007:021 for these men hold office without any oath having been taken,
but He holds it attested by an oath from Him who said
to Him, "The Lord has sworn and will not recall His words,
Thou art a Priest for ever"--
007:022 so much the more also is the Covenant of which Jesus has become
the guarantor, a better covenant.
007:023 And they have been appointed priests many in number,
because death prevents their continuance in office:
007:024 but He, because He continues for ever, has a priesthood
which does not pass to any successor.
007:025 Hence too He is able to save to the uttermost those who come
to God through Him, seeing that He ever lives to plead for them.
007:026 Moreover we needed just such a High Priest as this--
holy, guileless, undefiled, far removed from sinful men
and exalted above the heavens;
007:027 who, unlike other High Priests, is not under the necessity
of offering up sacrifices day after day, first for His own sins,
and afterwards for those of the people; for this latter thing
He did once for all when He offered up Himself.
007:028 For the Law constitutes men High Priests--men with all
their infirmity--but the utterance of the oath, which came
later than the Law, constitutes High Priest a Son who has
been made for ever perfect.
008:001 Now in connexion with what we have been saying the chief point
is that we have a High Priest who has taken His seat at
the right hand of the throne of God's Majesty in the heavens,
008:002 and ministers in the Holy place and in the true tabernacle
which not man, but the Lord pitched.
008:003 Every High Priest, however, is appointed to offer both bloodless
gifts and sacrifices. Therefore this High Priest also must
have some offering to present.
008:004 If then He were still on earth, He would not be a priest at all,
since here there are already those who present the offerings
in obedience to the Law,
008:005 and serve a copy and type of the heavenly things, just as Moses
was divinely instructed when about to build the tabernacle.
For God said, "See that you make everything in imitation
of the pattern shown you on the mountain."
008:006 But, as a matter of fact, the ministry which Christ has
obtained is all the nobler a ministry, in that He is at
the same time the negotiator of a sublimer covenant,
based upon sublimer promises.
008:007 For if that first Covenant had been free from imperfection,
there would have been no attempt to introduce another.
008:008 For, being dissatisfied with His people, God says, "`There are
days coming,' says the Lord, `When I will establish with the house
of Israel and with the house of Judah a new Covenant--
008:009 a Covenant unlike the one which I made with their forefathers
on the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out from
the land of Egypt; for they would not remain faithful to that.'
`So I turned from them,' says the Lord.
008:010 `But this is the Covenant that I will covenant with the house
of Israel after those days,' says the Lord: I will put My
laws into their minds and will write them upon their hearts.
And I will indeed be their God and they shall be My People.
008:011 And there shall be no need for them to teach each one his fellow
citizen and each one his brother, saying, Know the Lord.
For all will know Me from the least of them to the greatest;
008:012 Because I will be merciful to their wrongdoings, and their sins
I will remember no longer.'"
008:013 By using the words, "a new Covenant," He has made the first
one obsolete; but whatever is decaying and showing signs
of old age is not far from disappearing altogether.
009:001 Now even the first Covenant had regulations for divine worship,
and had also its sanctuary--a sanctuary belonging to this world.
009:002 For a sacred tent was constructed--the outer one, in which
were the lamp and the table and the presented loaves;
and this is called the Holy place.
009:003 And behind the second veil was a sacred tent called
the Holy of holies.
009:004 This had a censer of gold, and the ark of the Covenant lined
with gold and completely covered with gold, and in it were
a gold vase which held the manna, and Aaron's rod which budded
and the tables of the Covenant.
009:005 And above the ark were the Cherubim denoting God's glorious
presence and overshadowing the Mercy-seat. But I cannot now
speak about all these in detail.
009:006 These arrangements having long been completed, the priests,
when conducting the divine services, continually enter
the outer tent.
009:007 But into the second, the High Priest goes only on one day
of the year, and goes alone, taking with him blood,
which he offers on his own behalf and on account of the sins
which the people have ignorantly committed.
009:008 And the lesson which the Holy Spirit teaches is this--
that the way into the true Holy place is not yet open so long
as the outer tent still remains in existence.
009:009 And this is a figure--for the time now present--answering to
which both gifts and sacrifices are offered, unable though they
are to give complete freedom from sin to him who ministers.
009:010 For their efficacy depends only on meats and drinks and
various washings, ceremonies pertaining to the body and imposed
until a time of reformation.
