Hebrews 8:6-9:10

Contemporary English Version

⁶Now Christ has been appointed to serve as a priest in a much better way, and he has given us much assurance of a better agreement.

⁷If the first agreement with God had been all right, there would not have been any need for another one. ⁸^(A) But the Lord found fault with it and said,

“I tell you the time will come,
when I will make
    a new agreement
with the people of Israel
    and the people of Judah.
⁹It won't be like the agreement
that I made
    with their ancestors,
when I took them by the hand
    and led them out of Egypt.
They broke their agreement
    with me,
and I stopped caring
    about them!

¹⁰“But now I tell the people
of Israel
    this is my new agreement:
‘The time will come
    when I, the Lord,
will write my laws
    on their minds and hearts.
I will be their God,
and they will be
    my people.
¹¹Not one of them
will have to teach another
    to know me, their Lord.’

“All of them will know me,
no matter who they are.
¹²I will treat them with kindness,
even though they are wicked.
I will forget their sins.”

¹³When the Lord talks about a new agreement, he means that the first one is out of date. And anything that is old and useless will soon disappear.

The Tent in Heaven

9 The first promise included rules for worship and a tent for worship here on earth. ²^(B) The first part of the tent was called the holy place, and a lampstand, a table, and the sacred loaves of bread were kept there.

³^(C) Behind the curtain was the most holy place. ⁴^(D) The gold altar for burning incense was in this holy place. The gold-covered sacred chest was also there, and inside it were three things. First, there was a gold jar filled with manna.^[a] Then there was Aaron's walking stick that sprouted.^[b] Finally, there were the flat stones with the Ten Commandments written on them. ⁵^(E) On top of the chest were the glorious creatures with wings^[c] opened out above the place of mercy.^[d]

Now isn't the time to go into detail about these things. ⁶^(F) But this is how everything was when the priests went each day into the first part of the tent to do their duties. ⁷^(G) However, only the high priest could go into the second part of the tent, and he went in only once a year. Each time he carried blood to offer for his sins and for any sins that the people had committed without meaning to.

⁸All of this is the Holy Spirit's way of saying no one could enter the most holy place while the tent was still the place of worship. ⁹This also has a meaning for today. It shows we cannot make our consciences clear by offering gifts and sacrifices. ¹⁰These rules are merely about such things as eating and drinking and ceremonies for washing ourselves. And rules about physical things will last only until the time comes to change them for something better.

Footnotes

9.4 manna: When the people of Israel were wandering through the desert, the Lord provided them with food that could be made into thin wafers. This food was called manna, which in Hebrew means “What is it?”
9.4 Aaron's walking stick that sprouted: According to Numbers 17.1-11, Aaron's walking stick sprouted and produced almonds to show that the Lord was pleased with him and Moses.
9.5 glorious creatures with wings: Two of these creatures (called “cherubim” in Hebrew and Greek) with outspread wings were on top of the sacred chest and were symbols of God's throne.
9.5 place of mercy: The lid of the sacred chest, which was thought to be God's throne on earth.