise ^[a] from God that is based on better guarantees. ⁷ If nothing had been wrong with the first promise, no one would look for another one. ⁸ But God found something wrong with his people and said to them,

“The days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new promise to Israel and Judah. ⁹ It will not be like the promise that I made to their ancestors when I took them by the hand and brought them out of Egypt. They rejected that promise, so I ignored them, says the Lord. ¹⁰ But this is the promise that I will make to Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my teachings inside them, and I will write those teachings on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. ¹¹ No longer will each person teach his neighbors or his relatives by saying, ‘Know the Lord.’ All of them from the least important to the most important will all know me ¹² because I will forgive their wickedness and I will no longer hold their sins against them.”

¹³ God made this new promise and showed that the first promise was outdated. What is outdated and aging will soon disappear.

Christ Offered a Superior Sacrifice

9 The first promise had rules for the priests’ service. It also had a holy place on earth. ² A tent was set up. The first part of this tent was called the holy place. The lamp stand, the table, and the bread of the presence were in this part of the tent. ³ Behind the second curtain was the part of the tent called the most holy place. ⁴ It contained the gold incense burner and the ark of the Lord’s promise. The ark was completely covered with gold. In the ark were the gold jar filled with manna, Aaron’s staff that had blossomed, and the tablets on which the promise ^[b] was written. ⁵ Above the ark were the angels ^[c] of glory ⌞with their wings⌟ overshadowing the throne of mercy. (Discussing these things in detail isn’t possible now.)

⁶ That is how these two parts of the tent were set up. The priests always went into the first part of the tent to perform their duties. ⁷ But only the chief priest went into the second part of the tent. Once a year he entered and brought blood that he offered for himself and for the things that the people did wrong unintentionally. ⁸ The Holy Spirit used this to show that the way into the most holy place was not open while the tent was still in use.

⁹ The first part of the tent is an example for the present time. The gifts and sacrifices that were brought there could not give the worshiper a clear conscience. ¹⁰ These gifts and sacrifices were meant to be food, drink, and items used in various purification ceremonies. These ceremonies were required for the body until God would establish a new way of doing things.

¹¹ But Christ came as a chief priest of the good things that are now here. Christ went through a better, more perfect tent that was not made by human hands and that is not part of this created world. ¹² He used his own blood, not the blood of goats and bulls, for the sacrifice. He went into the most holy place and offered this sacrifice once and for all to free us forever.

¹³ The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of cows sprinkled on unclean ^[d] people made their bodies holy and clean. ¹⁴ The blood of Christ, who had no defect, does even more. Through the eternal Spirit he offered himself to God and cleansed our consciences from the useless things we had done. Now we can serve the living God.

¹⁵ Because Christ offered himself to God, he is able to bring a new promise from God. Through his death he paid the price to set people free from the sins they committed under the first promise. He did this so that those who are called can be guaranteed an inheritance that will last forever.

¹⁶ In order for a will to take effect, it must be shown that the one who made it has died. ¹⁷ A will is used only after a person is dead because it goes into effect only when a person dies.

¹⁸ That is why even the first promise was made with blood. ¹⁹ As Scripture tells us, Moses told all the people every commandment. Then he took the blood of calves and goats together with some water, red yarn, and hyssop and sprinkled the scroll and all the people. ²⁰ He said, “Here is the blood that seals the promise God has made to you.” ²¹ In the same way, Moses sprinkled blood on the tent and on everything used in worship. ²² As Moses’ Teachings tell us, blood was used to cleanse almost everything, because if no blood is shed, no sins can be forgiven.

²³ The copies of the things in heaven had to be cleansed by these sacrifices. But the heavenly things themselves had to be cleansed by better sacrifices. ²⁴ Christ didn’t go into a holy place made by human hands. He didn’t go into a model of the real thing. Instead, he went into heaven to appear in God’s presence on our behalf. ²⁵ Every year the chief priest went into the holy place to make a sacrifice with blood that isn’t his own. However, Christ didn’t go into heaven to sacrifice himself again and again. ²⁶ Otherwise, he would have had to suffer many times since the world was created. But now, at the end of the ages, he has appeared once to remove sin by his sacrifice. ²⁷ People die once, and after that they are judged. ²⁸ Likewise, Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of humanity, and after that he will appear a second time. This time he will not deal with sin, but he will save those who eagerly wait for him.

We Can Enter the Most Holy Place because of Christ’s Superior Work

10 Moses’ Teachings with their yearly cycle of sacrifices are only a shadow of the good things in the future. They aren’t an exact likeness of those things. They can never make those who worship perfect. ² If these sacrifices could have made the worshipers perfect, the sacrifices would have stopped long ago. Those who worship would have been cleansed once and for all. Their consciences would have been free from sin. ³ Instead, this yearly cycle of sacrifices reminded people of their sins. ⁴ (The blood of bulls and goats cannot take away sins.)

⁵ For this reason, when Christ came into the world, he said,

⁸ In this passage Christ first said, “You did not want sacrifices, offerings, burnt offerings, and sacrifices for sin. You did not approve of them.” (These are the sacrifices that Moses’ Teachings require people to offer.) ⁹ Then Christ says, “I have come to do what you want.” He did away with sacrifices in order to establish the obedience that God wants. ¹⁰ We have been set apart as holy because Jesus Christ did what God wanted him to do by sacrificing his body once and for all.

¹¹ Every day each priest performed his religious duty. He offered the same type of sacrifice again and again. Yet, these sacrifices could never take away sins. ¹² However, this chief priest made one sacrifice for sins, and this sacrifice lasts forever. Now he holds the honored position—the one next to God the Father on the heavenly throne. ¹³ Since that time, he has been waiting for his enemies to be made his footstool. ¹⁴ With one sacrifice he accomplished the work of setting them apart for God forever.

¹⁵ The Holy Spirit tells us the same thing: ¹⁶ “This is the promise ^[e] that I will make to them after those days, says the Lord: ‘I will put my teachings in their hearts and write them in their minds.’ ”

¹⁷ Then he adds, “I will no longer hold their sins and their disobedience against them.”

¹⁸ When sins are forgiven, there is no longer any need to sacrifice for sins.

¹⁹ Brothers and sisters, because of the blood of Jesus we can now confidently go into the holy place. ²⁰ Jesus has opened a new and living way for us to go through the curtain. (The curtain is his own body.) ²¹ We have a superior priest in charge of God’s house. ²² We have been sprinkled ⌞with his blood⌟ to free us from a guilty conscience, and our bodies have been washed with clean water. So we must continue to come ⌞to him⌟ with a sincere heart and strong faith. ²³ We must continue to hold firmly to our declaration of faith. The one who made the promise is faithful.