009:011 But Christ appeared as a High Priest of the blessings that are
soon to come by means of the greater and more perfect Tent
of worship, a tent which has not been built with hands--
that is to say does not belong to this material creation--
009:012 and once for all entered the Holy place, taking with Him
not the blood of goats and calves, but His own blood,
and thus procuring eternal redemption for us.
009:013 For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer
sprinkling those who have contracted defilement make them
holy so as to bring about ceremonial purity,
009:014 how much more certainly shall the blood of Christ,
who strengthened by the eternal Spirit offered Himself to God,
free from blemish, purify your consciences from lifeless
works for you to serve the ever-living God?
009:015 And because of this He is the negotiator of a new Covenant,
in order that, since a life has been given in atonement
for the offences committed under the first Covenant,
those who have been called may receive the eternal inheritance
which has been promised to them.
009:016 For where there is a legal `will,' there must also be a death
brought forward in evidence--the death of him who made it.
009:017 And a will is only of force in the case of a deceased person,
being never of any avail so long as he who made it lives.
009:018 Accordingly we find that the first Covenant was not
inaugurated without blood.
009:019 For when Moses had proclaimed to all the people every commandment
contained in the Law, he took the blood of the calves and
of the goats and with them water, scarlet wool and hyssop,
and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people,
009:020 saying, "This is the blood which confirms the Covenant that God
has made binding upon you."
009:021 And in the same way he also sprinkled blood upon the Tent
of worship and upon all the vessels used in the ministry.
009:022 Indeed we may almost say that in obedience to the Law everything
is sprinkled with blood, and that apart from the outpouring
of blood there is no remission of sins.
009:023 It was needful therefore that the copies of the things in Heaven
should be cleansed in this way, but that the heavenly things
themselves should be cleansed with more costly sacrifices.
009:024 For not into a Holy place built by men's hands--a mere copy
of the reality--did Christ enter, but He entered Heaven itself,
now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf.
009:025 Nor did He enter for the purpose of many times offering Himself
in sacrifice, just as the High Priest enters the Holy place,
year after year, taking with him blood not his own.
009:026 In that case Christ would have needed to suffer many times,
from the creation of the world onwards; but as a matter of fact
He has appeared once for all, at the Close of the Ages,
in order to do away with sin by the sacrifice of Himself.
009:027 And since it is reserved for all mankind once to die,
and afterwards to be judged;
009:028 so the Christ also, having been once offered in sacrifice in order
that He might bear the sins of many, will appear a second time,
separated from sin, to those who are eagerly expecting Him,
to make their salvation complete.
010:001 For, since the Law exhibits only an outline of the blessings
to come and not a perfect representation of the things themselves,
the priests can never, by repeating the same sacrifices
which they continually offer year after year, give complete
freedom from sin to those who draw near.
010:002 For then would not the sacrifices have ceased to be offered,
because the consciences of the worshippers--who in that case
would now have been cleansed once for all--would no longer
be burdened with sins?
010:003 But in those sacrifices sins are recalled to memory year after year.
010:004 For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to
take away sins.
010:005 That is why, when He comes into the world, He says,
"Sacrifice and offering Thou has not desired, but a body Thou
hast prepared for Me.
010:006 In whole burnt-offerings and in sin-offerings Thou hast
taken no pleasure.
010:007 Then I said, `I have come--in the roll of the book it is written
concerning Me--to do Thy will, O God.'"
010:008 After saying the words I have just quoted, "Sacrifices and
offerings or whole burnt-offerings and sin-offerings Thou hast
not desired or taken pleasure in"--all such being offered
in obedience to the Law--
010:009 He then adds, "I have come to do Thy will." He does away
with the first in order to establish the second.
010:010 It is through that divine will that we have been set free
from sin, through the offering of Jesus Christ as our sacrifice
once for all.
010:011 And while every priest stands ministering, day after day,
and constantly offering the same sacrifices--though such can
never rid us of our sins--
010:012 this Priest, on the contrary, after offering for sins
a single sacrifice of perpetual efficacy, took His seat
at God's right hand,
010:013 waiting from that time onward until His enemies be put as a
footstool under His feet.
010:014 For by a single offering He has for ever completed the blessing
for those whom He is setting free from sin.
010:015 And the Holy Spirit also gives us His testimony; for when
He had said,
010:016 "`This is the Covenant that I will make with them after those days,'
says the Lord: `I will put My laws upon their hearts and will
write them on their minds;'"